Having recently read the recently published French Battleships of World War One, it made sense to re-read this one in order to get a complete view of French battleship development through the years. John Jordan has since published three similar volumes on French battleships, cruisers, and destroyers, all of which are very fine books in their own right. Although this book has the luxury of only having to focus on four ships, the Dunkerque and Richelieu classes, (and a couple which were never completed), it nonetheless achieves a balance the other three books in the series don't quite achieve.
After an introduction focusing on the impact of the Washington Naval Treaty and the moribund state of French capital ship design in the post-war era, the majority of the book focuses on the ships themselves. The book is arranged by alternating historical and technical chapters, which actually works better than the more segregated approach used by its successors. The history of each ship is laid out in some detail, the text accompanied with maps, orders of battle, diagrams of battle damage, lists of commanding and flag officers, and official reports. The technical chapters describe salient features of the ships' armor, armament, fire control machinery, command spaces, aviation facilities, and post-completion modifications.
Where this book really shines, though, is the amount of detail and the quality of its presentation. The photographs, for the most part, are finely grained, well chosen, and have useful captions. An eight-page color section includes crisp plan and profile views of each ship at different stages during their careers. A large number of diagrams are provided, ranging from deck plans of Dunkerque's forward tower, to cross-sections through different types of shell, armor layouts, and depictions of the damage "Jean Bart" received at Casablanca. A large number of specification tables and insets accompany the text, including some interesting descriptions of French naval infrastructure. The overall look of the book harks back to the classic naval references of the 70s and 80s, but considering that most of the maps and diagrams are computer-drawn, it's definitely slicker and more polished.
I seriously wish more warship monographs were like this. It's a very tight, concise work which doesn't mess around with extraneous details. It manages to deliver a solid dose of historical and technical details without totally overwhelming the reader. It has a couple flaws here and there (propulsion details are a little sketchy, and there isn't much in the way of analysis of strengths and flaws), but it's still among my favorite naval references.
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