Why Did Churchill Use Operation Catapult?

If Churchill wanted to impress Roosevelt by attacking the French Fleet, then he would not have put so much effort into getting the fleet from France. He would have also disregarded the Franco-German Armistice and Article VIII of the agreement. Nevertheless, Churchill did not follow this course of action, which makes it clear that his main priority from the beginning was to keep the French Fleet away from Germany. This is not to say that Churchill did not want to impress Roosevelt and did not use Operation Catapult as an opportunity to do it. He did. Churchill had attempted to persuade the U.S. to enter the war as early as May of 1940.52 Both U.S. assistance and stopping Germany from potentially seizing the fleet were vital to Britain remaining