I could see somebody saying, "The damn thing has a flat deck and can launch aircraft, we need her."

Yes, that sounds quite plausible. She might have been used as a CVE for a while, maybe 6 months to a year, but her inadequateness in that role would have got her pushed into more and more ferrying jobs until that's all she would be doing. That plus the U.S. CVE assembly line ramping up.
 
Probably, that is what we ultimately did with the mighty Bearn once we got our hands on her.

However, I wonder if at some point in the summer or fall of 1942 if somebody would have decided to try and "re-carrier" her in an act of desperation? I only suggest this because OTL from November 1941 to November 1942 the US and Royal Navies lost a total of nine carriers of all types (ten if you include USS LANGLEY) and had a number of others earned all expenses paid vacations to Uncle Sam's Carrier Repair Resort and Spa. This is significant because it represents almost half of all of the carriers the US and Royal Navies lost combined during the entire war. Add in the ones that were not sunk but spent significant time in the shop (SARA - twice, INDOMITABLE, ENTERPRISE) and I could see somebody saying, "The damn thing has a flat deck and can launch aircraft, we need her."

The only problem I can see is that you could probably build an escort carrier that was just as capable in the time it'd take you to restore her to a useful standard.
 
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