Alsace - class battleship The " Alsace " - class battleships were planned to succeed and enlarge the " Richelieu " class . The design planned for an improved " Richelieu " design with three triple or quadruple 380mm turrets ( two fore , one aft ) . Six names were proposed , and two had to be chosen from this list : " Alsace " , " Normandie " , " Flandre " , " Bourgogne " ; two more units were not given names . The laying down of the lead ship of the class , " Alsace " , was planned for 1941 ; with the Fall of France in 1940 , none of the ships were built . Background . In 1936 , the second London naval disarmament conference failure marked the end of the international naval armament limitation policy . Japan had withdrawn from the conference on January 15 . Italy also declined to sign the treaty . A so - called " escalator clause " was included at the urging of American negotiators , allowing the signatory countries of the Second London Treaty — France , the United Kingdom and the United States — to raise the battleship main artillery caliber limit from 14 inches ( 356mm ) to 16 inches ( 406mm ) , and the battleship Washington tonnage limit from 35 , 000 tons to 45 , 000 tons , if Japan or Italy still refused to sign after . So , the U . S . A . adopted the 16 - inches guns for their new fast battleship classes , the United Kingdom chose to respect the Second London Naval Treaty limitations for the battleships , Germany was not concerned as she had not been invited to the second London naval disarmament conference , but officially , the battleships and did have 380mm guns and 35 , 000 tons . So France decided to respect the limitation of 35 , 000 tons and 380mm , as long as no continental European power had overtaken them . It was with these considerations in mind that the new Chef d ' Etat - major Général de la Marine , Admiral Darlan , was ordered , in late 1937 , to study new designs for two more battleships , as trials were starting to confirm some critical issue with her design , especially her all forward quadruple turret main artillery , and her dual purpose ( anti - aircraft and anti - ship ) secondary artillery of relatively light caliber . Three projects were studied , the first ( project A ) with the same quadruple arrangement forward as , but different secondary artillery dispositions , the second ( project B ) with one quadruple turret forward and one quadruple turret aft , the third ( project C ) with two fore triple turrets and one triple turret aft , in every case with a 380mm caliber . The project C was leading to an excess of nearly 2500 tons over the limit of 35 , 000 tons , so it was not proposed to the Chef d ' Etat - major Général de la Marine . In June 1938 , Admiral Darlan chose the project A variant 2 , for the first battleship to be laid down of the second pair of s . She received the name of " Clemenceau " , and he choose the project B variant 3 , for the second ship with whose design he was much involved , and gave her the name of " Gascogne " , the French province where he was born . These French Admiralty choices were tightly linked with the necessity of a maximum use of shipyards where big ships might be built . So , the , in Brest Navy Yards , was planned to be ready for a new battleship building in late 1938 – early 1939 , after the " Richelieu " will have to be launched , or more exactly , floated up . It was not possible to leave the dock empty for at least six months , waiting to build a Project B design battleship after it had been ordered , as it would have necessitated at least one year to put up definitive drawings . So , the Project A design had to be chosen necessarily for the first battleship to be laid down in the Salou graving dock . Thus , the in Saint - Nazaire , in which was being built the " Jean Bart " , expected to leave it for October 1940 , could be used for the second battleship to be laid down . Therefore , " Richelieu " being floated up on January 17 , 1939 , " Clemenceau " was laid down , this same day . Eighteen months later , " Jean Bart " left her berth nearly in sight of German vanguards , on June 19 , 1940 , so " Gascogne " was never laid down . During the summer of 1939 , the French intelligence services warned the French Admiralty that the keels of two German battleships , supposed to displace 40 , 000 tons and mount 406mm guns , actually Plan Z H - 39 class battleships , had been laid down . It was considered then that it was time to surpass the limits of 35 , 000 tons and even 380mm . On the basis of the 1938 studies on Project C , new battleship designs emerged , which led to the so - called " Province " - or " Alsace " - class battleships . Design . Three types of battleships were studied , all with the same main artillery arrangement , two turrets forward , one turret aft , and the same secondary artillery arrangement ( 152mm caliber ) , all on center line , one triple turret forward , two triple turrets in superfiring position aft , between the funnel and the aft main artillery turret , as on the C3 version of projects for 1938 bis program . They differed on two points : First , the main artillery consists in triple 380mm turrets , for type n°1 , in 406mm triple turrets , for type n°2 , in 380mm quadruple turrets , for type n°3 . Second , the anti aircraft artillery , consisting in every case of dual mountings of 100mm caliber ( so - called pseudo turrets ) , would have counted eight mountings , on types n° 1 and 2 , twelve mountings on type n° 3 . The armour is nearly the same ( belt : 330mm on type n°1 and n°2 , 350mm on type n°3 ; upper armoured deck : 170 – 180mm ; lower armoured deck : 40mm ) and the propulsion assuring the same speed ( 31 . 5 knots ) as , so the length of the hull , the power of propulsion machinery , and the Washington tonnage are varying from 252 m , and 40 , 000 tons for the type n°1 , 256 m , and 42 , 500 tons for the type n°2 , to 265 m , and 45 , 000 tons for the type n°3 . As seen above , the type n°1 would have been similar to s , for the main artillery , in arrangement and in caliber , and an anti - ship secondary artillery which would have counted one triple turret less , but with a disposition on an axial line , the broadside would have been 50 % more powerful , and the anti - aircraft artillery , with a slightly bigger caliber ( 100mm instead of 90mm ) would have counted the same number of barrels . It also may be described as something between , with one more 381 mm gun , and the s , with a main artillery of only 380mm caliber . The type n°2 would have been similar to the - , - and battleships , regarding the main armament , in caliber and in arrangement . The top speed would have been higher , 30 kn instead of 28 kn for the U . S . Navy battleships concerned , with consequently a longer hull , more horsepower and an enlarged displacement . The choice of a dual - caliber secondary artillery instead of a dual - purpose one is characteristic of the Continental European navies at the beginning of the Second World War ; the lack of a robust light anti - aircraft battery is also consistent with contemporary practice that was soon outstripped by events . The type n°3 would have retained a distinguishing feature of French capital ships : the quadruple turret . The French Navy advocated such a battery arrangement consistently , incorporating it into the designs of the proposed and classes of battleship in the First World War , and then bringing it into practice on the " Dunkerque " - , " Richelieu " - , and " Gascogne " - classes . The secondary artillery would have been near of which will have been fitted on as completed post war ( 9 x 152mm and 24 x 100mm ) , except the lack of fourteen AA 57mm dual mountings and twenty 20mm single mountings . The French Admiralty is reported to have chosen the type n°1 , the nearest of " Richelieu " design , and discarded the type n°2 , because of the delays to perfect the 406mm guns , a new device for the French Navy , and considered the type n°3 dimensions excessive , being nearly those of s ( 270 m , , 45 , 000 tons ) . The first unit was intended to be laid down on 1941 , in the Penhoët shipyards , where had been built the transatlantic liner , and later the battleship , and where was being built the . But this choice would have deferred the building of the second aircraft carrier of the , clearly showing the higher priority granted , in this time , to battleships on aircraft carriers by the French Admiralty . The second unit would have had to be laid down on 1942 in a new dock which was intended to be built in the Brest Navy Yards . Two names of French provinces would have to be chosen among " Alsace " , " Normandie " , " Flandre " and " Bourgogne " , but with the 1940 France defeat , these battleships were never ordered , no work was ever begun , and even no material stored . French provinces names have currently been used for French capital ships , as s and s . They had also been considered a moment for nuclear attack submarines , and are nowadays in use for " Aquitaine " - class second generation stealth frigates .