Most Europa games include counters intended to be used with Grand Europa only, and those unused counters have been a cause of great frustration to me. In this regard, Fail of France must be the most frustrating of all Europa games. It has whole countersheets full of ships, aircraft, and armored units that you never get to put your hands on when playing Fall of France.

Yet, beware! Because, you see, this treasure trove of counters is booby-trapped. Among them, the ship counters include many units that never went beyond the drawing-board stage, some that were sunk between 1939 and June 1940, others that were just started or near completion, and, yes, some fully operational ships. Which were which? My answer is presented here.

Of the battleships, only Courbet, Paris, Bretagne, Provence, and Lorraine should be considered operational at the outbreak of the war in 1939. Courbet and Paris served as training ships, but were unmodified. Ocean, of the same class, was renamed the Jean Bart in 1936 and disarmed in 1938 for service as a training ship. Although she could conceivably have been rearmed during the war, this was never considered. Her guns appear in the Army list of railroad guns.

Richelieu was laid down in Brest in 1935, launched in January 1940, and completed in July 1940. At the time of the armistice, she was about 95% complete. I think that had it not been for the chaos and confusion of May and June 1940, she could have been completed by the end of June. You can make it a Jun II 40 reinforcement, since she did sail away to Dakar at that time anyway.

Her sister ship, Jean Bart, had been laid down in St-Nazaire in January 1939, launched in June 1940, and was about 77% complete and equipped with half of her main armament when she escaped to Casablanca. She was finally completed in 1949. My guess is that she could have been completed in the second half of 1941. A possible Jun 11 1941 reinforcement.

Clemenceau, of the same design, was laid down in Brest in January 1939, replacing the Richelieu in dry dock. She was launched in 1943, but never completed. I don't think that she would have been completed even if France had not fallen. During the First World War, all capital ship construction projects were halted and the steel was diverted to make artillery guns. In the Second World War, it would have been a choice between battleships and armor (Germany faced the same dilemma).

Although authorized in 1938, the Gascogne was never laid down.

The last two battleships were authorized in April 1940, with the exact design left unspecified and no names chosen (Savoie and Bourgogne are just guesses, but not unlikely ones).

Among the carriers, only the Bearn was operational at the outbreak of the war. However, 'operational' might be a little optimistic of her actual capabilities. She was converted in the early 20s from an incomplete Normandie class battleship and was commissioned in 1927. She thus inherited the slow speed of WWI battleship, her top speed being 21.5 knots. Since her flight deck was quite small (only 600 ft.) and was not equipped with a catapult, she had extreme difficulties launching and retrieving modern aircraft with their high stall speeds. She could accommodate 40 aircraft, but only ten could fit on the flight deck.

To remedy the Bearn's deficiencies, two carriers were ordered in 1938. Of the two, Joffre was laid down in late November 1938 but never launched. Painleve was never even laid down, since she was supposed to replace Joffre in the dry dock at St- Nazaire when Joffre was launched.

A third carrier was authorized in April 1940. Joffre probably could have been completed in early 1941, since it seemed close to being launched in June 1940. As for the Painlevde the earliest possible date for commissioning would have been in late 1942.

All of the cruisers represented in Fall of France except De Grasse, Chateaurenault, and Guichen (all of the same class) were operational when the war started. La Tour d'Auvergne (the D'Avrgn counter), a minelaying cruiser, was lost due to an accidental explosion of a mine at Casablanca in February 1940. She should therefore be unavailable for a game starting in May 1940.

The three De Grasse class cruisers were ordered in 1937 and 1938. The De Grasse was laid down in November 1938, but he was not launched until 1946 and was not completed until 1956--as an antiaircraft cruiser. The other two were never laid down. With effort, I believe it is conceivable that each of the three could have been completed consecutively in 1941, 1942, and 1943.

Three heavy cruisers were approved in April 1940. With a displacement of 14,470 tons and carrying nine 8" guns, they would have been similar to the U.S. Baltimore class. It is questionable as to whether they would ever have been completed by the end of the war, though.

Apart from the aforementioned considerations, I also have a number of questions regarding the protection values of the cruisers. They do not seem to be rated consistently. A comparison showing armor and displacement shows what I mean:

Ship Clas	Belt Armor	Europa Rating	Displ. (Wash.)
Duguay-Trouin	0"	2	7,249t
Duguay-Trouin, Lamotte-Piquet, Primauguet)
Duquesne	1"	3	10,000t
(Duquesne, Tourville)
Suffren	2"	5	9,938t
(Suffren, Colbert, Foch, Dupleix)
Algerie	4"	6	10,000t
Emile Bertin	0"	3	5,886t
La Galissonniere	4"	4	7,600t
(La Galissonniere, Jean de Vienne, La Marseillaise, Gloire, Montcalm, Georges Leygues)

Notes

Ship Class: self-explanatory, with the ships comprising the class in parentheses following each class. Belt Armor. the maximum belt armor thickness in inches.

Europa Rating: the ship's current Europa protection rating.

Disp/. (Wash.): the standard displacement in tons based on the Washington Treaty of 1922.

Lower?

