French aircraft carrier Joffre
- French aircraft carrier Joffre
"Joffre" was the planned lead ship of her class of aircraft carriers for the French Navy. She was named in honour of Joseph Joffre. The ship was laid down in 1938, but never launched.
Description
After several experimentations on the aircraft carrier "Béarn", the French Navy decided to have two full-fledged aircraft carriers built as replacement. They were to be 18,000 tons (Washington) with a protection limited to the hull and comparable to that of a light cruiser. Armament was to include dual-purpose guns fore and aft of the island, and several light AA guns. The flight deck, which was offset to port to counterbalance the weight of the unusually large island, ran to the bows but stopped before the poop because one external lift was to be installed aft of the flight deck. The other lift was T-shaped and installed in front of the island. The ship had two superimposed hangars, the upper being 159x21m and the lower 70x16m.
The ships were to operate an air group of around 40 planes, including 15 Dewoitine D-790 fighters (a navalised version of D-520) and 25 Breguet 810 twin-engine attack planes (a navalised version of the Br-693) for level bombing, torpedo missions and scouting.
History
"Joffre" was laid down on 26 November 1938 at the shipyards of AC de St. Nazaire Penhoët, but work was slowed by the start of World War II and ultimately halted in June 1940 when France fell to German invasion. At this time, the ship was 20% complete. The assembled hull was later scrapped in the dock.
Some materials and equipments had been procured for her sistership "Painlevé" but her keel was never laid down.
Follow-on
The French Navy also decided to build a third aircraft carrier which was to replace the "Béarn" that was rerated as a seaplane tender in 1940. This ship was larger than the "Joffre"s but her characteristics were never finalised. The idea was abandoned in 1940.
References
* Francis Dousset, "Les porte-avions français des origines" (1911) à nos jours, 1978 éditions de la Cité, ISBN 2-85186-015-1
See also
* List of aircraft carriers
* "Painlevé", sister-ship to "Joffre"
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