States. World War II The day after the French declaration of war against Germany on 3 September 1939, Béarn received orders to fly off her aircraft. On 5 October, the carrier was nominally assigned to Force L, together with the battleship and three light cruisers, which was tasked with searching the West Indies for the German cruiser Admiral Graf Spee. In reality the carrier remained in Brest, conducting anti-aircraft exercises and beginning the process of being modified to serve as a tanker for Breguet 521 Bizerte and Laté.523 flying boats. Although the modifications principally consisted of an addition of a boom to support a refuelling hose, the work lasted from October to April 1940. While docked at Laninon on 23 March, two crewmen were severely injured when blasting work nearby on a new slipway caused the front of the carrier to be struck by numerous pieces of rubble. Béarn was ordered to Toulon on 13 April to begin deck landing training for AB1 and 2S3. The former was equipped with Vought V-156Fs and the latter had Levasseur PL.101s, but was supposed to convert to Loire-Nieuport LN.411s in May. The ship arrived on 18 April and began training with the pilots of AB1 five days later. Training continued until the German invasion of France on 10 May when AB1 was ordered north. The carrier returned to Toulon the following day to off-load the equipment of both squadrons and was ordered to prepare for a mission of long duration beginning on 18 May. That day, Béarns crew loaded 3,880 cases of the Bank of France's gold bullion weighing and valued at 9,241,000,000 francs. The gold was intended to pay for armaments purchased from the United States under its "Cash and carry" policy which allowed US companies to supply arms to belligerents while still retaining American neutrality – a practice that favored Britain and France. The carrier was escorted through the Mediterranean and to the Atlantic coast of Morocco by the destroyers , , and as well as maritime patrol aircraft. After a brief stopover in Casablanca to refuel on 21 May, her escort was reinforced with a pair of s until the 25th when Béarn rendezvoused with the light cruisers and west of Madeira, which were transporting bullion themselves, and took over the escort mission. The flotilla arrived in Halifax, Canada, on 1 June. Post-French Armistice to 1945 Béarn began loading aircraft