What If Jean Bart had been converted to an Aircraft Carrier

So the French Navy considered converting Jean Bart post war

From wikipedia

"In 1945, discussions as to the fate of the ship considered converting her into an aircraft carrier, finishing her as a battleship, or discarding her altogether. The decision was ultimately made to finish her as a battleship, a process that took several years. Most work on the ship was completed by 1955, when she formally entered active service, and she conducted two overseas cruises to visit Denmark and the United States shortly thereafter. She took part in the French intervention in the Suez Crisis in November 1956, including a brief four-shot bombardment of Port Said. Reduced to reserve in August 1957, she was used as a barracks ship until 1961. She remained, unused, in the French Navy's inventory until 1970 when she was struck from the naval register and sold for scrap."
 
A smaller and less capable Clemenceau class carrier much earlier.
Essentially it provides France with one Essex / one Centaur class carrier right from 1949.
We did it FTL in 1943.
Still better than OTL
- Arromanches that was long enough 210 m but too slow 24 kt for jets...
- and Lafayette that was fast 31 kt but too short at 180 m for jets. No kidding.

End result: despite having Sea Venoms from 1955 the french aeronavale used F-4U Corsairs from Indochine to Suez until 1963 before going straight to... F-8 Crusaders the next year.

By contrast a Jean Bart carrier 250 m long and 30 kt should be able to handle jets. SNCASE Aquilons would have no issues.

Considering its size it could test an angled deck in 1953 much like RN USN did at the time.

The crux of the matter is that at 35 000 tons a Jean Bart matches Foch and Clem size speed an weight. And it really dwarf Jeanne d'arc Arromanches and Lafayette.

OTL the good old Arromanches lasted until 1974 as a commando training helicopter carrier. I can see the Jean Bart lasting as long but with some superior capability. Notably fast enough to follow the Foch and Clem plus plenty of room for choppers...

Same if compared to the Jeanne d'Arc helocarrier it would be huge, 35000 tons vs 12000.
 

SsgtC

Banned
The biggest issues I can see with converting her are the barbettes and the armor belt. The belt will either have to be reduced or eliminated and something will have to be done about the Barbettes
 
what if the conversion was done in a US shipyard during WW2? instead of dumping money into Bearn ?

POD could JB not being damaged during Torch?
 
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