of Frenchmen for Frenchmen" and called off the assault. During the next two days, the Allied fleet continued to attack the coastal defences and the Vichy forces continued to defend them. At first light on 24 September, six Blackburn Skuas set out to bomb Richelieu, but little damage was done. Six Swordfish also attacked the coastal guns, but their attack also caused limited damage. Another 6 Swordfish set out to bomb Richelieu, but one was hit by anti-aircraft fire and went down in flames. The remaining aircraft then came under attack from three or four Curtiss Hawks and a dogfight ensued, in which two or three Swordfish were shot down. In total, 4 of the 9 Swordfish aircrew were killed on the attack on the Richelieu. Later in the afternoon 9 Swordfish and 3 Skuas set out on another attack on the Vichy ships, with two more Swordfish being lost to anti-aircraft fire. Richelieu's gunners claimed to have shot down three of the British aircraft lost. Throughout the day, Curtiss Hawks would attack British aircraft every time they attempted to carry out reconnaissance or attack French positions. Eventually, Richelieu was hit by two 15-inch shells from Barham. On the second day of action, guns 7 and 8 (in turret number 2) of Richelieu failed on the first round. The following day, the crews were switched and main turret number 1 was used. Propellant charges reconditioned from charges left by the battleship Strasbourg in Dakar, in winter 1939, were used but these gave a significant reduction in range and caused problems of fire control. Over the two days Richelieu used her 380mm main guns fired a total of 24 rounds, among them there seemed to be one near miss on Barham, based on Richelieus operation journal and British maintenance archive. During these engagements, two Vichy submarines (Persée and Ajax) were sunk, and the destroyer L'Audacieux damaged. The Allied fleet also suffered damage: Resolution was torpedoed by the submarine , and Barham was hit by two shells from the coastal defence batteries which had been manned by crew from the No 1 main turret of Richelieu. Barham also took blast damage on the starboard lower bulge from a 380mm round fired by Richelieu that fell short. The structure was forced inwards for 7 feet, causing minor flooding. The cruisers Australia and Cumberland were also damaged. On the final day of action several