Based on the above comparison, it would seem more consistent to lower Emile Bertin's rating to 2 or even 1 since she had a lower displacement than the Duguay-Trouin. A protection rating of 3 for the Duquesne and Tourville seems okay, but 5 is too high for the Suffren class; 4 is ample enough. Meanwhile, the Galissonniere and her sisters definitely deserve a protection rating of 5.

All the destroyer classes represented in the game existed when the war started. There were 6 Chacal, 6 Gudpard, 6 Aigle, 6 Vauquelin, 6 Fantasque (French destroyers, designated Contre-Torpilleurs, operated in 3-ship flotillas), 2 Mogador (these were in fact approaching light cruiser displacement, with 2884 tons standard and 4018 tons full load, and eight 5.1" guns), 12 Bourrasque, 14 Adroit (of which one, La Railleuse, was lost in an accidental explosion on 3 Dec 1940) and 6 Le Hardi. Of this latter class, one was launched in mid-November 1939, one in mid- December 1939, and two more in 1941 which were never completed.

Thus, there should be one more Borrasque counter and at least one more Adroit.

Losses before Dunkirk were rather light. Mailld-Brdz6 (Vauquelin class) was destroyed in an accidental explosion by one of her own torpedoes in Greenock on 30 Apr 1940. La Railleuse (LAdroit class) was lost at Casablanca for a similar reason on 24 Mar 1940.

Bison, of the Guepard class, was bombed and sunk off the Norwegian coast on 3 May 1940. It seems to me that she should not be included in Fall of France, but then, that's disputable.

Losses at Dunkirk were quite heavy. Within twelve days (between 21 May and 1 June) a total of seven destroyers were sunk: two Chacal class (Chacal and Jaguar), three Bourrasque class (Orage, Bourrasque, and Sirocco), and two LAdroit class (LAdroit and Foudroyant). Of these, four were bombed, two were torpedoed by MBTs, and one was mined.

In late May 1940, French naval authorities considered asking the United States for 24 Benson class destroyers, but because of the armistice, no contact was made. I think that it is reasonable to consider including at least some of these in a campaign game, or in Grand Europa.

Torpedo boats on active duty in September 1939 included only 12 of the Melpomene class. None of the boats of the Le Fier class were completed, although 6 were launched. One of these was launched in March 1940, two in May, one in October, and two in 1942.

This now leaves just the submarines. These included nine Requin, three Sir6ne, three Ariane (the fourth having been lost in a collision in 1928), four Circe (the three latter classes were almost identical, being designs by three different shipbuilders responding to the same program), 29 Redoutable, six Saphir minelayers, five Argonaute, nine Diane, two Orion, six Minerve (with the four latter classes again being almost identical), and one Surcouf. The Surcouf was the largest prewar submarine, having a submerged displacement of 4304 tons and two 8" guns (the maximum calibre allowed under the Washington treaty).

In addition, there was the Aurore, first of a much improved Minerve class. Seven more were planned, of which one was launched in June 1940 and the rest either during or just after the war. Additionally, 13 Roland Morillot class large boats (1817 tons normal displacement) had been ordered, along with four Emeraude class (improved Saphir class), and 12 Phoenix class (improved Aurore class) boats.

In Summary

To sum up, the total strength of the French Navy at the beginning of the war (the Sep 1 1939 game turn) stands as follows:

5 Battleships
2 Battlecruisers
7 Heavy Cruisers
10 Light Cruisers
2 Minelaying Cruisers
64 Destroyers, including 32 over 2000 tons displacement
12 Torpedo Boats
78 Submarines

All of these ships and boats except the battleships had been built after 1918. However, it was to be that this modern and rather powerful fleet had a very feeble impact on WWII naval operations. Could it have been different? Well, yes and no.

As it was, the Marine Nationale as it existed in 1939 was the brainchild of one man, Admiral Darlan, who had managed to remain at its head throughout more than fifteen years of political turmoil. It was he who had fought to get the budget for nearly every single ship under his command, and it is arguable that French naval officers' loyalties were generally more toward Darlan than to the Republic.

And Darlan hated the British. A strong dislike for the British was common within the navy. It must be remembered that at that time (and it is still true today), the regulation uniform included a black tie as a reminder of Trafalgar.

Thus, any move by Darlan against the British was likely to get support from the Navy even against government orders.

On the other hand, these feelings explain why so few French sailors defected to join De Gualle alongside Great Britain.

So I do not feel it would be realistic to build a scenario wherein the French Fleet defected en masse to the Free French. But if France had resisted a little longer (and my experience with Fall of France seems to show it was possible), then certainly it could have had a strong impact on Mediterranean operations.

Ship Names

I'd like to finish with a short cultural note on ship names. French ships are not always referred to as 'she', the opposite being more common. The man-in-the-street always says 'he' for a ship. Proper naval usage has it that the genre of a ship is that of his or her name.

For example, Richelieu and Jean Bart are both 'he', as are Bearn, Courbet, Ocean, and Paris. Bretagne, Provence, and Lorraine are all 'she'.

For now, this is all I have to say about the French Navy. The next time I summon the courage to write something, I'll examine the French Air Force, about which there is plenty to say and ramble. A bientot.

Sources

Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1906-1921.
Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1922-1946.
Campbell, John, Naval Weapons of World War II
Preston, Anthony, Battleships, Aircraft Carriers, Cruisers, Destroyers