Hoche enters a disrupted construction system

Hoche was under construction during Théophile Aube's time as Minister of the Navy and Colonies and was subject to his pause in battleship building. The minister held responsibility for both the navy and the colonies. A favourable assessment still regards Hoche as a useful ship when she entered service. The opposing assessment connects her design problems to more than twenty years of argument over whether battleships deserved investment and what they should do.