One explanation for France's procurement difficulties places particular responsibility on naval leadership between 1883 and 1887. France retained shipyards and substantial industrial and economic potential, but ministers failed to settle the doctrinal struggle. Alexandre Peyron encouraged debate and promoted officers who took strong positions, apparently expecting competing advocates to balance one another. Charles-Eugène Galiber likewise allowed debate to continue while wider events competed for his attention. Encouraging prominent advocates is interpreted as an attempt to win public attention and naval funding, which also gave those officers political standing. Théophile Aube's ministry and Édouard Barbey's succession left the navy caught in repeated changes of direction.
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Factional leadership turns procurement into a political contest
French naval capacity existed, but competing doctrines and ministers who could not settle the argument turned shipbuilding into a contest of political identity.