On this day 1940 a @RoyalNavy, @Australian_Navy & Free French force under V/Adm Sir John Cunningham, aboard the battleship HMS Barham, with the battleship HMS Resolution & aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal approached Dakar, Vichy controlled French West Africa #WW2

Supported by the cruisers HMS Devonshire, HMS Cumberland, HMAS Australia & HMS Dragon & destroyers

The plan was to try to induce this key outpost of the French empire (which was also the port containing the brand new battleship Richelieu), to renounce Marshal Philippe Petain's Vichy government & join the Free French under B/Gen Charles de Gaulle, who was accompanied the force

The hope was that this could be done peacefully & Free French emissaries flew ashore to the local airfield from HMS Ark Royal, while another group approached the harbour aboard the sloop Savorgnan de Brazza, flagship of R/Adm Marcel Landriau just a few months before at Dunkirk.

It was not to be, unfortunately, & de Gaulle's emissaries at Ouakam airfield were promptly arrested, while those who arrived in the harbour had to escaped under fire, with R/Adm Landriau, now commanding the defences at Dakar, ordering Richelieu to open fire on his old flagship.

Loyalty to the government in France & bitterness, not only over the bombardment & air strike on the French Force de Raid at Mers-el-Kebir https://twitter.com/navalhistorian/status/1280256616575774721?s=20

but also, of course, the air strike at Dakar itself, launched by HMS Hermes against Richelieu, crippling the battleship just two and a half months earlier, could not be overcome, & although fog precluded further operations that day, things would get worse https://twitter.com/navalhistorian/status/1282433024508989442?s=20

On this day 1940 Allied operations resumed off Dakar. The aircraft of HMS Ark Royal bore the brunt of the day, with Blackburn Skuas from 800 Naval Air Squadron & Fairey Swordfish from @820NAS launching at 0620 to bomb Richelieu & the defences of Fort Manoel, respectively.

*correction the air strike launched at 0645

One near miss by a 500lb bomb from an 800 NAS Skua caused someminor damage to the injured Richelieu, while @820NAS claimed hits on Fort Manoel, though this did not affect the fort's guns.

Next came the Fairey Swordfish of 810 NAS, which took off at 0845, once more heading for Richelieu, this time armed with torpedoes in an attempt to repeat the success of HMS Hermes & 814 NAS. They were, however, unsucessful, losing three of their number in the process

With gunnery conditions improving, next came the turn of the heavy ships, with V/Adm Cunningham's flagship HMS Barham, HMS Resolution & the cruisers HMAS Australia & HMS Devonshire echanging fire with Richelieu & the forts, each causing the other minimal damage.

R/Adm Landriau then sent out the light cruisers Georges Leygues & Montcalm to offer a threat to the troops transports carrying Gen de Gaulle's landing force. V/Adm Cunning therefore ordered HMS Ark Royal to launch more torpedo-armed Swordfish at 1445 to ward them off.

Once again, this was largely unsuccessful, with two Swordfish being shot down & one crashing due to engine failure, while Georges Leygues & Montcalm managed to avoid all torpedoes fired at them, the latter with a remarkable crash-stopping manoeuvre, although the action did...

relieve the threat to de Gaulle's troop transports. Once more, however, it had been a realtively inconclusive day of action between the two sides.

On this day 1940, V/Adm Sir John Cunningham's naval force begain its third day of action against Vichy French forces at Dakar. Captain Cedric Holland of HMS Ark Royal had suggested an air strike against Ouakam airfield, but V/Adm Cunningham declined.

Instead, V/Adm Cunningham had decided to try once more with the big guns of his heavy ships, & the flagship HMS Barham, HMS Resolution & the cruisers HMAS Australia & HMS Devonshire once more sailed into range & opened fire.

This time, however, the Vichy French forces were better prepared &, having observed the movements of V/Adm Cunningham's bombarding ships the day before, R/Adm Marcel Landriau had made his dispositions accordingly. The light cruisers Georges Leygues & Montcalm, with destroyers...

were again, outside the harbour & threatening, though this time they were more of a distraction, for inside the harbour, Landriau had had the battered Richelieu towed to a new position by the outer mole, from which she could hit Cunningham's ships on their bombardment tracks.

Additionally, the submarine Bévéziers had also sailed & lay in way for Cunningham's ships to resume their bombardment track & at 0904 Capt de Corvette Pierre Lancelot fired a spread of torpedoes, one of which struck HMS Resolution amidships on the port side causing a serious list

Then at 0913 HMAS Australia suffered two hits from 155mm shells & at 0915 Cunningham's flagship HMS Barham took a hit in the bow from Richelieu's 15in guns. The damage to the latter ships was minor, but with HMS Resolution now crippled & reduced to 12 knots (stopping entirely...

for a time, with a serious boiler room fire) & little, or no perceptibly progress being made, V/Adm Cunningham called off the bombardment at 0930 & he signalled back to London his recommendation to abandon Operation Menace. At 1327 he received the response:

'Unless something has happened which we do not know, which makes you wish to attempt landing in force, you should forthwith break off.'
Cunningham responded simply 'Concur in breaking off.' But by this stage, he had already taken the crippled HMS Resolution in tow with HMS Barham