World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseLaunched in Apr 1920, carrier Béarn was not commissioned until May 1927. As the only French carrier, she was meant to be an experimental ship aboard which the French Navy would develop naval air doctrine. In 1935, her weaponry was modernized with the addition of 8 37-millimeter anti-aircraft guns and 6 13.2-millimeter anti-aircraft machine guns. Ultimately, French naval aviation did not progress as much as the navies of other powers, and Béarn remained in commission through the start of the European War. In the early months of the war, she was used to conduct carrier landing training operations for SB2U Vindicator dive bombers and other aircraft types. In May 1940, she embarked gold bullions from the French central bank and brought them out to sea, where the gold was transferred to light cruisers Jeanne d'Arc and Émile Bertin for the second leg of the journey to Canada. As she sailed on to American ports to pick up aircraft for the French Air Force, the French government surrendered, and Béarn was interned at Martinique by the United States to prevent German capture. She would remain on the side of the Allies for the remainder of the war, generally acting as an aircraft transport She remained the only carrier in French service until 1945 when France was given the British escort carrier HMS Biter (soon renamed Dixmude). In 1944, her weaponry was changed to 4 127-millimeter dual purpose guns, 24 40-millimeter anti-aircraft guns, and 26 20-millimeter anti-aircraft cannon. Upon completion of this refitting, she was used to transport aircraft and as a training ship until 1948, followed by a few years as a submarine tender. Her final years of service saw her being a stationary hulk at Toulon in southern France. She was scrapped in Italy in 1967.

Aircraft Carrier Béarn Interactive Map

Photographs

Béarn Operational Timeline