A speculative French 13-inch-gun response follows the British counterfactual. Such a ship might enter service only as the next British battleship generation was also arriving, making delay as important as its paper specification. The design struggles to combine machinery, armour, ammunition, torpedoes and acceptable weight distribution within the available hull. This game-built ship is a proposed counterpart rather than a reconstruction of an actual French design. Even a dangerous opponent could reach service too late to match the British generation it was intended to answer.
Notable Point · 31:40-39:21
The French response and the cost of dreadnought design lag
A speculative French counterpart illustrates how construction timing could turn one navy's design breakthrough into a wider lead.