Chief of the Naval General Staff Henri Salaun worried that Italian Trento-class heavy cruisers threatened metropolitan France and North African possessions. Spending capital-ship allocations against cruisers would leave too few hulls to cover both France's empire and the Mediterranean. Treaty parity forced France to concentrate enough strength against Italy while still meeting commitments elsewhere. Because the Washington system did not cap aggregate cruiser tonnage, building more cruisers was the more flexible answer unless Italian treaty cheating demanded heavier protection.
Chapter · 6:24-10:52
Italian cruisers exposed a French force-structure trap
French planners first explored capital ships to counter Trento-class cruisers, but treaty parity with Italy made that an inefficient use of scarce battleship tonnage.