Spanish battleships and Béarn in a French intervention

Would Spain's battleships survive a French intervention in the Spanish Civil War?

Avoiding their hazardous coastal missions might help them survive, but French attacks in port, including a possible Béarn air strike, could replace those dangers.

French intervention could keep the Spanish battleships away from the navigation and bombardment missions associated with their losses. It would also create a new danger if the French Navy hunted them down or attacked their ports. French heavy cruisers and Béarn are suggested as available means of applying pressure, despite acknowledged weaknesses in the French fleet. A carrier strike is considered plausible against the limited Spanish opposition, with sufficiently deep harbours allowing at least some torpedoes to run. The panel remains divided over Béarn's usefulness, and the favourable assessment is expressly limited to this Spanish scenario. Planned aircraft, including twin-engined heavy fighters, receive a more favourable assessment than the carrier itself. A further speculative branch imagines German observers drawing exaggerated lessons from a successful French carrier attack.