Mistral served under Guillaume Christophe Marie Pons, Count of Toulouse-Lautrec Montfa. She had already taken part in the Dunkirk evacuation when he tried to scuttle her during Operation Catapult. The attempt only partly succeeded, so the British repaired and rearmed her with Royal Navy guns. Distrust of the original crew and scarce Free French manpower led the Royal Navy to operate her as HMS Mistral. Escort duty ended in a collision with the tanker Black Ranger and another repair period. She returned to the Free French in time for Normandy, where German coastal artillery damaged her badly enough to make her a constructive total loss. Political distrust, crew scarcity, and damage repeatedly interrupted her service.
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Mistral from partial scuttling to Normandy
Mistral's partial scuttling led to British control and rearmament before she finally returned to the Free French for Normandy support and was disabled by coastal artillery.