Q&A · 59:42-1:00:11

Which ally might have supplied France with carriers?

A counterfactual answer compares British and American ability to transfer carrier hulls to an allied French navy.

Question

If the French Navy had continued the war with the Allies in 1940, would it have received carriers from Britain or the United States?

Short answer

Probably Britain, because British yards could build more carrier hulls than the Royal Navy could crew while the United States could use the carriers it built.

Notes

The answer focuses on personnel as well as industrial output. American carrier construction matched the country's ability to provide crews, reducing the incentive to transfer fleet carriers. Britain faced the opposite imbalance: its yards could produce more carriers than the Royal Navy could man. On that logic, a French fleet carrier supplied during the war was more likely to come from Britain than from the United States.