France built thirty PL.14s and seventeen PL.15s for Mediterranean seaplane operations, with the later type intended for Commandant Teste. The seaplane carrier gave the fleet a mobile alternative to constructing another conventional carrier or a permanent shore air station. It could arrive with maintenance facilities, supplies, defensive guns, and aircraft, rapidly turning an undeveloped anchorage into a maritime-patrol hub. Boom and net defenses could protect the temporary base against submarines and torpedoes. The arrangement favored defensive area coverage, but it gave France a practical way to extend air power from places with little existing infrastructure.
Chapter · 37:13-40:03
PL.14 and PL.15 extend French air power from seaplane bases
Levasseur torpedo-bombing seaplanes and Commandant Teste gave France a mobile way to establish patrol hubs without constructing permanent shore infrastructure.