Seaplane-carrier economy versus fleet-carrier flexibility

Commandant Teste could operate long-range, heavy floatplanes while costing less than a conventional fleet carrier and avoiding the treaty carrier-tonnage account. Its aircraft could support overseas deployments, reconnaissance, and torpedo attacks from a movable maintenance base. The cost was weather dependence: launching and recovering seaplanes from the water became impossible in seas that a faster, better-seakeeping carrier might still manage. France had only Bearn and Commandant Teste, while the Royal Navy operated a wider range of carriers and had more money for training. That larger force gave British crews more opportunities to build practical carrier experience. HMS Unicorn offers a later comparison in auxiliary logic, although it relied on auxiliary agreements rather than the Washington Naval Treaty's carrier limits.