I know I’m gonna have fun with playing as France. Based on the setup I’ve seen the British fleet near Gibraltar is perfectly able to move up with the French cruiser and destroyer, and according to GenCon plays the French Med fleet can actually be a useful tool against the Italians. Yes, the British objective might be to pull everything back to the UK and simply try to survive, but once they do, what next? With the Med cleared of Allied warships the Italians will have a much easier time conquering Africa and the Middle East.
SO! UK player–-I think you should try and salvage the French Med fleet. I think in the long term it will pay off.