What if?

 

I've sorted out the various elements of the French fleet ready for painting and have decided to fill in some gaps with 'what if' warships that were either proposed or still under construction in 1940. This is in line with the campaign rules which allow us to play around with counterfactual parameters in order to create fleets that are reasonably matched.

 

The first addition is the Jean Bart, incomplete sister ship to the Richelieu, which was virtually finished in 1940 and did actually see some action, if only as a floating battery in Dakar. In my fleet, it will be operating with the Free French having been completed in time for the war, with all of it's main armament operational.
 

 

The second addition is the proposed fleet carrier the Joffre, which was afloat in 1940 if only as an incomplete hull. This will add significant air cover and strike capacity to the fleet which, otherwise will have to rely on the obsolete and slow Bearn. It's a lot less likely to actually have seen action but will be helpful when I'm up trying to fend off air attacks and launch strikes against enemy shipping.