The Normandie class was to follow the Bretagne class but replacing the triple 13.4" with twin 400mm (15.75") for an eight gun broadside that would have rivaled the British and Germanic States ships that were being built at the same time. The first two, Normandie was laid down in 1913, three more in 1914 and the last, Bearn, in 1915. The first four sips progressed far enough for the hulls to be launched to clear the slipways for more urgent work. The Normandie was the most advanced but would have still required a further three to four years of work to complete the ship. The other problem was that the armament for the ship had been taken over by the Army for use as railway guns at the front. Some were in poor repair and replacements would be required to be built. Post-war Frances finances were not in a good state and all of the first four ships were scrapped.
1919-1920 and the world has gone crazy building huge battleships of bigger (40,000 tons) and even bigger (48,000 tons) sizes armed with a mixture of 16" and 18" weapons aboard. The French were hoping they would not have to lay down any ships of that size as the economy did not have any spare cash for even a few light cruisers, let alone monster battleships. But that did not stop the Battleship Admirals from having a dream of the French Navy having its own monster battleships, and to that end ordered designs and plans to be drawn up for the equipment and hardware to populate their monster wet dreams.
The Washington Treaty comes into force and the French Government breaths a sigh of relief. Their monster plans can be shelved for ten years and come back as the Dunkerque class but only as 16" battleships. These two projected ships were the only time the French had contemplated the 450mm gun. The class would have introduced the quad 130mm gun system to the French. One unit was built and put aboard the trials ship Condorcet for evaluation. The unit failed. The loading mechanism on both the twin and quad units failed and things broke under strain. Version two was designed and again trialed on the Condorcet. Again failure. Everything for Versions 1 and 2 were thrown in the furnace, and 'poof' they were gone. Version 3 was built and put aboard the trials ship. Success! A bigger turret, better loading system, stronger more robust firing mechanisms all contributed to a system that came just in time to go aboard the new Dunkerque class battleships.
