Naval combat is hard to get started. I think they have to spot one another; can be real annoying when that single, mostly destroyed Finnish cruiser keeps blowing away your convoys for months and months :)
I finally resorted to using air strikes from your the two British carriers. They always find the enemy, but do not always score hits. After a few hits, the enemy should return to port for repairs.

French units are frozen on Maginot Line for the first few months of the war. This represents the French politics of the time.