After the Marceau class, France spent years producing battleships as individual designs. Their common features did not overcome the differences that made operating them together exceptionally difficult. More practice and money for fleet exercises might have made the combination workable, but that funding was unavailable. Japan provides the closing comparison: Tōgō Heihachirō and other advocates favoured a smaller, balanced fleet to avoid dependence on the Jeune École alone.
Chapter · 1:32:17-1:35:44
Hoche and the price of single-ship classes
Hoche's delays were part of a wider pattern that produced individually distinct French battleships rather than a reliable fleet system.