The French were late to realise just how important aircraft carriers were in the scheme of things. Initially plans were drawn up during the later 1920's and early 1930's for a new aircraft carrier, but the French Admiralty decided that the appropriate answer to the German raider classes were fast battleships. The new aircraft carrier got put on hold
Further projected plans were drawn up through to 1939 when the latest drawings were to be actioned. Two ships were to be built at the same time as the Alsace/Clemencau type battleships. Both were laid down in 1939 but virtually no work was done on the ships as more pressing production needs appropriated the materials that would have been worked into these ships. The design followed on from the Neptune project above. Taking the design even further.
As with a lot of first carrier designs, too many surface warship fittings were designed into the ships to the detriment of aircraft carrying capacity. The Royal Navies Ark Royal class was a similar size but carried almost twice as many aircraft. Only having the weapons around the superstructure meant that when those weapons were firing across the flight deck, flight operations had to stop.
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While some thought was given to proceeding with these ships after 1944 when French industry started returning to business, the design when placed against the latest US Navy and Royal Navy designs, showed how woefully outdated the design was. 1944-46 the French Navy received four aircraft carriers through Lend Lease that would populate the French Navy till the Clemencau class was built.
Joffre 1940, still a long way even for the hull to be launched. Fate: broken up on slip.
