The Suffren class was almost a four ship class where every ship of the class was completed to slightly different specifications.
Between the first ship, Suffren, above, and the last ship, Dupleix, below, everything in the way of fittings and superstructure were different. Only the 8" turrets were in the same place.
So why would these ships be so different from first to last? You can read the 'real life' reasons in Wikipaedia. For me it is the dates and when the ships are completed that make the difference. Suffren is completed in 1930, too late for any changes to be made. The other three are still building when the London Treaty is consigned to the rubbish heap of history. Colbert and Foch have a year to go before completion and what can be done in the way of extra armour and the change of layout is carried out before completion. The Dupleix is far enough away from completion that things like a new armoured deck and side armour could be completed and fitted.
Early 1943 and the harbour at Mers-el-Kebir is turned into a US replenishment base. The French ships in the Mediterranean are all processed through, and come out looking like the Suffren above. All four are used in the recapture of the Italian Islands and Mainland. (The table below shows three of them at Toulon and scuttled there.) And in 1944 are part of the group that lands French troops on French soil. A great day, even if it is a diversion to draw troops away from the D-Day landings, beaches. The ships had gone up the coast from Syracuse to Anzio and Salerno where so many fine Allied ships were crippled or sunk by the deadly Fritz-X guided bombs. Colbert and or Foch will be hit by these weapons, one will sink and one will be crippled and eventually hulked at Toulon in late 1944.
From Wiki. (Stats for Suffren)
