The 1922 Vanderbilt Commodores football team represented Vanderbilt University during the 1922 Southern Conference football season. During the season, Dan McGugin's 18th as head coach, Vanderbilt compiled a record of 8–0–1 (5–0 in conference games) and outscored its opponents 177 to 16. The Commodores' defense was unrivaled in the South, leading the nation in giving up just 1.8 points per game, none of them at home. The season included a tie with Michigan at the dedication of the new Dudley Field; the first stadium in the South to be used exclusively for college football. The season was immediately dubbed one of the best in Vanderbilt and Southern football history.

It was also Vanderbilt's first year in the newly formed Southern Conference (SoCon), in which the team tied with North Carolina and Georgia Tech for the conference championship. This was Vanderbilt's second consecutive season as leader of its conference, having tied with Georgia, Centre, and Georgia Tech for the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association (SIAA) title in 1921. Recognized as the best southern team by several sportswriters, some consider Vanderbilt among the best teams in the US this season, along with Princeton, Cornell, California, Michigan, and Iowa. Both Clyde Berryman and James Howell named Vanderbilt as a retroactive national champion for the second consecutive year.

The team featured end and tackle Lynn Bomar, Vanderbilt's first member of the College Football Hall of Fame, and halfback and captain Jess Neely, who is in the Hall of Fame as a coach. Neely was one of Vanderbilt's greatest-ever team captains and was also the team's best passer. Neely to Bomar is considered among the best pass-receiver tandems in Vanderbilt's history.

Several Vanderbilt players received post-season honors. Walter Camp selected Bomar for his All-America team, a rarity for a player in the South. Walter Eckersall and Frank G. Menke also gave Bomar All-America honors. He was a unanimous All-Southern selection. Camp gave honorable mentions to Neely, quarterback Doc Kuhn, and end and punter Scotty Neill. Bomar and Kuhn also appear on Billy Evans' National Honor Roll; Bomar, Neill, Kuhn, and three other Commodores players were selected for his Southern Honor Roll.

## Before the season

The 1922 season included the new "try for a point" rule. Teams were allowed to either kick an extra point after a touchdown or to place the ball anywhere beyond the 5-yard line and try to score, either by touchdown or by a kick, and receive one point if successful. Under the "try for a point" rule, any foul by the defense meant the point was awarded to the offense and any foul by the offense invalidated the try.

Centre and Georgia Tech were favorites to repeat as champions of the South. Both had lost more players in the offseason than other teams, however. Vanderbilt, along with Auburn, Georgia, and Sewanee, retained enough experienced players to still be considered contenders. Nationally, traditional Eastern teams Yale, Harvard, and Princeton, as well as Cornell and Navy were expected to play for the title. Michigan was favored to win the West.

Vanderbilt entered the first season of the new Southern Conference (SoCon) on March 9. Freshmen were barred from play, and as such the coaches prepared to choose the roster spots from their pool of 23 veteran players. The team included players from Nashville and central Tennessee, including captain Jess Neely, who came from Middle Tennessee State Normal School. His older brother Bill Neely was captain in 1910.

Fifteen starters returned from the previous season including: Neely, Doc Kuhn, Percy Conyers, Alfred Sharp, Tot McCullough, Hugh Mixon, Hek Wakefield, Red Rountree, Freddie Meiers, Tex Bradford, and Fatty Lawrence. Lynn Bomar, who played fullback in 1921, and backup quarterback Alvin Bell were returning for their sophomore campaigns.

Newcomers included guard Garland Morrow and halfback Gil Reese – who was given particular attention from first-year backfield coach Lewie Hardage. Guard Tuck Kelly was a transfer who had formerly played center for Kentucky. Tom Zerfoss, the new varsity assistant and head coach of the freshman team, had also once transferred from Kentucky to Vanderbilt.

After last season, the yearbook noted the Commodores "should have a good chance to repeat the splendid record of '21", expecting to lose just captain Pink Wade and Fats Bailey to graduation. Georgia coach Herman Stegeman predicted a fine season for Vanderbilt in 1922. One commentator noted the Commodores' increase in weight.

Last season's leading scorer Rupert Smith also did not return; neither did end and punter Thomas Ryan, who preferred to remain at his job in the oil industry in Tampico, Mexico. The team also lost tackle Pos Elam, who decided to attend the Middle Tennessee State Normal School.

## Schedule

## Season summary

### Week 1: Middle Tennessee State Normal

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Vanderbilt's season opened on September 30, with a 38–0 victory over the Middle Tennessee State Normal at Curry Field. The Middle Tennessee State Normal School's team was led by Alfred B. Miles in his eighth season as head coach. The game was marked by "the brilliant running of Gil Reese". As well as Reese, game accounts praise quarterback Doc Kuhn and halfback Freddie "Froggy" Meiers for displaying skill while sprinting around broken fields.

Vanderbilt scored all of its touchdowns via end runs and forward passes, which the Normal School's publication The Normalite said attested to the underwhelming play of the Commodores' line against Normal's squad of "big stalwart, husky fellows, with proper training in the fundamentals of the game". Normal's best play was its only first down, a 12 yd (11 m) end run from its halfback Delay.

Vanderbilt coaches expected more from their attempted line plunges and were concerned by the weak showing of the line which needed to improve if Vanderbilt was to have confidence in the mid-season, and in particular against Michigan.

The starting lineup was: McCullough (left end), Bomar (left tackle), Morrow (left guard), Sharp (center), Kelly (right guard), Lawrence (right tackle), Neil (right end), Kuhn (quarterback), Wakefield (left halfback), Neely (right halfback), and Porter (fullback).

### Week 2: Henderson-Brown

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In the second game of the year, Vanderbilt beat Henderson-Brown 33–0. Vanderbilt was sluggish in the first half, which saw Doc Kuhn, Alvin Bell, and Freddie Meiers each play quarterback, but apparently failing to find a rhythm. Vanderbilt was limited to three first downs in the first half, while Henderson-Brown was limited to two. The only points scored during the half was a 70 yd (64 m) touchdown run in the first quarter as Commodore halfback Gil Reese darted through the entire Henderson-Brown defense. Hek Wakefield kicked a goal. Reese's long run was an anomaly in the first half. Vanderbilt's running backs were generally ineffective and its line was arguably outplayed by the weaker line of Henderson-Brown. The Commodores did not complete a single pass during the game. Henderson-Brown also had no success with the passing game; its only attempt was broken up by Vanderbilt's defense.

Vanderbilt found its stride in the second half, scoring 26 points including touchdowns on defense and a blocked punt. Halfback Red Rountree took over at quarterback, sparking the offense. Two drives resulted in nine first downs and two touchdowns, one by Jess Neely and the other by Rountree soon after the fourth quarter had started. Fatty Lawrence recovered a fumble in the end zone for Vanderbilt's fourth touchdown. Later in the fourth quarter, Garland Morrow broke through the line and blocked a punt that crossed the goal line and was recovered by Scotty Neill for the final touchdown. Hugh Mixon accounted for two extra points.

The starting lineup was: McCullough (left end), Bradford (left tackle), Morrow (left guard), Sharp (center), Kelly (right guard), Walker (right tackle), Conyers (right end), Kuhn (quarterback), Reese (left halfback), Neely (right halfback), and Wakefield (fullback).

### Week 3: Michigan

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The third game brought the high point of the season, a scoreless tie with Michigan Wolverines at the dedication of Dudley Field. The tie was the greatest of achievements for the underdog Commodores, and "a great surprise to the sporting world." It features prominently in the school's history. According to one account: "The Commodores[,] surprising even to their followers, fought the Michigan eleven, headed by Coach Yost, to a standstill." Another account reads: "Thousands of cheering Vanderbilt fans inspired the surge of center Alfred Sharp, guard Gus Morrow, tackle Tex Bradford, and end Lynn Bomar, who stopped Michigan cold in four attempts." Commodore fans celebrated by throwing around 3,000 seat cushions onto the field. Many publications called it "one of the big moments of the gridiron season".

The game matched Michigan head coach Fielding H. Yost against his former player and brother-in-law Dan McGugin. McGugin learned what he knew of football while playing under Yost as a guard on Michigan's "point-a-minute" offense; Yost recommended McGugin for the Vanderbilt job. Owing to the relationship between Yost and McGugin, Vanderbilt and Michigan played nine times between 1905 and 1923, with Michigan winning eight times. The 1922 game was the first since 1913.

The Wolverines were a national power and the favorite to win the game. Michigan had beaten Vanderbilt at all prior meetings, and had the much healthier lineup. During the pre-game dressing room talk, coach McGugin is reported to have said: "You are going against Yankees, some of whose grandfathers killed your grandfathers in the Civil War." Also reported, probably more accurately, as: "Out there lie the bones of your grandfathers ... and down on that field are the grandsons of the Yankee soldiers who put them there", referring to a nearby military cemetery. Ironically, Yost's father was a Confederate veteran, and McGugin's father was an officer in the Union Army.

The game, which featured the season's top-two defenses as measured by points against per game, saw little offense. Vanderbilt punted 17 times; Michigan punted 10 times. Some writers were surprised by Michigan's lack of offense, citing it as their best feature. During the entire game, Michigan made six first downs, two of which came from penalties, while Vanderbilt made one. Michigan's consensus All-American halfback Harry Kipke had been rendered moot for most of the game and later said: "I picked myself up very, very painfully from every blade of grass in the place." Fullback Franklin Cappon seemed to be the only Michigan player who could gain much for his offense. According to the 2012 Vanderbilt Football Fact Book, the tie was preserved when captain Neely recovered a fumble near the Commodore goal.

