Why did French battleship programs such as the Normandie and Lyon classes fall behind comparable British designs?
Short answerLimited yard space and industrial infrastructure constrained how many large ships France could build and how quickly it could build them.
NotesTwo related questions return to the same industrial constraint. France could revise designs, but it had only so much yard space and construction capacity. That limit helps explain why ambitious French capital-ship projects lagged comparable British developments. Paper design potential still depended on the physical capacity to build and sustain a fleet.