Under the armistice, French ships were supposed to have their fuel tanks almost empty; in fact, through falsification of reports and tampering with gauges, the crews had managed to store enough fuel to reach North Africa. One of the cruisers, , was in drydock, helpless. After the remnants of the French Army were required by the Germans to disband, French sailors had to man coast defence artillery and anti-aircraft guns themselves, which made it impossible swiftly to gather the crews and have the ships quickly under way.