Why HMS Eagle was the more usable carrier

Eagle was not portrayed as flawless, but as a much more viable operational carrier than Bearn. Their speed, aircraft capacity, protection, range, and displacement show why an additional usable carrier could have mattered at Taranto. Bearn's wartime inactivity in the Caribbean, even when Allied carriers were scarce, becomes another measure of the conversion's limited utility. Paper capacity matters less than a ship's ability to generate and sustain air operations.