A few weeks later, the carrier participated in a naval review by Pierre Cot, Minister of Air, on 5 August. Béarn was out of service from August to November, during which time 7S1 converted from PL.10s to the PL.101, an improved version of the same aircraft. 1934–1935 reconstruction By January 1931 Béarn was in bad shape due to the jamming of the center elevator's clamshell doors and the poor state of her boilers; by October studies were being undertaken for a major reconstruction to include replacement of the boilers, modifications to the forward elevator and replacement of the 75 mm guns by the newer and more powerful Canon de Modèle 1927 AA gun. Cost and feasibility studies were also ordered to investigate the possibilities of replaced the direct-drive turbines with geared models, fitting torpedo bulges and better horizontal protection against the increased threat from land-based aircraft. If she was fitted with geared turbines and new boilers for , the designers estimated that the carrier would have a speed of , although installation of bulges would cost over a knot () and increase displacement by about . The improvement in speed would not be enough to allow Béarn to operate with the new fast battleships and it was not possible to upgrade the ship's horizontal protection. The (Navy Minister) did not believe that it was worthwhile to invest a large sum of money in a 20-year-old hull and only authorized 25 million francs to be spent on replacing the boilers with six of the latest du Temple boilers, enlargement of the and removal of the charthouse and the torpedo tubes. Furthermore, the ineffectual 8 mm machine guns were replaced by six twin mounts of the Mitrailleuse de Modèle 1929 machine gun, the high-angle directors were upgraded and new rangefinders were fitted for the AA guns. The reconstruction began in February 1934 and lasted until November 1935. During her machinery trials on 26 August, Béarn averaged with five of her six boilers lit. The ship was assigned directly to the when the reconstruction was finished and she was briefly refitted from mid-December to mid-January 1936. At the beginning of the year, 7S1 and 7B1 were at full strength, but 7C1 had only 11 Wibault 74s on hand. Béarn was attached to the 2nd Squadron for their cruise down to French West Africa on 13 January–29 February, although she visited Casablanca, French Morocco,