With British CVs on the way next patch and WG hinting that there may be alternative CV lines for Japan and the US in the future, I think what many are thinking is "what's next after that?".
At the outbreak of the Second World War, France held the distinction of having the fourth largest carrier fleet in the world with a single operational aircraft carrier, the former Normandie-class battleship Béarn which was converted into an aircraft carrier beginning in 1927. Although operating one aircraft carrier, France did have a history of naval aviation dating back to 1911 when the old torpedo boat tender Foudre was converted to an experimental seaplane tender, and would continue to operate as such throughout the First World War until 1921. Also, starting in 1920, the small Arras-class sloop, Bapaume, had a flight deck added to train navy pilots in deck take-offs while the Béarn was being built. At the outbreak of the war France had begun building a new class of aircraft carrier the Joffre (PA16) at the Ateliers et Chantiers de Penhoët in 1938 and the Painlevé (PA17), which was not laid down due to the fall of France in 1940. During the German occupation, design work continued to work on aircraft carrier designs based off the Joffre by the Vichy puppet government of Philippe Pétain*.* Some such examples are as the PA19, PA25, PA5, PA5b (which would have a single quadruple 280 mm turret) and PA1c (which would have a single quadruple 330 mm turret) but these ships would be enough for a whole other post. After the capitulation of Vichy controlled North Africa, the Free French Naval Forces (Les Forces Navales Françaises Libres) proposed several conversions of the recently re-acquired Richelieu-class battleship Jean Bart and the seaplane tender Commandant Teste into aircraft carriers, but these were rejected by the US as a misallocation of much needed resources.
By the end of the war in 1945, Béarn had been converted into an aircraft transport in the US, after having sat out the majority of the war in pro-Vichy Martinique until the island was taken by Free French forces in 1943. She had been there since the fall of France in 1940 when her mission to ferry American built aircraft to France was abruptly cancelled. The Royal Navy aircraft carrier Avenger-class escort carrier, HMS Biter (D97), was formally transferred to France on April 9 1945 and renamed, Dixmude (A609), but her refit would not be completed until aft
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