"the French were building their first aircraft carrier..."
Don't believe everything you read.
The French have built at least 4 air craft carriers -- Bearn, Clemenceau, Foch, and De Gaulle.
The first three had very long service lives and were quite capable.
The De Gaulle has had numerous issues, but is probably the most capable carrier in service outside of the United States.
The ship had to be modified not to handle a new French plane, but to handle the E2-C Hawkeyes that France purchased from the United States. IIRC the French were developing an air control aircraft of their own but ended up canceling the program.
There were numerous other problems with the ship, ranging from issues with the props to the reactor's extremely short core life (around 5 years, IIRC). That baffles me, as the French are probably the world's leaders in reactor technology. I guess it didn't translate to naval reactors.