Reunited as Force de Raid, Dunkerque and Strasbourg helped move French gold reserves to Canada and escorted a troop convoy to Britain. They transferred to the Mediterranean in 1940 to deter or prepare for war with Italy. A proposed deployment to Norway was rejected because the Italian threat kept them in the Mediterranean, although it might otherwise have produced an encounter with Scharnhorst and Gneisenau. Their station at Mers-el-Kebir when France fell placed two valuable fast battleships at the center of the ensuing Anglo-French crisis.
Chapter · 53:18-55:33
Wartime duties shifted from Atlantic convoys to deterring Italy
The sisters carried gold, escorted troops, and moved to the Mediterranean before France's defeat left them exposed at Mers-el-Kebir.