How Béarn might have freed a British carrier for the Mediterranean

How could a more available Free French Béarn have affected British carrier strength for Taranto?

She could have covered Home Fleet duties and potentially freed Furious or another British carrier to reinforce the Mediterranean.

A Free French Béarn would have mattered more as a force-allocation asset than as the likely Taranto strike carrier. She could have joined the Home Fleet for reconnaissance and strike duties that did not demand the strongest air-defence carrier. That substitution might have released Furious, or another more useful British carrier, to accompany Barham into the Mediterranean. Giving Béarn Swordfish would have been less efficient than shifting whole carriers between theatres. The counterfactual shows how an older ship can release a scarce modern unit by taking over a secondary role.