A goal line stand was the Commodores' key play. A partially blocked Vanderbilt punt gave the Wolverines the ball at Vanderbilt's 25-yard line. Two end runs, two line bucks, and a forward pass brought them to first and goal after six minutes. The Commodores' defense repelled four touchdown attempts. Three runs straight up the middle were stopped before the goal line. Cappon made a yard, Kipke lost one, and Cappon then drove to within one ft (0.30 m) of the goal. Vanderbilt captain Jess Neely was heard shouting, "Stop 'em." On fourth down, Michigan faked a field goal and ran with Harry Kipke off tackle to the right. Kipke was stopped very close to the end zone. One Vanderbilt player pushed himself off the goal post in an attempt to generate a greater backwards thrust as the crowd cheered.

The starting lineup was: McCullough (left end), Bomar (left tackle), Morrow (left guard), Sharp (center), Kelly (right guard), Bradford (right tackle), Sc. Neill (right end), Kuhn (quarterback), Neely (left halfback), Reese (right halfback), and Wakefield (fullback).

### Week 4: Texas

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Vanderbilt then traveled to Dallas, to play the Texas Longhorns at the State Fair for the second consecutive year, beating them 20–10. Last year Texas, an experienced team, had been expected to defeat Vanderbilt's team of inexperienced players, but lost. This year, Vanderbilt was the fourteen-point favorite. Along with the Michigan game, the match up between Vanderbilt and Texas had been billed as one of the more important intersectional games since the beginning of the season, and among the best of them in the South.

The teams were fairly even in terms of weight, and Texas was strong between the tackles. A rough match was expected; an ambulance was kept at the ready near the stadium's entrance. Several key Vanderbilt players were injured: Neely, Morrow, and McCullough all experienced problems, leading to a significantly shortened playing time. Coach McGugin had said: "We are crippled beyond all repair, but we are going out to Texas to win."

The first score of the game came from Texas. After the kickoff went to Vanderbilt, Scotty Neill quickly punted back to Texas, as Vanderbilt had much faith in its defense. A 22-yard (20 m) run around the edge by Texas quarterback Franklin Stacy was the highlight of the ensuing drive. A few plays later, Texas found itself on Vanderbilt's 18-yard line. Vanderbilt committed an offsides penalty, moving Texas to the 13-yard line. Texas then lost yards and was at the 17-yard line when Stacy kicked a field goal.

Later in the first quarter, Vanderbilt kicked to Stacy, who fumbled the ball, which was recovered by Hek Wakefield at the 25-yard line. Gil Reese ran twice around the edge, placing the ball at the 13-yard line. After working it to the goal, Reese scored with a short run off-tackle. The try was good and Vanderbilt led 7–3. Captain Neely broke a streak of lethargic offense from both teams, running back a 30-yard (27 m) punt return, to the 40-yard line. Soon after, Reese jetted around the end, "slipping here, twirling there", for a 45-yard (41 m) touchdown. The try was missed and the score was 13–3.

In the second quarter, a short Texas punt and Reese's return, Vanderbilt found itself in good field position at Texas's 45-yard line. On the next play, the Longhorns' Edwin Bluestein blew through the line and stopped Reese for a loss. Then came a 15-yard penalty on Neill for slugging. The next play saw a clumsy toss to Neill resulting in a fumble recovered by Texas at the 29-yard line. Texas's James Marley then got loose for a 21 yards (19 m) run. A short run by Marley then set up a touchdown from Yancy Culp. Texas closed the gap, 13–10. Two unsuccessful field goal attempts by Texas ended the first half.

During the second half, Reese recovered his own fumble at the 18-yard line, giving Texas a temporary edge in field position. Texas's chance to score was missed when a pass from halfback Ivan Robertson was intercepted by Lynn Bomar. The field position then shifted in Vanderbilt's favor when Neill netted a punt of about 60-yard (55 m). In the fourth quarter, Neely hit Bomar on a long pass that went 23 yards (21 m) in the air, with Bomar running for some 20 yards (18 m) more and down close to the goal. Reese ran it in on the next play, and the try was good. Vanderbilt led Texas 20–10.

Robertson later recovered a Wakefield fumble on Vanderbilt's 20-yard line. The Longhorns worked the ball to the eight-yard line, but they failed to convert on the next series of downs as Marley fell short of the goal line. After a 52-yard (48 m) punt from Neill out of his own endzone, the teams traded interceptions. The last play of a vigorous drive saw a Texas run downed at about the 12-yard line as the game ended.

Gil Reese was the widely accepted player of the game, scoring all three of Vanderbilt's touchdowns. Doc Kuhn was praised for his contributions to the run game and his generalship at the quarterback position, as was Scotty Neill for his punting. The result of the 1922 game was much closer than that of the previous year. Texas played better than was expected. The number of first downs seemed to favor Texas; the Longhorns had fifteen first downs compared with the Commodores' eight. Referee A. M. Venne said Vanderbilt defeated Texas because of its crafty play, and "head work".'

The starting lineup was: Bomar (left end), Bradford (left tackle), Walker (left guard), Sharp (center), Kelly (right guard), Lawrence (right tackle), Sc. Neill (right end), Kuhn (quarterback), Wakefield (left halfback), Reese (right halfback), and S. Porter (fullback).

### Week 5: Mercer

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For the fifth game, Vanderbilt beat the Mercer Baptists by a 25–0 score in a "featureless match". Mercer was coached by former All-Southern tackle and Vanderbilt football star Josh Cody. Mercer's team was reduced; many of its star players were experiencing dengue fever. Included on the sick list were: Ed Irwin, Mercer's triple-threat end; right guard 'Judge' Dasher; left guard and team captain Carl Lancaster; halfback George Harmon, who had hurt his ankle; back-up center W. M. Barron, who had mumps; and tackle Beverly Gaines. It was reported that 'Coot' Lynch, replacement for Ed Irwin, was as good an end without Irwin's passing and punting ability. Glenn Carthron was to replace captain Lancaster, and though big, he did not compare to Lynch, who had just returned from an illness-related absence. Injuries aside, the Baptists outweighed the Commodores by more than 20 pounds (9.1 kg) per man.

For the entire 1922 season, Mercer had been unable to play a full lineup of regulars. Scoring would have been an achievement for the Mercer Baptists. Vanderbilt therefore used this game to rest its injured players and played mostly substitutes. Replacement quarterback Red Rountree was the star of the game, making possible all four of the Commodores' scores with his punt returns and end runs. The Baptists' star was fullback Dave Rice, who got the majority of their yardage on the ground. The first score came early in the second when substitute quarterback Red Rountree ran for 43 yards (39 m) around end. In the same period, Lynn Bomar hit Rountree on a 28-yard (26 m) pass, but Vanderbilt was unable to use this to score. The second touchdown came after a short punt from Mercer and a good return from Rountree set up a line buck into the end zone from Bomar.

In the fourth quarter, the Commodores saw two more touchdowns. A pass to Bomar, and a strong line plunge from S. T. Porter, accounted for the scores. Mercer's only chance to score came in the final quarter; after Vanderbilt had fumbled, Mercer completed a pass down to the 10-yard line when the game ended. Red Rountree finished the game with 132 yards (121 m) rushing and 109 yards (100 m) on punt returns. The Vanderbilt team gained 241 yards (220 m) of offense.

The starting lineup was: Brown (left end), Bomar (left tackle), Orr (left guard), W. Porter (center), Lawrence (right guard), Walker (right tackle), Sc. Neill (right end), Rountree (quarterback), Mixon (left halfback), Meiers (right halfback), and S. Porter (fullback).

### Week 6: Tennessee

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In the sixth game of the year, Vanderbilt beat the Tennessee Volunteers at Knoxville, 14–6 "principally due to the fact that Neill was able to outkick the great Campbell." The Tennessee Volunteers were "after revenge"—they had only beaten the Commodores twice and Vanderbilt was ahead in points scored by 347 to 53.

Tennessee also hoped to improve its SoCon record after losing to the Georgia Bulldogs. Both teams had rested their starters the previous week; Vanderbilt won over Mercer and Tennessee beat Mississippi 49–0. It was therefore thought the game should be closer than in previous years, and Vanderbilt was only a slight favorite. The 18th meeting between Vanderbilt and Tennessee packed the stadium; it was the largest crowd of the season for Shields–Watkins Field. The game was hotly contested; several accounts wrote Vanderbilt was "outplayed but not outfought".

Tennessee drove down to the seven-yard line in the first quarter but was held on downs. The first score came from Vanderbilt in the second quarter on a 31-yard (28 m) touchdown pass from Jess Neely to Doc Kuhn. Wakefield kicked a goal. In the fourth quarter, Tennessee reached the one-yard line after a series of long passes. Tennessee fullback Roe Campbell went over the line for the touchdown. The Volunteers' Rufe Clayton failed to kick goal. Later, Vanderbilt intercepted a Tennessee pass in Volunteer territory, leading to a chance to score. After runs at the line failed, a 5-yard (4.6 m) pass from Neely to Lynn Bomar got the touchdown. Wakefield's try was successful.

After the game, Neilly, Lynn Bomar, Gil Reese, and Fatty Lawrence were all mentioned as the Commodores' best players; Campbell was cited as the star for the Volunteers. Accounts stated that Neill out-punted the Volunteers on nearly every occasion. The Nashville Banner said Lawrence had been "in there doing a man's job blocking a kick and tackling with the deadliness of a tiger unleashed in a cave of lions." The same week, Tulane lost to North Carolina, leaving Vanderbilt as the only undefeated member of the Southern Conference.

The starting lineup was: McCullough (left end), Bradford (left tackle), Morrow (left guard), Sharp (center), Kelly (right guard), Walker (right tackle), Sc. Neill (right end), Kuhn (quarterback), Neely (left halfback), Rountree (right halfback), and Wakefield (fullback).

### Week 7: Kentucky

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In the seventh week of play, Vanderbilt beat the Kentucky Wildcats in a "hard fought battle" by a 9–0 score. Although Vanderbilt was favored, a tough match was expected. Freddie Meiers was the star of the contest.

