http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1940/jul40/f03jul40.htm
British attack French warships
Wednesday, July 3, 1940 www.onwar.com
Taken from the deck of the Dunkerque during the battle of Oran. The Bretagne is in the background in flames. The Provence and the Strasbourg are attempting to run from port.
In Algeria... At Mers-el-Kebir near Oran, British Admiral Somerville has been ordered to present various alternative schemes for the demobilization of the French ships and their removal to distant ports. Admiral Somerville has been sent with the two battleships and one battle cruiser of Force H supported by an aircraft carrier. The French Admiral Gensoul has four battleships and a large complement of supporting vessels. The deadline in Somerville’s orders expires before the negotiations have achieved an agreement and he feels compelled to open fire. The Bretagne is sunk and two more battleships are badly damaged. The Strasbourg and five destroyers steam out of the port and succeed in getting away to Toulon.
In Britain... At Plymouth and Portsmouth two French battleships, nine destroyers and many smaller ships are taken over with a little bloodshed in some minor skirmishes.
In Egypt... Negotiations are proceeding in Alexandria between the British and the French naval commanders there.
In London... There have been some suggestions, supported by Admiral Pound, the First Sea Lord, that the British Fleet should be withdrawn from the eastern Mediterranean. The idea is rejected by Churchill. The British government and Admiralty are also worried by the status of the French navy and fear that it will fall into German hands.
"...Mr. Stimson emphasized his belief that the extent of aid given to Great Britain should be predicated on whether the munitions 'would be more useful to the United States -- here or there.'
"He contended that there should be compulsory military training, not only to furnish trained personnel for the armed forces, but to impress upon the country the gravity of the world situation.
"He said that Allied warships should be permitted to base upon Atlantic ports in this country, and did not think that that would be an act of war.
"He conceded it would be 'un-neutral'...."After finishing his statement Mr. Stimson said he realized he had been called a 'warmonger' and an 'interventionist,' but that everything he had said previously as a private citizen had been in the interest of defense of the United States, and that alone...
"...Senator Minton asked Mr. Stimson if the defense of this country required intervention in Europe.
"Mr. Stimson said he did not think so, but that it depended on what one would call intervention."
Or, as one of our current generation politicians famously said,
"It all depends on what the definition of "is" is."
I find it most curious the read of these American politicians trying to define for themselves just what might, or might not, be an "act of war."
Surely that's a subject on which an authority like, oh, say, Herr Hitler might have an opinion?