Rebuilt Cavours support a watchful-waiting strategy

The concluding judgment presents reconstruction as deliberate watchful waiting rather than a substitute for every new battleship. Mussolini could preserve the principle of parity with France while awaiting the outcome of disarmament talks. The Regia Marina judged a division of relatively modern battle-line ships sufficient to balance Dunkerque and considered the rebuilt Cavours faster than the older French Jean Bart and Provence classes. Their speed also allowed them to operate with lighter forces instead of remaining tied solely to a slow battle line. Those advantages made the medium-displacement solution acceptable after more than a decade of resistance to modernizing the old hulls.