Hmm, maybe I should have read the whole topic before posting here...
You are correct, it is Bearn. It was decommissioned and we have it re-constituted for Portugals use in protecting the Azores.
Yes, we are heavily arming the carriers. We are also creating the planned but never created BattleCarriers. Starting with the conversion of the Bismark and the Tirpitz.
The Bearn wasn't put out of service till after WW2 as an aircraft transport.
Why would the french sell a perfectly fine (and thier only) carrier?
As for the BattleCarriers: ask the Japanese how well they worked
Not enough planes to fight a carrier.
Not enough firepower to fight a battleship.
A conversion of the Bismark class Ships was never planned as far as I know, perhaps you could model the really planned Seydlitz conversion instead of building ships which would have never been build no matter how alternative the history because they wouldn't work technically (barrel elevation at longer firing ranges or the effect of shockwave of firing mainguns on the planes above them come to mind)?
Maybe increasing the numbers of Graf Zepellin class ships, or making some of the other planned carrier conversions could solve the lack of german carriers as well?
This would also be a more realistic/doable approach to the problem.