Jean de Laborde

Who was Jean de Laborde?

Jean de Laborde was a French admiral, famous for the scuttling of the French fleet in Toulon.

As a vice-admiral, Laborde was chief of the First Squadron, organised around the battleship Strasbourg.

After the Fall of France and the rise of Vichy France, Laborde supported the regime, and was made chief of the High sea fleet by Philippe Pétain, who counted on using Laborde's dislike of Darlan to make the Fleet easier to manage. The High Seas Fleet was composed of 38 modern units and amounting to a quarter of the total French fleet.

Very antagonistic to the British and to Charles de Gaulle, Laborde promoted a project to re-take Chad. When the Allies invaded the French colonies of North Africa in Operation Torch, he suggested that the French fleet should sail and attack the Allies in retaliation ; this proposal was sharply turned down by Gabriel Auphan.

On the 27 November 1942, Laborde ordered the scuttling of the French fleet in Toulon to prevent his ships from falling in German, Italian or British hands.

At the Liberation, during the "Épuration légale", Laborde was sentenced to death by the Haute cour de justice for treason and for failing to save the fleet by allowing it to defect to the Allies. His sentence was converted to life sentence; he obtained a grace on the 9 June 1947.