Industrial strength could not substitute for coherent national will

Military, strategic, national, and political will must all align to sustain a war effort. Geography can provide time for that alignment, as surrounding seas did for some powers, but France faced a more immediate continental threat. The country had rebuilt naval competence after the First World War and, in this assessment, created the best treaty-compliant heavy cruiser of its era. Yet interwar political division kept French strength from becoming a cohesive force, so neither the navy nor its finest cruiser gained service commensurate with the work invested in them.