Lynn Bomar's kickoff, fielded by Turner Gregg, was returned to the 16-yard line. Three runs from Kentucky gained nine yards (8.2 m), and on fourth down the Wildcats punted the ball out of bounds at midfield. After the punt, Vanderbilt moved deeper into Kentucky territory. The drive started poorly; Doc Kuhn lost yards on a run around end. The next play was the beginning of Vanderbilt's success—Freddie Meiers had an eight-yard (7.3 m) run. Then on a fake kick, Bomar ran around the end for 5 yards (4.6 m). On the next play, an 18-yard (16 m) drop kick by Henry Wakefield split the uprights. Kentucky drove to Vanderbilt's 20-yard line on the next possession. Any attempt to move further was stopped by Vanderbilt's defense, and a 35-yard (32 m) dropkick from Gregg missed.

The Commodore's first drive of the second quarter centered around Kuhn, Meiers, and Jess Neely; but after reaching Kentucky's 35-yard line the ball was turned over on downs. Kentucky eventually punted away. The next series saw a 70-yard (64 m) drive from Vanderbilt. With fourth down on the one-yard line, Meiers punched it in for the touchdown. Wakefield's try was missed. A later punt by the Wildcats saw Kuhn return the ball 43 yards (39 m), tackled by the last man before the end zone—Kentucky's punter Gregg. The half ended before Vandy could use this to score.

Vanderbilt's play in the third quarter was hampered by fumbles. The ball was kicked off to Kuhn for a 12-yard (11 m) return. Meiers then fumbled the ball, which was recovered by Kentucky. During the ensuing possession, Vanderbilt jumped offside. Vanderbilt's defense made up for the Commodores' poor situation. Kentucky tried an end run that resulted in a loss of three yards (2.7 m) and on the next play a pass was intercepted by Bomar. The next Vanderbilt drive seemed promising with an average of more than five yards (4.6 m) per play, until Vanderbilt again fumbled the ball away. The Vanderbilt defense once more came to the rescue; Kentucky could not get 10 yards (9.1 m) and the ball went over on downs.

The final quarter saw Kentucky attempt a hurried comeback led by forward passes. Only one was completed; a 30-yard (27 m) pass from Fuller to Hollowell. Vanderbilt sent in Gil Reese for Meiers, and Reese closed out the game. One play was a 35-yard (32 m) run; Reese failed to score because Kentucky's Brewer tackled his feet from behind. At Kentucky's 35-yard (32 m) line the drive was stalled with a turnover on downs.

At the end of the week, Vanderbilt was the only undefeated team left in the South; VMI had lost to North Carolina. The following week, Kentucky hosted the high-scoring Alabama Crimson Tide squad and was the only team of the season to hold that team scoreless.

The starting lineup was: Bomar (left end), Bradford (left tackle), Lawrence (left guard), Sharp (center), Kelly (right guard), Morrow (right tackle), Sc. Neill (right end), Kuhn (quarterback), Meiers (left halfback), Neely (right halfback), and Wakefield (fullback)

### Week 8: Georgia

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The Georgia Bulldogs played Vanderbilt for their homecoming and were defeated 12–0, with Bomar described as a "holy terror" to the Bulldogs by W. C. Munday. Vanderbilt left the game as favorite to be crowned champions of the South. The game marked the last time Georgia had lost two consecutive games at home to Vanderbilt, having also lost 46–0 at Athens in 1912. Georgia was without its quarterback Dick Mulvehill. Governor-elect Clifford Walker was among the notables in the large crowd at Sanford Field.

Vanderbilt entered the Georgia game as slight favorites. Since it had held Yost's Michigan machine scoreless, it was thought Georgia could have a difficult time with the Commodores' defense. At that time, Vanderbilt usually beat Georgia; but the previous year, Vanderbilt had to fight to bring the game to a tie.

Every Georgia opponent had failed to score through its line during the 1920 and 1921 seasons, but the Bulldogs had defended the forward pass poorly in prior weeks. It was thought Vanderbilt should expose Georgia's defense by using the forward pass. This seemed to work, for though the Commodores were 3 for 9 on pass plays, they made those three count for around 90 yards (82 m). These passes showed the mark of "ceaseless drill" and seemed to come once Vanderbilt had Georgia's defense looking for the run.

Vanderbilt found itself in another game where punts may have decided the victor. Scotty Neill punted 14 times with an average distance of 47 yards (43 m). Georgia punted 15 times with an average of 34 yards (31 m). Vanderbilt also had a play where, after a fair catch, the team lined up as if they were prepared to punt, and tried to recover a high, hanging onside kick from scrimmage. It was tried twice and failed, although Georgia seemed to be caught off-guard by the display.

The first score of the game came when Jess Neely hit Bomar on a long pass thrown from several yards behind the line of scrimmage at the 45-yard line. Bomar caught it near the seven-yard line and was downed by Georgia halfback Teany Randall after having run for 5 yards (4.6 m) more, close to the three-yard line. The next series of downs saw a touchdown from Reese on a run at the left tackle.

After a few series in the second quarter for both teams, Reese was hit hard on a punt return and fumbled. Georgia's Randall came out of the pile of players with the ball on Vanderbilt's 40-yard line; the crowd could be heard chanting, "Tie it up!" Fullback John Fletcher made nine yards (8.2 m) on a double pass play. A few plays later, Randall hit Paul Anderson on a pass play to get Georgia inside the 20-yard line. Two more runs by Fletcher for a net gain of nine yards (8.2 m) and Tanner barely getting the yard needed for a first down. Vanderbilt's defense stiffened after this, and a pass was knocked down at the two-yard line as the half ended.

To start the second half, Dave Collings kicked off to Freddie Meiers, who had the best run of the day with a return of 40 yards (37 m), giving Vanderbilt the ball at the 45-yard line. Neill punted to Randall, who fell on his own fumble at the 17-yard line. Reese returned the ensuing punt 20 yards (18 m) to Georgia's 44-yard line. Soon after, on a play similar to the touchdown in the first quarter, Doc Kuhn dropped back and hit Bomar for an over 40-yard (37 m) touchdown pass, which went 28 yards (26 m) in the air with Bomar running the rest of the way. Collings tackled Bomar as he was crossing the goal line, hurting himself. Wakefield missed the kick. Neither team had much success passing the ball in the fourth quarter and the game ended with a final score of 12–0.

The starting lineup was: Bomar (left end), Bradford (left tackle), Morrow (left guard), Sharp (center), Kelly (right guard), Walker (right tackle), Sc. Neill (right end), Kuhn (quarterback), Reese (left halfback), Neely (right halfback), and Wakefield (fullback).

### Week 9: Sewanee

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Vanderbilt finished the season on November 30, Thanksgiving Day, with a game against its oldest rival, the Sewanee Tigers, at Dudley Field. Vanderbilt beat Sewanee by a larger-than-expected margin, 26–0. Clinching an undefeated season, the Commodores achieved 19 first downs to the Tigers' two. The crowd of 20,000 people was then the largest attendance ever at a football game in Nashville.

Sewanee got the ball first and rushed to within a yard of a first down but decided to kick the ball away. The Tigers went for an onside kick that was recovered by the Commodores on the 40-yard line. Scotty Neill then muffed a pass from center and was tackled for a 10-yard (9.1 m) loss. The ensuing punt by Neill went 43-yard (39 m). Sewanee failed to gain much and had a short punt out of bounds at the 43-yard line. This led to Vanderbilt's first scoring drive, which was marked by dashes around end from Gil Reese and powerful runs off-tackle by Freddie Meiers. Reese went around the right end for 13 yards (12 m). Meiers then ran all the way to Sewanee's 14-yard (13 m) line, and Reese skirted around left end for ten more. After Meiers failed to gain on the next play, Reese carried the ball for a score on a flank attack, and Hek Wakefield kicked the extra point.

A few minutes later, Vanderbilt scored another touchdown. Wakefield returned a kick for 33 yards (30 m) and Doc Kuhn ran out of bounds for a six-yard gain. Sewanee was then caught off-guard by a trick play. Reese tossed to Kuhn who faked a run. He tossed the ball to Lynn Bomar, who easily ran the remaining twenty-five yards (23 m) for the touchdown. Wakefield kicked the extra point.

In the second quarter, Sewanee tried to put a drive together unsuccessfully after holding Vanderbilt on downs at the 23-yard line. Near the end of the quarter, Bomar intercepted a Sewanee pass. Vanderbilt put together another scoring drive, this time started by Meiers running through Sewanee's line for a long gain. Reese then hit the line to no avail and a pass fell incomplete. Kuhn hit Neill on a 10-yard (9.1 m) pass to get the Commodores inside the five-yard line. On the next series, Kuhn faked his way through the line for a touchdown. The try failed.

The third quarter was Sewanee's best. After trading punts, Sewanee's offense started to click for the first time. The first long gain for Sewanee was because of a Vanderbilt penalty for roughness. Powers made nine-yard (8.2 m) around end, and Gibbons plunged over behind his tackles for four more. A long pass from Powers to end 'Shucks' Shook got Sewanee to about the eight-yard line. Vanderbilt's defense responded again, throwing Gibbons for a loss, and Sewanee's attempted field goal from the 11-yard line narrowly missed.

Vanderbilt returned to its previous success in the final quarter, with a drive described as a "savage attack". The Commodores got to Sewanee's 17-yard line when two passes failed, one dropped by Tex Bradford at the five-yard line, to turn the ball over on downs. Sewanee started to get desperate with passes, one of which was intercepted by George Waller. Runs around end and through the middle took Vanderbilt down to the one-yard line. After Kuhn got a short gain needed for a first down up the middle, Reese took two runs which together accounted for 19 yards (17 m). Reese then ran up behind center to power his way into the end zone. The umpire was knocked down on this play and had a sprained ankle. Sewanee's last drive featured a 29-yard (27 m) pass from Powers to captain Bill Coughlan, which went to the Commodores' 42-yard line. Three more passes were unsuccessful. On fourth down, Sewanee hit a nine-yard (8.2 m) pass, not enough for the first down. The game ended shortly after Vanderbilt's offense took the field, ensuring Vanderbilt's undefeated season.

