to alternate between periods of active service and reserve status with skeleton crews. Strasbourg went into drydock from 15 April to 3 May 1941 for periodic maintenance, and in December she steamed to visit Marseille for four days. The ship was drydocked again on 31 January 1942 for a major refit that included the installation of radar. Her anti-aircraft battery was also modified. The work was completed on 25 April and she returned to service on the 27th. She had to be drydocked for repairs that lasted for five days to her rudder motors in mid-July. Sinking at Toulon Following Operation Torch, the Allied invasion of French North Africa on 8 November, Germany launched Case Anton in retaliation, moving to seize all of the so-called "Zone libre", the part of Vichy France that had up to that point remained unoccupied. Early on 27 November, elements of the German 7th Panzer Division approached the city with the intention of seizing the ships of the Forces de haute mer. At 05:30, de Laborde issued orders to his ships' crews to scuttle their vessels. Sabotage teams had already been preparing to destroy their ships, including stuffing the gun barrels with explosives, and once the order was given, teams passed through each ship with sledgehammers, smashing equipment that might be salvaged by the Germans and Italians including rangefinders, gyrocompasses, radios, and other valuable equipment. Boiler room personnel lit the boilers and shut off the water feeds to cause them to overheat and explode. The Germans reached the port at 05:50 and issued orders to de Laborde to hand over his ships; he informed them that they were already sunk. Strasbourg appeared to be undamaged, leading to confusion among the German officers, but the ship's seacocks had been opened and she was in the process of sinking to the harbor bottom. At 06:20, de Laborde ordered the sabotage team aboard Strasbourg to detonate the scuttling charges that would destroy the ship and prevent her from being simply sealed and re-floated. Italy received control of most of the wrecks, and they decided to repair as many ships as possible for service with the Italian fleet, but to scrap those that were too badly damaged to quickly return to service. The Italians deemed Strasbourg to be a total loss after she was re-floated on 17 July; they accordingly began to dismantle the vessel in port. The armistice