draft of . A retractable, four-story charthouse was installed at the forward end of the flight deck; when retracted there were views forward and to the sides underneath the flight deck. Including the airgroup, her crew numbered 45 officers and 830 enlisted men. The decided to revert to the mixed propulsion machinery of Béarns sisters rather than use her intended pair of direct-drive steam turbines and used the machinery from the lead ship of the class, Normandie. One set of Parsons turbines drove the two inner propeller shafts and two vertical triple-expansion steam engines were on the outer shafts for low-speed cruising. This was intended to reduce fuel consumption at cruising speeds, as direct-drive turbines are very inefficient at moderate to low speeds. The engines were rated at a total of using steam supplied by a dozen new oil-burning Normand boilers that had a working pressure of , which gave Béarn a maximum speed of . The boiler uptakes were trunked into a single funnel integrated into the island on the starboard side of the flight deck. A large vented chamber, nicknamed the (lamp base), was fitted on the side of the hull below the funnel to mix cooler air with the hot boiler exhaust to reduce air turbulence over the flight deck. The ship carried a maximum of of fuel oil which gave her a range of at a cruising speed of . Electric power was provided by four steam-powered dynamos; a pair of diesel generators were used when the ship was in harbor. Aviation facilities The ship's flight deck was long and it had a maximum width of . The deck itself was composed of two overlapping plates covered by of African teak. She retained the primitive arresting gear used during her trials when completed, but it was replaced during her first refit. The carrier was also fitted with a crane aft of the island that had the secondary task of handling the pair of seaplanes that were embarked for use when the ship was in harbor. Béarn was fitted with three electrically powered elevators that transferred aircraft between the flight deck and the upper hangar. The forward elevator could lift and measured long and wide as it was intended to handle only fighters. The elevator was unusual as it had a two-story configuration so that aircraft could be flown off while it was in the lowered position.