The starting lineup was: Bomar (left end), Bradford (left tackle), Lawrence (left guard), Sharp (center), Kelly (right guard), Morrow (right tackle), Sc. Neill (right end), Kuhn (quarterback), Neely (left halfback), Reese (right halfback), and Wakefield (fullback).

## Post-season

The 1922 season was among the best in Vanderbilt and in Southern football history. Many publications listed Vanderbilt's season as best in the South. Among sportswriters, Georgia Tech seemed the only challenger for the mythical Southern crown, though the 1922 SoCon championship was officially a tie between Vanderbilt, Georgia Tech, and North Carolina. The Commodores therefore shared a conference title for the second year in a row, having tied with Georgia Bulldogs for the SIAA championship in 1921. Vanderbilt's defense was universally acknowledged as the best in the South. One sports editor wrote: "Vanderbilt has a defensive system any coach would give his right eye to possess." Vanderbilt's defense held Michigan, Tennessee, Georgia, and Texas when all were within three yards (2.7 m) of the goal.

Coach Dan McGugin's record in intersectional matchups started to attract attention. He had beaten the Carlisle Indians 4–0 in 1906, tied Navy on the road in 1907, tied with Yale on the road in 1910, lost a close fight with Harvard 9–3 in 1912; to which could be added the 1922 scoreless tie with Michigan. The next year the Commodores were again scheduled to play Michigan and Texas. Both matches were to be away games, while the rest of the schedule would be played at home. At the annual football banquet on December 5, quarterback Doc Kuhn was elected captain of the Commodore squad for 1923.

### Awards and honors

Lynn Bomar received first team All-American honors from Frank G. Menke. He was also selected as a second team All-American by Walter Camp, a third team All-American by Walter Eckersall, and appears on Billy Evans' National Honor Roll. Bomar was one of the first Southern players to make Camp's team. Grantland Rice wrote the next year, "there was no better end in the country last fall." Jess Neely, Doc Kuhn, and Scotty Neill got Camp's honorable mention. Bomar was one of two consensus All-Southern selections; the other was Red Barron of Georgia Tech. Kuhn appeared on Billy Evans' National Honor Roll, and was the second quarterback after Herb Covington of Centre to be selected for Evans' Southern Honor Roll. Scotty Neill appeared on Evans's Southern Honor Roll, the All-Southern team of Zipp Newman, sports editor for The Birmingham News, and on the second team of All-Southerns chosen by Homer George, sports editor for The Atlanta Constitution. Gil Reese also appeared on Evans' Southern Honor Roll and on George's second team. Other Commodores on Evans' Southern Honor Roll were Tex Bradford and Tuck Kelly. T. H. Alexander selected the entire Vanderbilt eleven as his All-Southern team.

### Coaching changes

Assistant coach Wallace Wade left the Vanderbilt football team for the head coaching position at Alabama, where he had much success establishing Alabama's dynasty. He was first pursued by the University of Kentucky, but refused that option because he felt they had kept him too late with a committee hearing. Dan McGugin was first pursued by Alabama but felt content with Vanderbilt and recommended Wade for the position. In his eight years at Alabama, Wade went 61–13–3 with the school's first three national titles, and had the first Southern team to play in a Rose Bowl. His replacement at Vanderbilt was Josh Cody, Mercer Bears coach and former Vanderbilt player.

## Personnel

### Depth chart

The following chart provides a visual depiction of Vanderbilt's lineup during the 1922 season with games started at the position reflected in parenthesis. The chart mimics a short punt formation while on offense, with the quarterback under center.

### Varsity letter winners

#### Line

#### Backfield

### Subs

#### Line

#### Backfield

### Scoring leaders

### Coaching staff

- Dan McGugin (Michigan '03), head coach
- Wallace Wade (Brown '16), line coach
- Lewie Hardage (Vanderbilt '12), backfield coach
- Tom Zerfoss (Vanderbilt '19), assistant and freshman coach.
- Joe Killebrew, manager

## See also

- 1922 College Football All-America Team
- 1922 College Football All-Southern Team

American college football season

1922 Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association football season

Southern Conference football champion seasons


Izzie Stevens

Isobel Katherine Stevens, M.D. is a fictional character from the medical drama television series Grey's Anatomy, which airs on the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) in the United States. The character was created by series producer Shonda Rhimes, and was portrayed by actress Katherine Heigl from 2005 to 2010. Introduced as a surgical intern at the fictional Seattle Grace Hospital, Izzie worked her way up to resident level, while her relationships with her colleagues Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo), Cristina Yang (Sandra Oh), Alex Karev (Justin Chambers) and George O'Malley (T. R. Knight) formed a focal point of the series.

Heigl garnered high critical acclaim for her performance as Izzie and received numerous awards and nominations for her role, winning the Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series at the 59th Primetime Emmy Awards in 2007. She was critical of the character's development during the show's fourth season, particularly her romance with her on-screen best friend George. She declined to pursue a nomination for the 2008 Emmy Awards, citing insufficient material in the role. After speculation that Izzie would be killed off in the fifth season, the character was diagnosed with Stage 4 metastatic melanoma. She married Alex in the series' 100th episode, and afterwards, her tumor was successfully removed. Heigl made her final series regular appearance as Izzie in the sixth season, leaving Seattle after Alex refused to resume their marriage. The actress requested to be released from her contract 18 months early, in order to spend more time with her family. Ten years after her final appearance, the character's fate was revealed in a season 16 episode, where she makes a visual cameo re-appearance.

## Storylines

### Background

Isobel Katherine "Izzie" Stevens (born 1980) is the daughter of a single mother named Robbie (Sharon Lawrence). They lived together in a trailer park, and Stevens was affectionately nicknamed "Cricket" by her mother. A teenage pregnant patient of hers named Cheynne (Regine Nehy) identifies her trailer as being situated behind a church. Her maternal grandmother died of thyroid cancer sometime before her surgical residency. Growing up, Izzie was encouraged to go into the medical field by her high school biology teacher, Dr. Singer (Joel Grey).

When Izzie was 15, she became pregnant with her first biological child, Hannah Klein (Liv Hutchings) and this caused her to have friction with cheerleaders at her high school. In his Alzheimer's state, Dr. Singer recognizes the father of her child as a fellow high school student. She placed the child for adoption at age 16 after giving birth in 1996. Izzie privately named her daughter Sarah despite her adoptive parents naming her Hannah. Two years later, Stevens departed her hometown of Chehalis, Washington at age 18 and never returned until her third year of residency. After snooping through her file, Lexie Grey (Chyler Leigh) also discovers Stevens attended night school for college and consequently took six years to finish her undergraduate degree.

### Summary

Izzie is introduced as a 25-year-old former model in the first episode of Grey's Anatomy, meeting fellow surgical interns Meredith, Cristina, Alex, and George. She and George move in with Meredith and become best friends. Izzie's boyfriend, hockey player Hank (Jonathan Scarfe), struggles to accept her new role as a surgeon, and the two break up. Izzie is hurt when Alex exposes her past as a lingerie model. However, the two later go on to begin a friendship, and then a romance. Alex experiences sexual dysfunction with Izzie and cheats on her with nurse Olivia Harper (Sarah Utterback). When Izzie finds out, she breaks up with him, though they briefly reunite following a bomb incident at the hospital. Izzie falls in love with cardiothoracic patient Denny Duquette (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), and the two become engaged. When Denny's condition deteriorates, Izzie deliberately worsens his health further by cutting his LVAD wire to move him up the UNOS donor register. Although Denny receives a new heart, he has a stroke hours later and dies. Izzie is the sole beneficiary of Denny's will, inheriting \$8.7 million. She uses the money to open a free clinic at the hospital: the Denny Duquette Memorial Clinic.

Izzie disapproves of George's relationship with and marriage to orthopedic resident Callie Torres (Sara Ramirez). She and George sleep together, and attempt to keep their liaison a secret. George and resident Miranda Bailey (Chandra Wilson) are the only ones made aware that Izzie gave her child up for adoption at age 16. He supports Izzie when an 11-year-old Hannah, diagnosed with leukemia, arrives at Seattle Grace Hospital in need of a bone marrow transplant from Izzie. Izzie's feelings for George grow, and she reveals that she has fallen in love with him. The fourth season premiere "A Change Is Gonna Come" sees 28-year-old Stevens and her peers, except George, promoted to second-year residents. When Callie discovers George has been unfaithful, the two separate, and George and Izzie embark on a short-lived relationship, only to discover there is no real chemistry between them, and they decide to end their relationship and remain friends. Izzie supports Alex when he discovers his new girlfriend, Rebecca (Elizabeth Reaser) has psychiatric problems, and convinces him to have her committed. She is also handed primary responsibility for the clinic, as Bailey cuts back on her responsibilities.

Midway through second year, Izzie celebrates her 29th birthday. Around this timeframe, she and Alex have rekindled their intern year relationship but Izzie grows increasingly concerned when she begins hallucinating Denny. Ultimately she discovers she has Stage 4 metastatic melanoma that has already spread to her liver, skin and brain, causing the hallucinations. Her survival chances are estimated at only 5%. She is admitted to Seattle Grace as a patient. Bailey says Dr. Parker, an unseen obstetrician, will harvest healthy eggs before she undergoes any radiation so she has the option of having babies for later. Alex is upset about having to ejaculate into a cup to create embryos as he wanted them to have children naturally. Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey) successfully removes a tumor from her brain, and Alex informs her he fertilized the eggs. Izzie spends her time in the hospital planning Meredith and Derek's wedding, but when her condition worsens and Derek discovers a second brain tumor, they give the ceremony to Izzie and Alex, who marry in front of all their friends. The procedure to remove the second tumor from Izzie's brain causes her to lose her short-term memory, and although she soon regains it, she flatlines moments later. Her friends ignore her DNR order and attempt to resuscitate her. She dreams herself on an elevator to the afterlife meeting George, who is also flatlining after being hit by a bus. Though George dies, Izzie is resuscitated and recovers enough to return to work.

