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warspite1 -> RE: Bob Flemin's MWIF AARse II The Sequel (12/14/2013 3:41:42 PM)
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Sep/Oct 1939
End of Turn
Two Partisans appear - one in Poland and one in Indo-China. The Polish one is placed in Katowice to disrupt the resourse.
Neutrality Pact
The Germans choose their two markers and the Soviets, their one. I did not see what they were so will report this next time - however the pact cannot be broken in the first year anyway.
US Entry
The US choose to intern the French carrier Bearn and will receive a TRS instead.
Here is her unit description for those that want a brief history lesson as to why this option is included in the game.
• Engines output: 37,200 hp
• Top speed: 21.5 knots
• Main armament: 8 x 6.1-inch (155mm), 6 x 2.9-inch (75mm) guns
• Aircraft: 25 (operational max) plus 15 in reserve
• Displacement (full load): 28,400 tons
• Thickest armour: 3.1-inch (belt)
Béarn was the only aircraft carrier completed by the Marine Nationale (MN) by the outbreak of World War II.
She began life as a Normandie-class battleship, but having been laid down in 1914, construction was halted during the First World War.
In 1919, with the war won, work on Béarn resumed, but she was no longer destined to be finished as a battleship. With the British Royal Navy leading the way on the development of naval aviation, the French were keen not to be left behind, and, with a short flight deck fitted, landing-on trials were carried out over the next two years.
In 1922, following the signing of the Washington Naval Treaty, it was decided to complete Béarn as an aircraft-carrier, but a lack of money meant that the project proceeded only very slowly. Work on her conversion began in 1923 and she was completed four years later. Assistance was received from the British, who provided plans for one of their own conversions - HMS Eagle.
Béarn was fitted with two hangars and she was able to carry up to 40 aircraft. However, a maximum of just twenty-five could be operational at any one time, and these were operated from the upper hangar. The remaining reserve aircraft were stowed in the lower hanger. These two hangars were served by three lifts.
Vertical protection consisted of an armour belt 3.1-inches thick rather than the 9.5-inch belt that she was originally designed with. For horizontal protection there were three layers: a 1-inch armoured flight deck, a main deck of similar thickness, and a 3-inch lower hangar deck.
Defensive armament was provided by eight single 6.1-inch guns mounted in casemates in the hull. For anti-aircraft (AA) defence there were six 75mm guns and, later, eight 37mm guns were added. The armament package was rounded off with four 21-inch underwater torpedo tubes.
By the time of the outbreak of the Second World War, speed was a problem for Béarn. She could only manage 21.5 knots and with the arrival of fast battleships during the thirties, she was no longer able to operate with the fleet.
However, this was not her biggest problem. The lack of money generally, and to the MN specifically, meant that the development of naval aircraft was severely limited during the inter-war years, and consequently, by September 1939, Béarn's aircraft were obsolete. She carried 1931 vintage Levasseur torpedo-bombers and Dewoitine D37 fighters which were actually withdrawn from service two months after the outbreak of war....
Béarn was named after a former province of France, located in the south of the country.
Béarn was completed in May 1927 and at the outbreak of World War II she was based at the port of Brest.
When, in October, the British and French formed a number of hunting groups to find German surface raiders, Béarn was attached to Force L alongside the fast battleship Dunkerque, the light cruisers Montcalm, Georges Leygues and Gloire; and two destroyer divisions. Force L was to play no part in the finding and destruction of Graf Spee later that year, and indeed, after just two months of war, it was clear that Béarn was proving to be something of a liability to the effectiveness of the fast ships she was operating with; she was simply too slow, while her aircraft were obsolete and proving unreliable. Béarn was detached from Force L and she was then used as an aircraft transporter to ferry aircraft sold to the French by the United States.
In May 1940 she sailed with the cruisers Jeanne D'Arc and Emile Bertin for North America as part of an operation to transfer French gold reserves to Canada. Whilst in North America Béarn was loaded with crated aircraft ready for the return journey. However, she and her escorts were still there at the time of the signing of the armistice with Germany.
The three ships were ordered to the French-owned Caribbean islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe; Béarn and Emile Bertin sailed for the former, while Jeanne D'Arc docked in the latter island.
In July 1940, when the British carried out their attacks on the Vichy French fleet at Mers-El-Kebir and Dakar and also seized French ships berthed at ports in the United Kingdom and Egypt, they left these three ships in the West Indies alone. No doubt distance played its part in the decision, which was all about keeping the French fleet out of German hands. However, the Royal Navy maintained a watching brief on the islands until May 1942, when, under pressure from the United States, the Vichy authorities agreed to their demilitarisation.
On the 30th June 1943 Béarn was transferred to Free French control, the Forces Navales Françaises Libres (FNFL). She was obviously no-more fit for front line duties than she had been in 1939, however she was successfully used in the role of aircraft transporter between the United States and the United Kingdom, and it
was in this role that she saw out the war.
After the war, Béarn was initially used to transport aircraft to the French colony of Indo-China, and was later relegated to a training role. After a stint as a submarine tender, Béarn was scrapped in 1967.
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