Treaty tonnage left room for another French carrier. Bearn's early origins made it reasonable to treat the conversion as an experiment, with a follow-on ship applying what the navy learned. Such a ship could have turned limited experimentation into a practical fleet capability. France did not pursue that sequence, which brings institutional momentum and procurement continuity to the centre of the answer.
Notable Point · 7:36-8:17
Unused carrier tonnage sharpened the French puzzle
France had room for another carrier and could treat Bearn as an experiment, so treaty limits alone cannot explain the absence of a follow-on program.