Izzie is subsequently cut from the surgical program after making a treatment error that endangers the life of a patient. Believing Alex is to blame for her firing, she writes him a Dear John letter and leaves. After Meredith informs Izzie that Alex is moving on, she returns in a midway to make amends and apologize for her mistake in believing Alex was responsible for her firing. After a scan, she informs Alex that she no longer has cancer. Although he is pleased, Alex officially breaks up with Izzie, telling her that he loves her but deserves better. He then urges her to leave, be happy, and not come back. Thus Izzie leaves Seattle forever to start afresh.

### Aftermath

Seven episodes after Heigl's final appearance as the character, Alex informs Meredith that Izzie sent divorce papers. He signs them another two episodes later in the season 6 episode "How Insensitive". In the sixth-season finale, Alex is shot and asks for Izzie. Imagining that Lexie is Izzie, he apologizes and asks her never to leave him again.

In the season 12 episode "I Choose You", Alex's later-second wife (Camilla Luddington) finds an invoice from the fertility clinic that housed Izzie and Alex's fertilized embryos from when she had cancer and ponders the possibility that he has children with Izzie. In the season 12 finale "Family Affair", Alex goes through a relationship break-up ponders if you can only get one soulmate, referring to Izzie. The season 14 episode, "Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story" serves as the 300th episode which sees Alex affected by the appearance of an Izzie doppelganger named Liza (Eryn Rea) who repeats a common Izzie catchphrase "Seriously?". He subsequently reveals to his soon-wife Jo—who urges him to call Izzie—that he never found out what happened to his ex-wife. He prefers to envision his own fantasy of a perfect life for her, married with three children and always smiling, now that he has moved on and is happy with his new partner. In the season 16 episode "Leave a Light On", it is revealed that Izzie reconciled with her ex-husband ten years after their divorce. Izzie is discovered to be a surgical oncologist living on a farm in Kansas raising 5-year-old twins named Alexis and Eli, who were born as a result of Izzie moving forward with IVF five to six years earlier. In the 400th episode "You Are the Blood", Meredith imagines Izzie several times in snippets of her fragmented memories of the hospital as she reflects on her story in reverse upon being named chief of surgery.

## Development

### Casting and creation

Izzie was created by Grey's Anatomy producer Shonda Rhimes, with actress Katherine Heigl cast in the role. Heigl originally wanted to play Izzie as a brunette, but was requested to retain her natural blond for the part. For the audition process, she tried to appear smart by wearing a sweater and glasses and putting her hair up in a bun. She even considered dying her hair brunette to "trick" Rhimes and Horton into thinking she could play a doctor.

Peter Horton stated that while they considered other actresses, "Katie came in and just ... obliterated it." He also noted the difficulty in finding an actress both beautiful and someone "who can really act". Stacy McKee revealed that the reason they dropped Izzie as having worn glasses after the pilot episode was due to the "nightmare" of the glasses reflecting in the lighting when shooting scenes. Heigl's comprehension of medical procedures and terminology is slight; the actress explained that while she has an admiration for doctors, she is not as fascinated by medicine as other cast members. When Kate Walsh's character Addison Montgomery left Grey's Anatomy to launch the spin-off show Private Practice, Heigl disclosed that she had hoped for a spin-off for Izzie.

Heigl declined to put her name forward for a fourth season episode of Grey's Anatomy as consideration at the 60th Primetime Emmy Awards in 2008, claiming that she had been given insufficient material on the season to warrant a nomination. Following Heigl's statement, speculation arose that her character would suffer a brain tumor and be killed off Grey's Anatomy, substantiated by the announcement Jeffrey Dean Morgan would return to the series as Denny, who died at the end of season 2. ABC's entertainment president Steve McPherson denied the rumor, stating: "There is an unbelievable storyline for her this year, which is really central to everything that's going to go on this season". In 2010, Heigl clarified that she clarified she was not "snubbing the Emmys", calling her 2007 win the "highlight of [her] career" and regretted making the statement. She stated that she made it out of fear of a "No comment" answer making her sound uninterested in entering the race. Commenting further, she remarked: "I could have more gracefully said that without going into a private work matter. It was between me and the writers. I ambushed them, and it wasn’t very nice or fair."

Speculation resumed, however, when Dean Morgan returned to the show for a second time in its fifth season. Cast member James Pickens, Jr. announced that both Heigl and T. R. Knight were set to depart from the show, but he later retracted his comment. During the course of the fifth season, Izzie was diagnosed with Stage 4 metastatic melanoma which spread to her liver, skin and brain. Following the show's 100th episode wrap-up party, Heigl revealed she did not know if Izzie would survive, as no one on the production team would disclose her character's fate to her. It was confirmed in June 2009 that Heigl would return as Izzie for the show's sixth season. Heigl's appearances in the season were sporadic, seeing Izzie depart and return twice.

### Film project leave and maternity leave

Beginning in September 2009, Heigl was granted an extended leave for five episodes of the sixth season (from episode six's "I Saw What I Saw" to episode eleven's "Blink") to shoot the romantic comedy film Life As We Know It (2010), her first executive producer project as an actress. It was confirmed her exit would coincide with lead actress Ellen Pompeo's own maternity leave, and also shortly following T.R. Knight's departure from the series. Showrunner Shonda Rhimes admitted, "Eventually, everybody is going to leave the show,” admitted the exec, citing T.R. Knight’s exit and the temporary loss of Pompeo. ”So we’re looking at [ways] we can mess with the structure now. Season 6 is about finding the longevity of the show and figuring out if there is a future for this show beyond these characters.”

Pompeo's titular character, Meredith Grey was given reduced screentime, with scenes filmed in advance for future episodes. Heigl's character, however, was given a purposeful exit storyline. The character is fired in the fifth episode of the season "Invasion" and leaves her husband, Alex with a Dear John note. She is subsequently absent for the following three episodes. Stevens briefly returns for the ninth episode "New History", before departing again. After the release of the eleventh episode "Blink", Heigl wrapped up shooting Life As We Know It and returned for the twelfth episode, "I Like You So Much Better When You're Naked", set to air in January 2010.

In November 2009, it was announced, however, Heigl had taken an indefinite, extended maternity leave to care of her adopted daughter, and the twelfth episode would serve as a further phasing out. It was later revealed to be a three-month maternity leave and Rhimes confirmed Heigl would not shoot scenes in advance for her character like Pompeo.

### Decision to leave

On March 1, 2010, Katherine Heigl was scheduled to return to the Grey's set to shoot the twentieth episode of the sixth season, and the subsequent four episodes. Negotiations had been ongoing "for months" between Heigl and ABC regarding her commitment to the series. In the same week, both sides mutually agreed that the best solution would be to "part ways now as opposed to at the end of the season", which became public news on March 11. Heigl further stated she "spoke again" to Rhimes about leaving before she was due back, and then waited at home in Utah until she was given the "formal okay" notice that she would no longer be a part of the series.

Heigl requested to be released from her contract 18 months early, and to retroactively make her final appearance be the twelfth episode of the season (her maternity leave departure episode), "I Like You So Much Better When You're Naked" which aired on January 21, 2010. In April 2010, she stated that the episode — while not intended to be her final episode — "oddly works as a bookend to Izzie's story". She further commented:

"Even though there's a part of me that would like to go back and do the quick Izzie farewell, I also think that my last scene — where Meredith says to Izzie, 'Please don't go, This is your home,' and Izzie's response was, 'No it’s not, not anymore it’s just a place I worked and I can do that anywhere' — was kind of tragic and appropriate all at the same time. When I was playing the scene, I was really trying to convey that, for Izzie, that was a lie that she had to tell herself to have the courage to have to move on."

While a source within the actress’ camp claimed Heigl “was at home and ready to return to work" on March 1, another stated it was "much more complicated than that". Headwriter Krista Vernoff (who later became sole showrunner) revealed in 2020 that she penned one late-season six farewell episode "entirely centered on [Izzie] and the completion of her story arc", as well as her relationship with Alex, describing it as "beautiful"; it was subsequently canned and heavily re-written after the production received a call that "Katie wasn't coming" and "Wasn't going to do it". However, a source within Heigl's camp disputed this claim, responding that she had returned to LA from Utah waiting to be called to set. Heigl had also previously stated in March 2010 that the rumors that she refused to return were untrue. She instead simply waited to be formally approved to be legally released from her contract, which she was subsequently approved for.

On March 24, 2010, Katherine Heigl announced that the decision to leave was made out of shifted priorities; she no longer desired to work full-time and also needed to establish a stronger bond with her adoptive child. She also did not think it would be respectful to Grey's Anatomy viewers to have Izzie return and depart yet again (after doing so twice previously in the same season). She revealed that she had "just finalized [her] agreement" with ABC, and further stated: "Everyone had been working really hard to find an amicable and gracious way of letting go and moving on. It’s sad but it’s what I wanted.” The eighteenth episode "Suicide is Painless" released the following day became Heigl's final credited appearance, despite not appearing in the episode. In the nineteenth episode "Sympathy for the Parents", Heigl's name is removed from the main cast for the first time since the pilot episode, and Kim Raver who previously recurred as Dr. Teddy Altman is added, following a January 2010 announcement of her promotion.

