Could an Alsace class have entered service?

This counterfactual rests on French shipbuilding capacity once the political decision and supporting investment were made. France possessed greater underlying building capacity than Italy, but Italy had invested more consistently in making its facilities usable. Once France committed money to the ships and the supporting yards, an Alsace appears workable even if the design could have been improved. The investment gap is not reduced to dictatorship alone: the discussion notes continuing parliamentary criticism of Mussolini under a fascist-led government. Entry into service around 1944 or 1945, had the war been delayed, appears more plausible than completion of the German H class or Soviet Sovetsky Soyuz class. Alsace ties design ambition to industrial capacity, political commitment, and wartime timing.