Mers-el-Kebir Part 1: Preparation

In the summer of 1940, the fall of France put Britain in a desperate situation. The Royal Navy was stretched thin controlling the sealanes that connected the island to its Commonwealth Allies, and the threat of French warships being seized by the Axis and used against Britain dominated naval concerns, despite French assurances that they would scuttle their own ships before that could occur.  For the French, the existence of their fleet was the only leverage they had over their German occupiers; allowing any foreign power, even their former ally, to gain control over those ships would leave France helpless.

To Winston Churchill, desperate times called for desperate measures, and when the British fleet arrived at Mers-el-Kebir to deliver his ultimatum to the French fleet anchored there, neither side was willing to or capable of reaching a compromise.  Suitably dramatic scenario researched, I set up to build the order of battle for each side.

The British fleet is Force H, commanded by Vice-Admiral Sir James Somerville, urgently assembled in Gibraltar to replace the French fleet that had counterbalanced the Italians in the Western Mediterranean:

• Battlecruiser HMS Hood (flagship)
• Battleships HMS Resolution and HMS Valiant
• Aircraft Carrier HMS Ark Royal
• Light Cruisers HMS Enterprise and HMS Arethusa
• 8th Destroyer Flotilla (6): HMS Faulknor, Foxhound, Fearless, Forester, Foresight, Escort
• 13th Destroyer Flotilla (5): HMS Keppel, Active, Wrestler, Vidette, Vortigern

The French order of battle includes most of the Force de Raid (Raiding Force) under Vice-Admiral Marcel-Bruno Gensoul, as well as a number of other vessels that were concentrated in French North Africa, first to oppose the Italians and then later to remain out of reach of the German occupation:

• 1st Line Division (2): Battlecruisers Dunkerque (flagship) and Strasbourg
• 2nd Line Division (2): Battleships Provence and Bretagne
• Seaplane Tender Commandant Teste
• 6th Scout Division (2): Mogador, Volta
• 4th Scout Division (2): Tigre, Lynx
• Elements of 9th and 10th Scout Divisions (2): Kersaint, Le Terrible
• 7th Destroyer Division (3): Tramontane, Tornade, Typhon
• 8th Destroyer Division (2): Bordelais, Trombe
• 5th Destroyer Division (2): Brestois, Boulonnais
• Shore Defenses (3): Fort Santon, Canastel Battery, Minefields

British on left, French on right, starting with flagships.

• British Total: 2 BB, 1 BC, 1 CV, 2 CL, 11 DD
• French Total: 2 BB, 2 BC, 1 AV, 6 DL, 7 DD, 2 Coastal Batteries, Minefields

From a distance they look pretty evenly matched, but the two forces have very different strengths and weaknesses.  Although outnumbered, the three British capital ships each mount 4x2 powerful 15" guns, capable of penetrating the hulls of the French capital ships at any range.  The French boast 50% more barrels, with the new Dunkerque-class mounting 2x4 13" guns and the older Bretagne-class an intimidating 5x2 13.4" guns.  Their lower caliber, however, means the British enjoy an "immunity zone", a range at which the French shells will travel too slow to penetrate the armored hulls of the British ships, but will also fall at too shallow an angle to threaten their thinner decks.  If the British players can maintain this distance, they will nullify the French numerical advantage while exploiting their greater individual firepower.

For the escorts, the situation is reversed.  The British cruisers and destroyers all mount rapid-firing guns that are very effective at close range.  However, the 13th Destroyer Flotilla is mostly of WWI vintage, effective for anti-submarine warfare but not up to a surface fight.  The French destroyers are all of more recent construction, longer-ranged than their British counterparts and including several "large destroyers" that mount more and larger-caliber guns.   If the French can bring their superiority in light units to bear, the British may be unable to effectively defend their capital ships against a devastating torpedo attack.

I don't expect the various shore defenses to inflict much damage, but their presence limits the British options for attack while also constraining French maneuverability.  Although we won't use aircraft during the tactical battle, both forces also have a single aviation vessel, a weak but valuable piece that the players will have to consider how to protect.  If time allows, we'll experiment with allowing one or both of them to launch a single airstrike at the end of the game.

I have omitted a number of small-caliber coastal batteries, as well a few auxiliary ships that were present; they're unlikely to affect the game and representing them wouldn't be worth the effort.  For perspective, all of the miniatures are in 1:6000 scale, with the largest, HMS Hood (bottom left), less than 2 inches long.

The ships are all Figurehead 1:6000 naval miniatures, mounted on metal bases that I sculpted wakes onto using Milliput.  The coastal batteries are scratch-built with snippets of paperclips embedded in fortifications I sculpted and based the same way.  I only got as far as a basecoat, but at table distance it's easy to tell the two sides apart, and the size of each base provides a nice visual cue to the type of ship.

The local game center has a handful of old ocean boards that rarely see use, so the staff were a bit surprised when I asked for help getting the big 6'x4' panel out!  A flat blue surface is all the terrain you need for most naval games, but having to work around landmasses and fortifications is part of what makes this scenario interesting.

An assortment of the store's desert hills made a suitable North African coastline, and a cluster of a few small scale buildings was a convincing harbor town (although I really should paint them up at some point).  The batteries were placed at their proper positions, and the mine fields indicated by some teeny-tiny torpedo tokens.  Finally the French force was placed at their moorings, and I took some glamour shots of the whole set up before the players arrived to rewrite history.

The full length of the 8'x4' table, looking east.

The French forces begin the game in port, as they did historically.  Their capital ships, large destroyers, and seaplane tender are in the anchorage at Mers-el-Kebir.  The remaining destroyers are off-map in Oran harbor to the south.

Looking north, with Oran just off the bottom of the table.

The approximate table area outlined.

Canastel Battery (left) and Fort Santon (right).

The minefields stretch between them across the mouth of Oran Bay.

The British objective is to remove the French fleet as a potential threat.  They only earn victory points for crippling and destroying French ships.  The French objective is preserve their fleet, and so in addition to damaging British ships they will also score half points for each ship that exits off the eastern table edge or that is still seaworthy when the British withdraw.  This puts the onus on the British to inflict as much damage as they can while the French fleet is still getting underway

A photo of the anchorage at Mers-el-Kebir before the attack.

Large Destroyers, from left: Le Terrible, Kersaint, Lynx, Tigre, Volta, and Mogador
Capital ships, from left: Dunkerque, Provence, Strasbourg, Bretagne, and Commandant Teste

Force H arriving in its historical disposition, with HMS Foxhound delivering the ultimatum.

Up to this point I've followed history, but from here on out it's in the players' hands!

Part 2: The Bombardment