### Post-exit

In August 2010, Rhimes stated that she did not feel Izzie's character arc—specifically her relationship with Alex—had fully concluded, and hoped to give proper closure to their relationship in the seventh season. She later confirmed that she had intended to kill off Izzie off-screen, but opted against this a day later as she felt that it would destroy Alex, rather than give him closure. Instead, she concluded: "I'm open to seeing Izzie again. So if she [Katherine] were to come back, we would be thrilled to [wrap up her story]. But if she doesn't, we'll just move on." In the How to Save a Life: The Inside Story of Grey's Anatomy (2021) book, former writer Jenna Bans stated that Izzie was kept alive because "Shonda [Rhimes] felt like that was more of an unexpected way to go."

Heigl also went on to say in October 2010 that a return looked bleak because she could not think of "any way that [Izzie] could come back gracefully that wouldn't just feel manipulative". She stated it was "hard" because she wonders "what she's doing and where she is and what happened, but that is over for me now", and expressed further admiration for her on-screen husband, Chambers and their characters' romantic coupling.

However, in January 2012, Heigl stated in an interview that she has asked the producers if she could return to the show to give closure to Izzie's storyline: "I've told them I want to [return]," she said. "I really, really, really want to see where [Izzie] is. I just want to know what happened to her and where she went and what she's doing now. My idea is that she actually like figures it out, and finds some success and does really well in a different hospital. She was always floundering you know, and so she was always one step behind the eight ball and I want to see that girl take some power back." She later went on to say that she regrets leaving the show, "Oh yeah, sometimes, yeah. You miss it. I miss my friends. It was a great work environment... and it becomes a family. I spent six years together with these people every day... you grow up together, in a way," and again commented on Izzie's possibly returning to the show, "I always felt that if they wanted me to come back and sort of wrap up that storyline... I want them to know that I'm down with it if they want me to, but I completely understand if it doesn't necessarily work... They've got a lot of story lines going on there." But in March 2012, Shonda Rhimes said that there are no plans at the moment for the character to return, "I think it was really nice to hear her appreciating the show. At the same time we are on a track we have been planning. The idea of changing that track is not something we are interested in right now." 3 years later, Rhimes said she has completely moved on from the idea of Izzie coming back, "I’m done with that story. I’ve turned that idea over in my mind a thousand times and thought about how it would go. And I don’t think so."

After her exit, Izzie makes uncredited archive footage re-appearances in "Flight", "Leave A Light On" and "You Are the Blood". For the 300th episode, "Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story", showrunner Krista Vernoff wanted to incorporate a nostaglia-fuelled storyline. Izzie returned "in spirit" for the episode with a doppelganger character, Liza (portrayed by Eryn Rea), alongside George and Cristina doppelgangers, Greg and Cleo. Initially, Vernoff pitched to Rhimes (who still had executive producer privileges) an original main cast member from the pilot returning as the focal point storyline for the episode after noticing the Izzie lookalike actress, Eryn Rea (who was a Meredith stand-in) through the camera during the early-fourteenth season scenes shot in Seattle. Vernoff observed:

"Every time I walked past the camera, I gasped because I felt like I had traveled back in time. She looked so much like first-season Izzie to me. ... We were talking about: Can we get one of the originals, that’s obviously where you start. Well, no you can’t, you try and you can’t and there are a million reasons why you can’t. So you move on. Then it becomes a conversation of how do we get the feeling of a visit from the originals without a visit from the originals."

The original cast member was heavily rumored to be Heigl, and Vernoff further stated she was unable to allow the cast member to return for a "million reasons", remaining tight-lipped about who the series regular was to be. She then pitched a storyline about "doppelgangers" which was approved instead.

In 2020, showrunner Krista Vernoff discussed the possibility of Chambers and Heigl returning together after the former's off-screen departure stating, "When I left the show in season 7, people asked me if there was any chance of me ever coming back. “I was smart enough to say, ‘Never say never.’ Here I am, so who knows?” In 2021, Heigl herself said she did not know if she would ever re-appear in the series, but also said "never say never".

### Characterization

Heigl believes that the Grey's Anatomy writers incorporate much of the actors' personalities into their roles, and that Izzie is a "super-moral" version of herself. The episode "Bring the Pain", which aired as the fifth episode of the second season, was originally intended to be the final episode of the first season. Rhimes explained that Izzie's character in this episode came "full-circle" from her role in the pilot: "Izzie, so vulnerable and underestimated when we first meet her, is the girl who removes her heart from her sleeve in 'Bring the Pain'." Discussing Izzie's personality in a 2006 Cosmopolitan interview, Heigl assessed that she is "immensely kind and patient". When Denny died in the season finale "Losing My Religion", Rhimes discussed the impact it had on Izzie, noting that Izzie is forced to abandon her idealism, which in turn leads to her letting go of medicine. In the aftermath of Denny's death, Heigl came to believe that Izzie was not cut out to be a doctor. Executive producer Betsy Beers explained, however, that Denny's death served to make Izzie more mature, and Heigl affirmed that "At the beginning of the [third] season they were trying to show how lost Izzie was. She lost her optimism. She realizes now that life is difficult, but she still tries very hard to see the best in people." In order to demonstrate Izzie's dislike of George's love-interest Callie, Rhimes penned a scene which she deemed one of her favorite moments on the show, in which Callie urinates in front of a stunned Izzie and Meredith. Rhimes assessed that: "I love that Izzie and Mer respond with all the trauma of having viewed a car-crash ... the point is Callie pees and Izzie tortures her a tiny bit about the hand-washing and that made me overjoyed because that’s the kind of thing people do."

Discussing Izzie's relationship with Alex in a 2006 Cosmopolitan interview, Heigl assessed that "Even when Alex was a complete dirtbag to her [Izzie], she forgave him and gave him another chance. And he really screwed her over. ... To go for a guy like that is to say I want to be damaged.'" Writer Stacy McKee deemed Izzie's moving on from Alex to patient Denny Duquette "karma", as Alex previously treated Izzie badly, yet as he begins to realize his true feelings, he is forced to watch her embark on a romance with "the undeniably-handsome-and-totally-charming" Denny. Series writer Blythe Robe commented on Izzie and Denny: "I love the way Izzie lights up when she's around him. I love their relationship because it's so pure and honest and completely game free." Writer Elizabeth Klaviter noted at this time the way Izzie "seems to be sacrificing her reputation because of her feelings for Denny." When Izzie deliberately worsened Denny's condition to move him up the transplant list, series writer Mark Wilding questioned the morality of the actions, asking: "is Izzie bad for doing it? Is she tremendously irresponsible? She cut the LVAD wire for love, so does that make her action understandable?"

Rhimes discussed costuming choices in the scene which saw the interns gather around Denny's deathbed, explaining: "Meredith and George and Cristina and Callie and Alex are all dressed, not for a prom, but for a funeral. Everyone in dark colors, everyone dressed sombrely. As if they were in mourning. Only Izzie is in happy pink. Only Izzie looks like she didn’t know this was coming." Following Denny's death, Heigl approached Rhimes to ask when her character would next have a romantic liaison. Rhimes explained that "Izzie doesn't sleep around". Heigl expressed a desire for Izzie to reunite with Alex, explaining: "I believe on some level, there's a connection between Izzie and Alex. He can do honorable things even though he's cutting and sarcastic. I would like to ultimately see them together, if not this season, then next."

Yahoo! Voices wrote that Stevens in the third season "has become more condescending and passive-aggressive herself, more than anyone else." Heigl was critical of her character's development in the show's fourth season, particularly her affair with George, which she deemed "a ratings-ploy". Heigl explained: "They really hurt somebody, and they didn't seem to be taking a lot of responsibility for it. I have a really hard time with that kind of thing. I'm maybe a little too black and white about it. I don't really know Izzie very well right now. She's changed a lot." Attempting to rationalise Izzie's actions, Heigl later assessed that:

> People who are so infallible, perfect and moral tend to be the first to slip and fall. But I would love to see how she deals with the consequences of what she's done, because what’s interesting is when people make decisions that shake their world, they suddenly have to go, 'Woo, I didn't know I was capable of this.' I'd like to see Izzie take some culpability.

In June 2010, Heigl spoke of her character after departing amid the sixth season stating, "I felt very protective of Izzie. I really loved her. I felt she was an admirable woman who certainly made mistakes. But I was starting to not like her, and that bothered me."

## Reception

Heigl was nominated for the Best Supporting Actress in a TV Series award at the 2007 and 2008 Golden Globe Awards for her role as Izzie Stevens. She was named "Favorite Female TV Star" at the 34th People's Choice Awards, and awarded the Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series at the 2007 Emmy Awards, becoming the only star-billed cast member of the show to have received a Primetime Emmy Award. Prior to the ceremony, considering Heigl's chances of winning the Emmy, Variety's Stuart Levine assessed of her performance: "Heigl has little difficulty reaching Izzie's highest highs and lowest lows. Showrunner Shonda Rhimes puts a lot of pressure on Heigl to carry many intense storylines, and she's up to the challenge." Levine also noted, however: "There are times when Izzie becomes completely irrational during crisis situations, which may bother some." Fox News included Izzie in its list of "The Best TV Doctors For Surgeon General". The character was listed in Wetpaint's "10 Hottest Female Doctors on TV" and in BuzzFeed's "16 Hottest Doctors On Television".

During the show's third season, the New York Post's Robert Rorke deemed Izzie to be "the heart-and-soul" of Grey's Anatomy. He deemed her the show's heroine, and wrote that: "Izzie is a welcome, calming presence, despite the devastation she experienced when she failed to save her patient and fiancé Denny Duquette. ... Besides the formidable Dr. Bailey played by Chandra Wilson, Izzie seems to be the only adult intern at Seattle Grace; the character has achieved a depth lacking in her fellow interns." Eyder Peralta of The Houston Chronicle was critical of Izzie's ethics in cutting Denny's LVAD wire, writing that she "should not be practising medicine" and stating: "That's the reason I don't watch Grey's Anatomy, anymore, because the super-hot blond chick can make an earth-shattering, fatal decision and she doesn't get canned."

