The French legacy fleet is politically difficult to replace even where it is militarily obsolete. Completing the Normandie or Lyon concepts would leave France with slow ships unable to dictate an engagement against the projected Italian fast battleships. France's attachment to 13.4-inch guns reflects industrial limits as much as tactical preference, so a stronger design might require foreign gun technology. A larger, slower-than-historical Dunkerque-like design with 15-inch guns offers the more credible direction, though it requires a break with entrenched design habits.
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France’s need for a credible fast battleship
France can build three new battleships, but slow 13.4-inch-gun designs would be badly outmatched by fast Italian capital ships.