The Royal Navy and Marine Nationale had spent much of the interwar period planning closely enough that French forces resembled part of a wider allied system, although Britain still withheld sensitive capabilities such as night-fighting knowledge. That cooperation had created nearly a decade of institutional familiarity before the Second World War. In 1940, familiar French leaders disappeared and policy shifted within weeks from moving gold to Canada for continued war to abandoning the fight. That rapid rupture helps explain British confusion and the loss of trust toward a navy it had expected to remain a partner.
Notable Point · 41:45-43:38
Interwar naval coordination magnified Britain's shock in 1940
Years of close Anglo-French planning made the sudden collapse of French political and naval cooperation especially disorienting for Britain.