Strasbourg gained protection after Italy escalated

The Italian decision to build the Littorios arrived too late to transform Dunkerque but early enough to add armor to Strasbourg. Standard displacement excluded fuel and reserve boiler water, which explains much of the gap between the treaty figure and deep load. The arrangement of liquids around the protected spaces suggests that fuel and water also contributed to the defensive scheme, so the omitted load was operationally important. Treaty-era figures may describe paper specifications more neatly than reality, and Dunkerque's flagship complement further complicates direct comparisons.