France

"Honor, Homeland, Valor, Discipline." These are still the four tenets that define the Marine Nationale^[1] — or "La Royale" — as one of the world's oldest navies. The Marine Nationale was instrumental in establishing the French colonial empire and engaging in near-constant conflicts with their European neighbors, particularly the Royal Navy. Despite constantly being dwarfed in overall size by their closest rival, the well-funded and well-equipped Marine Nationale still had an outsized influence on world events and naval strategy, being deeply involved in the American Revolutionary War in the 18th century, the modernizing efforts of the Imperial Japanese Navy in the 19th century, negotiating the various post-World War I naval treaties early in the 20th century, and developing the Jeune École naval theory. Its engineers and shipbuilders were among the best in the world, building the Le Fantasque class of destroyers^[2] — the world's fastest to this day — and while the French paid little heed to naval aviation, their focus on battleships^[3], especially fast battleships, produced the Dunkerque and Richelieu classes, regarded as among the most successful designs built under the displacement limits of the Washington Naval Treaty.

Largely spared from the deep military budget cuts brought about by the Treaty of Versailles during the interwar period, the Marine Nationale took part in the Battle of the Atlantic, Operation Weserübung, and Operation Dynamo at the onset of the Second World War. However, the signing of the Armistice of 22 June 1940 with Germany meant that all operations with the Allies had to be suspended under the new Vichy France client state, with the exception of those who were able to join the Free French Naval Forces. While the terms of the Armistice meant that France was officially neutral, the British did not want to risk having the most powerful vessels of the Marine Nationale fall into enemy hands. Thus, the Royal Navy was directed to execute Operation Catapult, an attack on the French naval forces docked at Mers-el-Kébir, Algeria, on 3 July 1940, greatly souring relations between the two powers for years to come. Nevertheless, rather than allow them to be captured by the Germans as part of Case Anton, French sailors scuttled the remainder of their fleet in Toulon on 27 November 1942, retaining their honor till the very end.

Destroyers

Le Fantasque, Tier VII Destroyer

Gameplay

French destroyers have powerful guns and great speed, but without the Smoke Generator consumable. The only few French destroyers that have access to that consumable are Cyclone and Aigle.

To compensate for the lack of smoke, they have an unusual distribution of HP of the hull. Unlike conventional hulls, a part of the ship's HP can be reduced to zero and not take damage in those areas. This makes them more durable under fire.
French Engine Boost consumable allow these ships to reach high velocities, making it harder to target.
Starting from Tier V, you have access to the Main Battery Reload Booster consumable. This will be used most efficiently when finishing off enemy destroyers or other low health targets.
Starting from Tier VII, French destroyers boast great AP shells with a fast and flat trajectory. These shells will allow the destroyer to penetrate citadels of lightly armored cruisers at medium ranges.

French destroyers generally don't have the best concealment, nor a long torpedo range, capping out at 8km from Tier VI onwards, though the speed of the torpedoes do increase. This makes them quite similar to the Russian destroyer line, performing best as gunboats. Don't contest caps too early as your high speed and poor concealment will mean that you may be spotted first and focused down. Go around the edge of the cap to spot enemy cruisers and BBs for your team. Keep shooting at targets, setting them on fire with the signature 139mm guns, sporting a high fire chance and powerful AP rounds. The high speed (up to 54.5 knots from Le Fantasque onwards) will allow you to get out of tough situations as soon as possible. If the enemy destroyer is spotted, simply activate the Main Battery Reload Booster and take them out. Hit hard, hit fast, hit often. That is the playstyle of the French DD line.

Cruisers

Algérie, Tier VI cruiser

Gameplay

French cruisers^[4] are very fast, enabling them to fulfill a variety of roles. They are capable of being effective destroyer hunters and cruiser killers. These cruisers are excellent fire-starters, benefitting from a high fire chance. This can be used to great effect against battleships. However, it is important to be careful because with the exception of the Tier I ship, Jurien de la Gravière, French cruisers below Tier VII are not well-armored. At lower tiers, it is important to preserve health and avoid extended gunfights with other cruisers and battleships.

At Tier IV, Émile Bertin has access to the Sonar consumable; torpedo range is also improved to 7.5 kilometers, which remains the same throughout subsequent tiers. At Tier V, La Galissonnière and premium ship De Grasse are the first cruisers that have access to an upgraded version of the Engine Boost consumable. While active, the ship's speed is increased by 15-20%. At Tier V, these cruisers also gain access to the Defensive AA Fire consumable, which can be mounted by replacing Hydroacoustic Search. The anti-aircraft armaments of French cruisers are sub-optimal, so the use of Defensive AA Fire should be timed well to ensure that enemy aircraft squadrons cannot drop bombs and torpedoes accurately.

Boasting up to 110 millimeters of armor at Tier VI, Algérie is the first of the French heavy cruisers. With the addition of armor, these higher tier French cruisers are able to take a hit; however, the armor should not be relied on. Proper positioning, evasive maneuvers, and use of cover are tactics that will ensure the survival of French cruisers throughout a match.

Battleships

Richelieu, Tier VII battleship

Gameplay

French battleships start at low tier with traditional dreadnought-style designs, but shift to designs more akin to battlecruisers at higher tiers. They are very fast for their size, and from Tier VII onward they get access to the Engine Boost consumable, further adding to their speed. Starting from Tier V, they typically arrange their main battery guns in quadruple turrets, giving them a large volume of fire that is quite accurate and has good characteristics, though the guns themselves tend to be smaller in caliber. Their secondary guns are nothing to sneeze at either, matching or even exceeding the secondaries of those found on Japanese battleships (though still inferior to those of the Germans) and their anti-air capabilities are above-par once you get to Tier VI (though they have weak anti-air prior to that point). Unfortunately, French battleships also stick out like a sore thumb, having absolutely horrid detection values that let enemies see them coming for miles. They also tend to have sub-par armor when compared to the battleships of other nations, making it easy for their counterparts to land full damage penetrations or citadel hits. Much of their armor at higher tiers tends to be 32mm plating, making them vulnerable to high explosive shells from cruisers. Additionally, their anti-aircraft and secondary batteries tend to be quite fragile; sustained enemy fire from high explosive shells can quickly wreck their defenses. Finally, their main guns are somewhat vulnerable to being knocked out or destroyed, which can be particularly devastating on some ships due to only having two main turrets (such as Richelieu). Overall, the French battleships can best be thought of as glass cannons compared to other nations, trading durability for firepower and speed.

At Tier VIII, players can look forward to Alsace. This battleship boasts unrivaled speed in its class when making use of her Engine Boost , has modestly accurate main guns, but has excellent anti-air capabilities, and strong secondaries with excellent reach.