Entering service in , the navy intended to use her to develop tactics and techniques for carrier aviation. The only aircraft carrier France produced until after World War II , the ship played a minor role in early stages of the war, training in home waters and conducting pilot training. Under pressure from the United States, which was worried about the Germans taking control of her if she returned to France, the carrier remained there for the next four years.
To placate the Americans, the local commander agreed to have her immobilized in mid She was towed to Puerto Rico after the islands joined the Free French later that year for preliminary repairs that would allow her to steam under her own power to New Orleans , Louisiana , to be converted into an aircraft ferry.
The conversion was completed in early ; on her first trip with a load of aircraft she collided with another ship and had to divert to French Morocco for emergency repairs.
Full repairs took almost six months and she then transported personnel and equipment between Metropolitan France and French North Africa for several months. In October the ship sailed for French Indochina with aircraft, material and supplies as the French planned to reassert control over their Japanese-occupied colony.
Two years later, the ship was reactivated as the flagship of the Marine nationale 's submarine and anti-submarine group and also served as a submarine tender. She was sold for scrap the following year. The Normandie -class ships were m ft 2 in long at the waterline , and They had a beam of 27 m 88 ft 7 in and a mean draft of 8. They were intended to displace 25, metric tons 24, long tons at normal load and 28, metric tons 27, long tons at deep load. The ships would have had a crew of 44 officers and 1, enlisted men when serving as a flagship.
