Fearless Leader
Donor
After thinking about an alternate history in which the Bearn, France's only aircraft carrier during WWII, decided to join up with the Free French Navy. It got me thinking...
Now in OTL the Bearn was rather useless due to the fact that she's incredibly obsolete by the time the war breaks out (also incredibly slow! only 21 knots on a good day!) This makes my TL problematic as her participation in the war would be incredibly limited due to her obsolescence and the lack of funds to modernize her. After considering a modernization in the States during the war I began to wonder...
What if, the French Navy, instead of opting to build the Joffre class carriers, decided to modernize the old Bearn? Let's say the French navy refuses to spring for the new carriers, but is forced to concede that the Bearn is rebuilt so that it can serve on for the next few decades. (There's precedent for this in the IJN with the Kaga and Akagi).
So say around 1936-38 this happens, the Bearn is laid up, she's given a new, oil fired powerplant far superior to her original one (obsolete when it was installed!) probably some kind of torpedo protection, and her flight deck is redesigned along with the elevators to accommodate modern aircraft. The ship is relaunched in and around the vicinity of the war's beginning and is capable of 28-31 knots, and carrying 35-40 aircraft.
Does this sound reasonable? Any of you naval shipbuilding buffs wanna help me out? (Springsharp?) How would having a decently modern aircraft carrier affect the French Navy's performance in WWII? Let's also say for the sake of argument that the alt-Bearn joins the Free French in TTL.
Now in OTL the Bearn was rather useless due to the fact that she's incredibly obsolete by the time the war breaks out (also incredibly slow! only 21 knots on a good day!) This makes my TL problematic as her participation in the war would be incredibly limited due to her obsolescence and the lack of funds to modernize her. After considering a modernization in the States during the war I began to wonder...
What if, the French Navy, instead of opting to build the Joffre class carriers, decided to modernize the old Bearn? Let's say the French navy refuses to spring for the new carriers, but is forced to concede that the Bearn is rebuilt so that it can serve on for the next few decades. (There's precedent for this in the IJN with the Kaga and Akagi).
So say around 1936-38 this happens, the Bearn is laid up, she's given a new, oil fired powerplant far superior to her original one (obsolete when it was installed!) probably some kind of torpedo protection, and her flight deck is redesigned along with the elevators to accommodate modern aircraft. The ship is relaunched in and around the vicinity of the war's beginning and is capable of 28-31 knots, and carrying 35-40 aircraft.
Does this sound reasonable? Any of you naval shipbuilding buffs wanna help me out? (Springsharp?) How would having a decently modern aircraft carrier affect the French Navy's performance in WWII? Let's also say for the sake of argument that the alt-Bearn joins the Free French in TTL.