Béarn carried three different aircraft lifts, each assigned to fighters, bombers, or scout aircraft. None moved quickly, so specialization did not produce efficient deck operations. The arrangement shows a design team trying every promising carrier idea instead of selecting a smaller set of robust systems. The comparison matters because Joffre was intended to escape Béarn's problems, yet retained the same preference for clever mechanisms whose combined complexity could hamper operations.
Notable Point · 11:10-12:11
Béarn turned aircraft specialization into deck-handling delay
Separate slow lifts for fighters, bombers, and scout aircraft show how individually tailored solutions made Béarn operationally cumbersome.