Joffre class aircraft carrier
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Joffre class fleet carrier |
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| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Builders: | AC de St. Nazaire Penhoet |
| Cancelled: | Joffre, Painlevé |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 20,000 tons |
| Length: | 236 m (770 ft) |
| Beam: | 24.5 m (80 ft) |
| Draft: | 6.5 m (21 ft) |
| Propulsion: | 125,000 shp (steam turbines) |
| Speed: | 33 knots (61 km/h) |
| Complement: | 1,251 |
| Armament: | 8 × 5.1 inch DP guns 8 × 37 mm AA guns 24 × 13.2 mm AA guns |
| Armor: | 4 inch belt 1.5 to 2.3 inch deck |
| Aircraft carried: | 40 |
The Joffre class aircraft carrier was a class of two aircraft carriers planned by France prior to World War II. Only one of the two vessels was begun, and neither launched before the project was cancelled in 1940.
[edit] History
The Joffre was designed to give the French Navy a fleet carrier of greater capability than the existing Béarn. The Béarn was hopelessly outclassed by the late 1930s as French aircraft carrier design had not kept pace with developments in other countries, and badly hampered by the fact it was not designed from the keel up as an aircraft carrier, but was instead a converted battleship. Joffre was a design aimed at rectifying the deficiencies, but was still of limited capacity.
The lead ship was laid down on 26 November 1938, but the rapid arrival of World War II led to a slow down of construction and the ultimate cessation of work that came in June 1940 as the country capitulated to German invasion. Work on the Joffre was not continued by the Germans and the hull was scrapped. The second planned vessel of the class, the Painlevé was never laid down.
As the course of the war went, the lack of naval aviation did not become a factor for the French fleet, as France fell to land invasion before its navy could play a major role in the proceedings. However, despite its limitations, had the Joffre class been completed before France's fall, it could have been a valuable asset early in the war alongside the Royal Navy as the Allies struggled against German U-Boats and surface raiders.
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