Posted by Axel van Eesbeeck gemyala@netcologne.de on July 06, 2001.

Hallo

On 05.07.1940 the danish and british ships
Argyll, Gambia, Takoradian, Harald, Tacoma and Ulrik Holm were captured by Vichy-French navy units.

Who can give me more details on this incident, to the ships and what happened to them afterwards ?

Best regards
Axel van Eesbeeck

RESPONSES:

Posted by Visje visje@tref.nl on July 07.

Tacoma: She was hit by gunfire during the attempted invasion of Dakar in September 1940. She burnt out completely.
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Posted by Axel van Eesbeeck on July 07.

Hallo Visje
I found four of the six the ships in Roger Jordans book (Argyll, Takoradian, Tacoma and Ulrik Holm). Except for Ulrik Holm all ships are described as seized by VichyFrench.
The ships Gambia and Harald i can't find in any book.
Seized by Vichy French is not detailed enough for me, because i startet a new database about free and Vichy French successes of surface units.
Do you know a good book or other source describing the french navy from 1939 to 1945 ?

Best regards
Axel
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Posted by Visje on July 07.

Hi Axel,

French Navy and merchant ships are areas I'm totally unfamiliar with. I really have no idea. Not much of a help, huh ?
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Posted by Visje on July 11.

But I do have a few Dutch ships for you.

Export: built 1918, 760 gt. Was in French Equatorial Africa and was commandeered by Vichy France. Sunk as blockship in Port Lyautey in November 1942. Raised by USN on November 14 1942 and repaired. Survived the war

Rolf: built 1940, 400 gt. Did not get permission to leave Dakar in mid 1940, but managed to sneak out of port in the evening of July 30 1940. Managed to reach Fretown.

Hudson: tug. Also managed to sneak out of Dakar.

Just a few notes....
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Posted by Axel van Eesbeeck on July 12

Hallo Visje

Step by step i get more interesting information. Thank you very much for the answer.

Bets regards
Axel