French aircraft carrier Béarn
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Béarn was a unique aircraft carrier which served with France into World War II.
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| Career |   |
|---|---|
| Built By: | La Seyne |
| Laid down: | 10 January 1914 |
| Launched: | April 1920 |
| Commissioned: | May 1927 |
| Fate: | scrapped: 21 March 1967 |
| General Characteristics | |
| Type: | aircraft carrier |
| Displacement: | 22,146 tons (standard) 28,400 tons (loaded) |
| Length: | 182.6 metres (overall) |
| Beam: | 35.2 metres |
| Draught: | 9.3 metres |
| Propulsion: | 2-shaft Parsons geared turbines, 2-shaft reciprocating, 36,200 shp |
| Speed: | 21.5 knots |
| Range: | |
| Complement: | 865 |
| Armament (original): | 8 × 155/50 millimetre (8 × 1) 6 × 75/50 millimetre anti-aircraft (6 × 1) 8 × 37 millimetre anti-aircraft guns (added 1935) 16 × 13.2 millimetre anti-aircraft (6 × 1) (added 1935) 4 × 550 millimetre torpedo tubes |
| Armament (after 1944 refit): | 4 × 5 inch (127 mm) / 38 caliber dual-purpose 24 × 40 mm anti-aircraft (5 × 6) 26 × 20 mm anti-aircraft |
| Protection: | flight deck: 25 millimetres sides: 83 millimetres lower deck: 60 millimetres gun shields: 70 millimetres |
| Aircraft: | 40 |
The Béarn was commissioned in 1927 and was the only aircraft carrier produced by France until after World War II. Generally comparable to other early carriers developed by the major navies of the world, unlike those navies, France did not produce a further replacement and as naval aviation lagged in France, Béarn continued to serve past her time of obsolescence. Her most valued service during the war was as an aircraft transport. She was named after the historic French province of Béarn.
[edit] Description
The Béarn was a conversion of a Normandie class battleship hull. The design resulted in a cramped and slow vessel that was incapable of efficient flight operations. Unfortunately, with no replacement, Béarn was forced to serve in an operational role for more than a decade. Obsolescence limited her use, during World War II, to an aircraft transport moving aircraft from the United States to the European Theatre.
Béarn was also originally conceived of as part of a plan to also produce an aviation battlecruiser with eight 12 inch main guns and a small catapult equipped deck for handling eight aircraft. This plan was dropped in favor of a more conventional battlecruiser, leading to the Dunkerque class. With the approaching obsolescence of the Duquesne class heavy cruisers, there were plans drafted to convert them into carriers, possibly with retention of an 8 inch gun turret as a hybrid design. Like other design work on hybrids, this never went past the planning stage, and the only credible replacement for Béarn was actually begun when the Joffre class was laid down. This project was not completed, however, and Béarn served as France's solitary carrier until delivery of a British escort carrier, the HMS Biter, in 1944, which served as the Dixmude with France.
[edit] History
During the German invasion of France, Béarn was dispatched to the United States to ferry new aircraft which had been ordered from that country, including Vought Vindicators and Grumman Wildcats. Neither aircraft reached its destination before the surrender of France in 1940, and the Béarn instead sought harbour in Martinique. She was one of a number of French ships that were effectively interned at Martinique, at United States insistence, to prevent their use by Germany.
After German occupation of Vichy France (Case Anton), Béarn was one of several French ships that re-joined the Allies. She was, however, too obsolete to participate in the naval operations of the Free French fleet. Instead, in 1943/44, she was converted to an aircraft transport, a valuable role to the Allied war effort.
This role was continued after the war, as part of the French attempt to recover their possessions in Indochina.
From 1948, she served as a training ship and then as a submarine depot ship. Béarn was scrapped in Italy in 1967.
