After the French surrender on 22 June, the Royal Navy attacked the ships in Mers-el-Kébir, French Algeria, on 3 July to prevent them from being turned over to the Germans. To avoid an attack on the ships based nearby in Oran, they steamed for Toulon and "Cassard" was one of the ships that rendezvoused with them en route and escorted them to Toulon. The Vichy French reformed the FHM on 25 September after it negotiated rules limiting the force's activities and numbers with the Italian and German Armistice Commissions. "Cassard" was the only ship of her class assigned to it and was one of its escorts when they made a training sortie into the Western Mediterranean on 16–18 October. After the Allies invaded French Lebanon and Syria in June 1941, "Cassard", "Tartu" and the heavy cruiser transported a battalion of infantry from Algiers, French Algeria, to Marseilles that was intended to reinforce the Levant between 30 June and 1 July. When the Germans attempted to capture the French ships in Toulon on 27 November 1942, the ship was scuttled by her crew. The Germans made an effort to salvage her in late 1943, but gave up the attempt. "Cassard"s wreck was damaged by an Allied bomb on 7 March 1944 and it was eventually demolished in place during 1950.