the vichy french government reestablished the fhm on 25 september after it negotiated rules limiting the force's activities and numbers with the italian and german armistice commissions. "vauquelin", "tartu" and "le chevalier paul" were assigned to the fhm on 15 november. after the allies invaded lebanon and syria on 8 june 1941, admiral françois darlan, minister of war and national defense in the vichy government, ordered "le chevalier paul" to carry ammunition for the french ships in beirut, french lebanon, departing on 11 june. he had requested permission to do so via radio message which the british decoded and alerted them to the ship's mission and route. "le chevalier paul" was sunk during the early morning of 16 june by torpedo bombers based in cyprus and "vauquelin" was dispatched the following day, carrying 800 rounds of 138.6 mm ammunition. undetected by the british, she reached beirut on the 21st, but was damaged the following day by three bristol blenheim bombers from the royal air force's 11 squadron that hit the ship six times, killing five crewmen and wounding seventeen.