Wondering about the lack of Free French

[trynnallen]

Hello all,

Ok I admit that the FF weren't really around all that much in the Pacific. But the FFN Richeleu and FFN destroyers did serve in the Pacific. No French subs did, but with all of the mods I have been seeing, has anyone considered adding the FFN subs to the mix. Was sorta looking for thier 8" gunned sub.

[G.K.]

Their 8" gunned sub had never seen the Pacific, it was sunk near Bermudas on its way there by collision with freighter Thomson Lykes

BTW I can't imagine a submarine firing a midship salvo from 2 8" cannons as Surcouf was meant to do... It must have looked like this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6XpNz7QpBs&feature=related

[SteamWake]

This reminds me of the guy (Spike Lee?) who asked "How come there were no black soldiers in the film 'flags of our fathers' ".

The percentile was so small it would have un-historic to include them.

[GerritJ9]

Until the end of 1942, "Richelieu" was under Vichy control. It was only after "Torch" that she came under Free French control, but even then she was of no immediate use. In 1940, when Germany invaded France, "Richelieu" was still being fitted out by her builders and sailed for Africa with some equipment still missing (though she had run several sea trials), so when taken over by the Free French she needed considerable dockyard effort before being considered fit for operations. To name but one modification........ there was no supply of the French 380 mm shells her main guns needed, so all eight guns had to be rebored to 381 mm (15") to enable them to use British 15" shells. Because she was a "one-off" a LOT of parts had to be custom-made. She had also suffered serious damage while at Dakar, two of her main guns were useless and had to be replaced by two guns from "Jean Bart" (no doubt other items were also supplied by "Jean Bart"). Add to a lengthy dockyard period the time necessary for trials and working-up and it is easy to see why she wasn't available for operations before late 1943.
"Richelieu" joined the Eastern Fleet in March 1944, then departed for European waters in September, rejoining the Eastern Fleet in March 1945, departing for Durban in July. All in all, her involvement in the war against Japan was minor.

[Spraug]

You already mentioned that Surcouf sank near the Bermudas, but - had she survived - I think it is likely that a) she would have been refitted (Radar instead of the airplane and improvements for a dive time less than the 15 minutes she originally needed) like most other pre-war vessels and b) that she would have been used in the Pacific because there was no scope for a ship her type in the Atlantic or Mediterranean.

Also she was not meant to fire broadsides but to fire strait ahead (maybe 45° to port or starboard) not much more, so the recoil would not have capsized her.

I can only agree that it would be a cool boat to try out. Maybe only available after 1943 or only in a specific campaign, but it would be cool (Sorry for all the 100% historically accurate people, but I like alternative history approaches). Unfortunately I have no clue about modding, so I will have to wait if someone else takes pity.

[Sailor Steve]

Okay, this is the second old thread you've resurrected. Please don't let there be a third.

[Spraug]

Sorry, didn't know that was unwanted.