It was likely that the French would've tried to scuttle the fleet had the Germans tried to requisition it, as happened 2 years later in Toulon [1]. But obviousl

It was likely that the French would've tried to scuttle the fleet had the Germans tried to requisition it, as happened 2 years later in Toulon [1]. But obviously, hindsight is 20/20, there was no way for the British to guarantee that this was going to happen. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scuttling_of_the_French_fleet_in_Toulon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scuttling_of_the_French_fleet_...