The unbuilt Lyon class as a French design choice

The Lyon class remained credible despite its smaller main-battery calibre compared with contemporary 15-inch ships. It appears here as one of France’s strongest and most viable late-prewar dreadnought proposals. Its machinery could combine turbines with triple-expansion engines or use an all-turbine arrangement, so the propulsion choice was still open. The unusually large turret rings invite the possibility of a later refit with triple 16-inch mounts. Because the class was never completed, its wartime and interwar potential remains a design counterfactual rather than a claim about combat performance.