Why France designed an allied navy for the Atlantic and Far East

The French empire was too dispersed for its navy to defeat Britain, the United States, or Japan independently. A Japanese attack would probably create an allied war because neither Britain nor the United States could comfortably leave the other power to dominate the postwar settlement. French ships would naturally join the British route through the Mediterranean and Indian Ocean rather than cross the Atlantic and Pacific with the Americans. France's value lay in force multiplication: bases, local knowledge, patrol forces, and enough modern combat power to strengthen a much larger coalition. Designing an allied navy meant contributing ships important enough to earn France influence without trying to duplicate every capability of the two largest fleets.