The season 4 romance between Izzie and George proved to be highly unpopular with viewers, and resulted in a fan backlash among Izzie and Alex fans. The return of Izzie's deceased fiancé Denny and the resumption of their romance during the show's fifth season also proved unpopular with fans, and was deemed "the world's worst storyline" by Mary McNamara of the Los Angeles Times. McNamara was also critical of the fifth season finale episode "Now or Never", which saw Izzie flatline following neurosurgery, opining that Izzie ought to die. The episode in which Izzie married long-term love Alex received 15.3 million viewers, the largest television audience of the night. Their off-screen reunion in the sixteenth season received a polarizing response from fans. Deadline remarked "fan-favorite" Alex's ending's similarities to that of ER'''s Doug and Carol, played by George Clooney and Julianna Margulies respectively, "who also left the show at different times" and there "Carol also had given birth to the couple’s twins unbeknownst to Doug, with the couple eventually reuniting to live happily ever after with their kids".

Izzie's cancer storyline received a mixed response from the medical community. Otis Brawley, chief medical officer at the American Cancer Society, commented that Izzie's treatment options were unrealistic. Whereas in the show she was offered the drug interleukin-2, in reality the drug is never recommended to patients when melanoma has spread to the brain, as it can cause bleeding and strokes. Brawley explained that such patients would instead be offered radiosurgery. Conversely however, Tim Turnham, executive director of the Melanoma Research Foundation, praised Grey's Anatomy for bringing about greater public awareness of melanoma, stating: "We welcome the national spotlight Grey's Anatomy'' has created for melanoma and its efforts to encourage viewers to learn more about the importance of prevention, early detection and research."

Fictional character from the television show Grey's Anatomy

American female characters in television

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French battleship Strasbourg

Strasbourg was the second and final member of the Dunkerque class of fast battleships built for the French Navy in the 1930s. She and her sister ship Dunkerque were designed to defeat the German Deutschland class of heavy cruisers that had been laid down beginning in the late 1920s, and as such were equipped with a battery of eight 330 mm (13 in) guns to counter the six 280 mm (11 in) guns of the Deutschlands. Strasbourg was laid down in November 1934, was launched in December 1936, and was commissioned in September 1938 as the international situation in Europe was steadily deteriorating due to Nazi Germany's increasingly aggressive behavior.

Strasbourg was assigned to the Atlantic Fleet upon entering service; her only significant peacetime activities consisted of visits to Portugal in May 1939 and a tour of Great Britain in May and June that year. She spent the next two months training with other units of the fleet and in September, France and Britain declared war on Germany over its invasion of Poland, starting World War II. The two Dunkerque-class ships formed the core of the Force de Raid (Raiding Force), tasked with protecting Allied merchant shipping in the central Atlantic. The unit was quickly divided into two groups, with Strasbourg and other units being detached as Force X, based in Dakar. With an increasingly belligerent Italy threatening to enter the war in April 1940, Force X was recalled to the Mediterranean to act as a deterrent, though the defeat of French forces in the Battle of France rendered the situation moot.

The armistice specified that Strasbourg and the rest of the French fleet would be demilitarized, and she and several other battleships were stationed in Mers-el-Kébir at the time. Mistakenly under the impression that the Germans sought to seize the ships, the British Force H was sent to either force the ships to continue fighting or to destroy them. When the French refused the ultimatum, the British opened fire, but Strasbourg evaded the British and escaped to Toulon. There, she served as the flagship of the newly established Forces de haute mer until the Germans attempted to seize the fleet during Case Anton, leading to its destruction in the scuttling of the French fleet in Toulon in November 1942. The wreck was later seized by the Italians, who raised Strasbourg and then started dismantling the ship, and was later taken by the Germans. The vessel was later bombed and sunk a second time by American bombers in August 1944, and was ultimately sold for scrap in 1955.

## Development

The French Navy's design staff spent the decade following the 1922 Washington Naval Treaty attempting to produce a satisfactory design which would allow several ships to be built within the 70,000-ton limit allowed by the treaty. Initially, the French sought a reply to the Italian Trento-class cruisers of 1925, but all proposals were rejected. A 17,500-ton cruiser, which could have handled the Trentos, was inadequate against the old Italian battleships, however, and the 37,000-ton battlecruiser concepts were prohibitively expensive and would jeopardize further naval limitation talks. These attempts were followed by an intermediate design for a 23,690-ton protected cruiser in 1929; it was armed with 305 mm (12 in) guns, armored against 203 mm (8 in) guns, and had a speed of 29 knots (54 km/h; 33 mph). Visually, it bore a profile strikingly similar to the final Dunkerque-class design.

The German Deutschland-class cruisers became the new focus for French naval architects in 1929. The design had to respect the 1930 London Naval Treaty, which limited the French to two 23,333-ton ships until 1936. Drawing upon previous work, the French developed a 23,333-ton design armed with 305 mm guns, armored against the German cruisers' 280 mm (11 in) guns, and with a speed of 30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph). As with the final Dunkerque-class design, the main artillery was concentrated entirely forward. The design was rejected by the French parliament in July 1931 and sent back for revision. The final revision grew to 26,500 tons; the 305 mm guns were replaced by 330 mm (13 in) /50 Modèle 1931 guns, the armor was slightly improved, and the speed slightly decreased. Parliamentary approval was granted for the first member of the class in early 1932, and Strasbourg was ordered on 16 July 1934 with the design unchanged but with greater armor thicknesses and increased weight.

### Characteristics

Strasbourg displaced 27,700 long tons (28,100 t) standard and 35,500 long tons (36,100 t) fully loaded, with an overall length of 214.5 m (703 ft 9 in), a beam of 31.08 m (102 ft) and a maximum draft of 8.7 m (28 ft 7 in). She was powered by four Parsons geared steam turbines and six oil-fired Indret boilers, which developed a total of 112,500 shaft horsepower (83,900 kW) and yielded a maximum speed of 29.5 knots (54.6 km/h; 33.9 mph). Her crew numbered between 1,381 and 1,431 officers and men. The ship carried a pair of spotter aircraft on the fantail, and the aircraft facilities consisted of a steam catapult and a crane to handle the floatplanes.

She was armed with eight 330mm/50 Modèle 1931 guns arranged in two quadruple gun turrets, both of which were placed in a superfiring pair forward of the superstructure. Her secondary armament consisted of sixteen 130 mm (5.1 in) /45 dual-purpose guns; these were mounted in three quadruple and two twin turrets. The quadruple turrets were placed on the stern, with one on the centerline on the superstructure and the other two on either side on the upper deck, and the twin turrets were located amidships, just forward of the funnel. Close range antiaircraft defense was provided by a battery of eight 37 mm (1.5 in) guns in twin mounts and thirty-two 13.2 mm (0.52 in) guns in quadruple mounts. The ship's belt armor was 283 mm (11.1 in) thick amidships, and the main battery turrets were protected by 360 mm (14.2 in) of armor plate on the faces, both thicker than installed in Dunkerque. The main armored deck was 127 mm (5 in) thick, and the conning tower had 270 mm (10.6 in) thick sides.

## Service history

### Prewar service

Strasbourg was ordered on 16 July 1934 in response to the Italian Littorio-class battleships. The keel for the ship was laid down in November 1934 in the No. 1 slipway of the civilian Ateliers et Chantiers de la Loire shipyard in Saint-Nazaire. After her launching in December 1936, she was moored along the fitting-out quay, where her armament, propulsion system, and other equipment were installed. Strasbourg departed Saint-Nazaire on 15 June 1938, bound for Brest, France; while en route she conducted brief speed tests. The ship arrived on 16 June and departed again on 21 June to begin official acceptance trials. Modifications were done from 22 to 30 June, followed by more sea trials that continued into August. Gunnery trials were performed on 24–25 August off the island of Ushant, and the ship was formally commissioned on 15 September. That day, she was drydocked so that her propulsion system could be inspected after the trials. On 15 December, Strasbourg went to sea to resume working up for active service, including more gunnery testing. By this time, the international situation in Europe had begun to worsen as Nazi Germany began making increasingly hostile demands on its neighbors.

On 24 April 1939, the ship was finally ready for active service, joining the Atlantic Fleet with her sister ship Dunkerque; the two ships were designated the 1st Battle Division. The ships received identification stripes on their funnels, one for Dunkerque as division leader, and two for Strasbourg. Strasbourg joined Dunkerque on 1 May for the first time for a cruise to Lisbon, Portugal on 1 May, arriving there two days later for a celebration of the anniversary of Pedro Álvares Cabral's discovery of Brazil. The ships left Lisbon on 4 May and arrived in Brest three days later. There, they met a British squadron of warships that were visiting the port at the time. The two Dunkerque-class ships sortied on 23 May in company with the 4th Cruiser Division and three destroyer divisions for maneuvers held off the coast of Great Britain. Dunkerque and Strasbourg then visited a number of British ports, including Liverpool from 25 to 30 May, Oban from 31 May to 4 June, Staffa on 4 June, Loch Ewe from 5 to 7 June, Scapa Flow on 8 June, Rosyth from 9 to 14 June, before stopping in Le Havre, France from 16 to 20 June. The ships arrived back in Brest the next day. The squadron conducted more training off Brittany through July and into early August.

### World War II

In August, as tensions with Germany were again heightened, this time over territorial demands on Poland, the French and British navies discussed coordination in the event of war with Germany; they agreed that the French would be responsible for covering Allied shipping south from the English Channel to the Gulf of Guinea in central Africa. To protect shipping from German commerce raiders, the French created the Force de Raid (Raiding Force), with Strasbourg and Dunkerque as its core. The group, which was under the command of Vice-amiral d'Escadre (Squadron Vice Admiral) Marcel-Bruno Gensoul, also included three light cruisers and eight large destroyers, and was based in Brest. British observers informed the French Navy that the German "pocket battleships" of the Deutschland class had gone to sea in late August, bound for the Atlantic, and that contact with the vessels had been lost. On 2 September, the day after Germany invaded Poland, but before France and Britain declared war, the Force de Raid sortied from Brest to guard against a possible attack by the Deutschlands. Upon learning that the German ships had been spotted in the North Sea, Gensoul ordered his ships to return to port after they met the French passenger liner Flandre in the Azores. The Force de Raid escorted the liner back to port and arrived in Brest on 6 September.

