Hello again!
The Great War caused the termination of three French shipbuilding projects: The Normandie-class battleships (five already laid down), the Lamotte-Picquet-class cruisers (one ordered, two planned) and the 1914 battlecruiser project (no orders placed yet, nor was the design finalized).
The Normandie-class battleships were already drawn by Novice ages ago; I hope he does not mind an update. They would have been powerfully armed ships (broadside of 7.020 kg, close to Revenge's 7.260 kg) of very compact size (25.300 ts, more than 2.000 tons less than Revenge); speed (22 kts) and protection (300mm belt) were significantly improved compared to earlier French battleships. Only Normandie and Languedoc were completed to launch readiness and regularly launched; Flandre and Gascogne were launched incomplete to clear the slips. Only Bearn was completed as an aircraft carrier, the other four were scrapped. As any as-completed fits are necessarily hypothetical, I restricted myself to the as-designed fit.
![[ img ]](https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/egi4rlm1aas0y8h/BB_Languedoc_1913.png?dl=0)
The construction of battlecruisers was only tentatively planned; three designs were prepared which were of simliar size 27.000 - 28.000 ts with the same speed (27 - 28 kts) and the same protection (270mm - 280mm belt) but vastly differing armament: One by Gille with twelve 340mm guns, one by Durand-Viel with eight 340mm guns and another one by Durand-Viel with eight 370mm guns. Comparing them with contemporary foreign battlecruisers, in my eyes only Durand-Viel's first design seems really feasible, with armament and speed similar to Lion, and much better protection on the same displacement; anything better would probably been beyond French technology in that era. Durand-Viel's Design I is shown here as designed.
![[ img ]](https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/lxcnjx3ueclkw98/BC_Durand-Viel-A.PNG?dl=0)
The Lamotte-Picquet-class light cruisers was a rather old-fashioned looking design of 4.500 ts. Armament was up-to-date with eight 138mm guns (four superfiring fore and aft and two on each beam for a broadside of six) and four 450mm TTs in fixed mounts amidships, as was speed at 29 kts; armour however was very flimsy at 25mm over machinery only, with even thinner decks and gun shields. It is often stated that four of the guns were mounted in casemates amidships; the only plan drawing existing in the internet however indicates that the beam guns had the same shields as the centerline ones and were placed in an unarmoured, roofed shelter. Ten units were planned, but only three authorized in 1914, and only the lead ship was actually ordered. None of them was laid down.
![[ img ]](https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/l1y4eaa0yds9ywz/CL_Lamotte-Picquet_1914.png?dl=0)
Greetings
GD
![[ img ]](https://i.imgur.com/kxkY0hZ.gif)