What is Fleet's least favorite French warship class?
Short answerThe Balaney-class sea-going torpedo boats, because they symbolize the French Navy's wider loss of infrastructure, design continuity, and great-power status.
NotesFleet chooses the Balaney-class sea-going torpedo boats less for one isolated defect than for what their program represents. France moved away from the industrial and design inheritance that had sustained it as the world's second great navy. Torpedo cruisers and gunboats had counterparts abroad, but the Balaney approach embodied the more damaging extremes associated with Jeune École policy. This eccentric small-warship class reflects the larger erosion of dockyard capacity, capital-ship continuity, and strategic prestige.