Béarn underway. |
|
| Career (France) | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Béarn |
| Namesake: | Béarn |
| Builder: | La Seyne |
| Laid down: | 10 January 1914 |
| Launched: | April 1920 |
| Commissioned: | May 1927 |
| Struck: | 21 March 1967 |
| Fate: | Scrapped |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Aircraft carrier |
| Displacement: | 22,146 long tons (22,501 t) (standard) 28,400 long tons (28,900 t) (full load) |
| Length: | 182.6 m (599 ft 1 in) (o/a) |
| Beam: | 35.2 m (115 ft 6 in) |
| Draft: | 9.3 m (30 ft 6 in) |
| Installed power: | 22,500 shp (16,800 kW) (turbines)[1] 15,000 ihp (11,000 kW) (reciprocating engines)[2] |
| Propulsion: | 2 × Parsons geared steam turbines 2 × reciprocating steam engines 4 × shafts |
| Speed: | 21.5 kn (39.8 km/h; 24.7 mph)[3] |
| Range: | 7,000 nmi (13,000 km; 8,100 mi) at 10 kn (19 km/h; 12 mph)[4] |
| Complement: | 865 |
| Armament: | Original: 8 × 155 mm (6.1 in)/50 cal guns (8x1) 6 × 75 mm (3.0 in)/50 cal anti-aircraft guns (6x1) 8 × 37 mm (1.5 in) anti-aircraft guns (added 1935) 16 × 13.2 mm (0.52 in) anti-aircraft machine guns (6x1) (added 1935) 4 × 550 mm (22 in) torpedo tubes After 1944 Refit: 4 × 127 mm (5.0 in)/38 cal dual-purpose guns 24 × 40 mm (1.57 in) anti-aircraft guns (6x4) 26 × 20 mm (0.79 in) anti-aircraft autocannons |
| Armor: |
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| Aircraft carried: | 35-40[3] |
Béarn was a unique aircraft carrier which served with the Marine nationale (French Navy) in World War II and beyond.
Béarn was commissioned in 1927 and was the only aircraft carrier produced by France until after World War II. She was to be an experimental ship and should have been replaced in the 1930s by two new ships of the Joffre class. She was generally comparable to other early carriers developed by the major navies of the world. However, France did not produce a further replacement and as naval aviation lagged in France, Béarn continued to serve past her time of obsolescence. In 1939, she ended her career as an experimental ship and saw limited service during the war as an aircraft transport. She was named after the historic French province of Béarn.
Béarn was a conversion of a Normandie-class battleship hull, converted during 1923-1927.[5] The design resulted in a big but rather slow vessel. Her role of experimental ship led her to embark experimental planes, with limited efficiency and without group tactics. Unfortunately, with no replacement, Béarn was forced to serve in an operational role for more than 10 years. Obsolescence limited her use during World War II, where she saw service as an aircraft transport moving aircraft from the U.S. to the European Theater.
Béarn was also originally conceived of as part of a plan to also produce an aviation battlecruiser with eight 300 mm (11.8 in) main guns and a small catapult-equipped deck for handling eight aircraft. This plan was dropped in favor of a more conventional warship, leading to the Dunkerque-class battleships. With the approaching obsolescence of the Duquesne-class heavy cruisers, there were plans drafted to convert them into carriers, possibly with retention of a 300 mm (11.8 in) 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 aircraft carrier was laid down. This project was not completed, however, and Béarn served as France's solitary carrier until delivery of a British escort carrier—HMS Biter—in 1945, which served with the Marine nationale as Dixmude.
Béarn had a single island on the starboard side which incorporated the ship's large funnel.[3]
On 20 October 1920, Paul Teste landed on Béarn, achieving the first aeronaval landing in the history of the Marine nationale.
Shortly after the declaration of World War II in 1939, Béarn was deemed too slow for fleet service, and was relegated to aircraft transportation duty. She was also used for training as Marine nationale pilots flying Vought SB2U Vindicator dive bombers practised carrier operations on her deck, though they were based ashore.
During the German invasion of France in 1940, Béarn was ordered to Toulon, to load French gold bullion for transfer overseas. On 25 May, Béarn met up with the light cruisers Jeanne d'Arc and Émile Bertin at an Atlantic rendezvous, and the flotilla successfully carried Bank of France bullion reserves to Halifax, Canada.[6] Béarn then went to the U.S. East Coast to load new aircraft which had been ordered from American manufacturers, including Curtiss H-75s, SBC Helldivers but also Brewster Buffaloes intended for the Belgian Air Component. Before these aircraft could reach their destination, the armistice with Germany was signed, and Béarn instead sought harbor in Martinique. She was one of a number of French ships that were effectively interned at Martinique—at U.S. insistence—to prevent their use by Germany.
After the German occupation of Vichy France (Case Anton), Béarn was one of several French ships that re-joined the Allies. She was, however, considered outdated and too old to participate in the naval operations of the Marine nationale. Instead, in 1943-1944, she resumed her previous role as an aircraft transport, a valuable role for the Allied war effort.
This role was continued after the war, as part of the French attempt to recover their possessions in Indochina.[3]
From 1948, she served as a training ship and then as a submarine tender. Béarn was scrapped in Italy in 1967.
Ford, Roger; Gibbons, Tony; Hewson, Rob; Jackson, Bob; Ross, David (2001). The Encyclopedia of Ships. London: Amber Books, Ltd.. p. 299. ISBN 978-1-905704-43-9.
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