By this time, the German raiders had broken out into the Atlantic, so the British and French fleets formed hunter groups to track them down; the Force de Raid was split, with Dunkerque and Strasbourg operating individually as Force L and Force X, respectively. Dunkerque, the aircraft carrier Béarn, and three cruisers remained in Brest while Strasbourg and two French heavy cruisers joined the British aircraft carrier HMS Hermes, based in Dakar, French West Africa. Strasbourg left Brest on 7 October in company with the destroyer Volta and a division of torpedo boats, meeting Hermes off Camaret-sur-Mer later that day. The ships then steamed south to meet the heavy cruisers off Casablanca, ultimately arriving in Dakar on 14 October. The ships went on a patrol in the central Atlantic from 23 to 29 October, during which they captured the German merchant ship Santa Fe on the 25th. Another sweep followed from 7 to 13 November to the west of Cape Verde; the ships found four Germans aboard a Belgian passenger liner and took them prisoner. Other warships arrived in Dakar on 21 November to relieve Strasbourg; she left that day along with the cruiser Algérie and an escort of torpedo boats. Ordered to return to Brest, it was feared that German aircraft had dropped naval mines in the harbor entrance, so the ships were temporarily diverted to Quiberon Bay until a search revealed no mines on 29 November.

Faced with increasingly hostile posturing by Italy during the spring of 1940, the Force de Raid was dispatched to Mers-el-Kébir on 2 April. Strasbourg, Dunkerque, two cruisers, and five destroyers left that afternoon and arrived three days later. The squadron was quickly ordered to return to Brest just a few days later in response to the German landings in Norway on 9 April. The Force de Raid left Mers-el-Kébir that day and arrived in Brest on the 12th, with the intention that the ships would cover convoys to reinforce Allied forces fighting in Norway. But the threat of Italian intervention continued to weigh on the French command, which reversed the ships' orders and transferred them back to Mers-el-Kébir on 24 April; Strasbourg and the rest of the group left that day and arrived on 27 April. They conducted training exercises in the western Mediterranean from 9 to 10 May but saw little activity for the next month. On 10 June, Italy declared war on France and Britain.

Two days later, Strasbourg and Dunkerque sortied to intercept reported German and Italian ships that were incorrectly reported to be in the area. The French had received faulty intelligence that had indicated that the Germans would attempt to force a group of battleships through the Strait of Gibraltar to strengthen the Italian fleet. After the French fleet got underway, reconnaissance aircraft reported spotting an enemy fleet steaming toward Gibraltar. Supposing the aircraft to have spotted the Italian battle fleet steaming to join the Germans, the French increased speed to intercept them, only to realize that the aircraft had in fact located the French fleet. The fleet then returned to port, marking the end of Strasbourg's last wartime operation. On 22 June, France surrendered to Germany following the Battle of France. Under the terms of the Armistice, Strasbourg and Dunkerque would remain at Mers-el-Kébir.

#### Mers-el-Kébir

The only test in battle for Strasbourg came in the attack on Mers-el-Kébir on 3 July. The British, misinterpreting the terms of the armistice as providing the Germans with access to the French fleet, feared that the ships would be seized and pressed into service against them despite assurances from François Darlan, the Chief of the Naval General Staff, that if the Germans attempted to take the vessels, their crews would scuttle them. Prime Minister Winston Churchill then convinced the War Cabinet that the fleet must be neutralized or forced to re-join the war on the side of Britain. The British Force H, commanded by Admiral James Somerville and centered on the battlecruiser HMS Hood and the battleships Resolution, and Valiant, arrived off Mers-el-Kébir to coerce the French battleship squadron to join the British cause or scuttle their ships. The French Navy refused, as complying with the demand would have violated the armistice signed with Germany. To ensure the ships would not fall into Axis hands, the British warships opened fire at 17:55. Strasbourg was tied alongside the mole with her stern facing the sea, so she could not return fire.

Immediately after the British started shooting, Gensoul issued the order to get underway and return fire. Strasbourg, at that time commanded by Capitaine de vaisseau (Ship of the line captain) Collinet, was the first large warship to slip her mooring, following four destroyers on their way out of the harbor. Debris from near misses showered the ship as she made her way through the port; some of these fragments dented or punched holes in her hull, and burning debris scorched her deck. A salvo of 15-inch (380 mm) shells near-missed the ship at 18:00. As the vessels cleared the jetty, the destroyers steamed first ahead of Strasbourg to engage British destroyers off the harbor entrance and then arrayed themselves to her port side as the ships steamed east. Heavy smoke in the harbor from the destroyed battleship Bretagne, which had suffered a magazine explosion, masked the escape of Strasbourg and the destroyers, and Somerville was initially unaware that she had evaded his attack. Somerville had received a report from a patrolling Fairey Swordfish pilot that a Dunkerque-class battleship had left the harbor, but he refused to believe it, as he believed that a field of naval mines that had been laid earlier that morning would have prevented any escape.

Upon clearing the harbor, the British destroyer HMS Wrestler, which had been tasked with watching the entrance, turned to lay a smoke screen to protect Force H from what appeared to be a destroyer attack. The effect was to help to obscure Strasbourg, which, as she increased speed from 15 to 28 knots (28 to 52 km/h; 17 to 32 mph), let out a large cloud of black smoke. The French ships steered for a gap in the defensive minefield to bring themselves under the protection of a battery of 240 mm (9.4 in) coastal guns on Cape Canastel. By this time, the destroyers Tigre and Lynx had arrayed themselves ahead of the ship while Le Terrible and Volta covered her to the rear. At 18:40, the two leading destroyers depth charged the British submarine Proteus, forcing her to take evasive action. At 19:00, the destroyers Bordelais and Trombe and the torpedo boat La Poursuivante arrived from Oran to help cover her withdrawal.

By this time, Somerville had realized that Strasbourg had escaped and turned east in pursuit; he launched an air strike from the aircraft carrier Ark Royal, hoping to slow Strasbourg, while he steamed ahead with Hood, two light cruisers, and several destroyers. The first wave of aircraft, six bombers carrying 250 lb (110 kg) bombs, attacked at 19:45; all of the aircraft missed and two were shot down by the heavy anti-aircraft fire from Strasbourg and the destroyers. Strasbourg was still belching thick, black smoke, the result of damage to one of her air intakes from fragments of the jetty; the problem could only be corrected by shutting down boiler room No. 2. This would have reduced her speed to 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph), which was not an acceptable solution with Hood now in pursuit. By 20:25, Somerville broke off the chase, but a second flight from Ark Royal, armed with torpedoes, attacked at 20:45. As with the first strike, all of the aircraft missed. With night having fallen and Hood having disengaged, the boilers could be turned off. The thirty crewmen in the boiler room were found to have succumbed to the heat and fumes, five of whom died. Repairs to the intake were effected while still underway, and within an hour, the boilers could be used again.

Collinet was still unsure whether Somerville was still pursuing him, so rather than head directly for Toulon, he steered for the south of Sardinia. Under strict radio silence to prevent Somerville from discovering his intentions, Collinet waited until Strasbourg was some 60 nmi (110 km; 69 mi) from San Pietro Island off the coast of Sardinia at 10:00 on 4 July before turning northwest to Toulon. The ship entered the harbor there at 21:10; her crew lined the deck and she was greeted with the crews from several heavy cruisers in the harbor who cheered and played "La Marseillaise", the French national anthem.

#### Forces de haute mer

On 6 July, the French naval command ordered Gensoul to return to Toulon; he arrived and raised his flag aboard Strasbourg later that day. Repairs to the damage incurred during the attack were completed quickly, and in August the command reorganized the fleet. The prewar units were dissolved between 8 and 12 August; during this period, Gensoul left the vessel on the 10th. Strasbourg was assigned to the 3rd Squadron and on 14 August she was taken into the shipyard in Toulon to have screens installed to protect the anti-aircraft gun crews. She emerged from the yard on 11 September and two weeks later, the naval command created the Forces de haute mer (High Seas Forces), with Strasbourg serving as its flagship under Amiral Jean de Laborde. At the time, the fleet also included the heavy cruisers Algérie, Foch, and Dupleix and the light cruisers Marseillaise and La Galissonnière.

On 5 November, Strasbourg and all of the cruisers except Algérie sortied to receive the old battleship Provence, which had been damaged during the attack on Mers-el-Kébir and then repaired. Provence was escorted by a group of five destroyers, and the two units met off the Balearic Islands and arrived back in Toulon on 8 November. The next two years passed uneventfully, in large part due to the restrictions on French naval activities under the armistice with Germany. Training operations were limited to two per month, and the cruisers and destroyers had 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 between Italy and the Allies in September 1943 stopped these activities and the ship was then seized by the Germans. On 1 April 1944 they handed her back to the Vichy French authorities. Her wreck was then towed to the Bay of Lazaret, where she was placed in a "state of conservation". She was heavily bombed and sunk by US forces—including the battleship USS Nevada on 18 August, three days after Operation Dragoon, the Allied invasion of southern France. She was raised for the second time on 1 October 1944 but found to be beyond repair, and used as a testbed for underwater explosions until condemned and renamed Q45 on 22 March 1955, to be sold for scrapping on 27 May that year.

Battleship of the French Navy

World War II shipwrecks in the Mediterranean Sea

World War II warships scuttled at Toulon