User blog comment:FlammeumDraco333/Tales From the Not so Blocky Seas/@comment-10905876-20150906145551/@comment-14850713-20150908015617

Rth, they were outnumbered, outgunned and (as Khoi pointed out), out of position (ex. Dunkerque and Strasbourg had their stern to the British, and their main guns are all forward), so they couldn't retaliate. And I don't think they believed that the Brits would really open fire.