The French naval command issued specifications for a new battleship design in response to the "Littorio"s on 24 July, less than two weeks after the Italian ships were announced. The new ships would be built to the maximum Washington limits: 35,000 tons displacement and a battery of eight guns of either 380 mm or 406 mm. The vessels would also carry a secondary battery of dual-purpose guns, be capable of a speed of , and carry belt armor that was thick. "Vice-Amiral" (Vice Admiral) Georges Durand-Viel, the Chief of Staff of the French Navy, favored using the basic "Dunkerque" design, scaled up to account for the increases in displacement, armament, and armor, to reduce the amount of time needed to design the ship. The "Dunkerque"s had adopted an unusual arrangement of the main battery that grouped all eight guns in a pair of four-gun turrets placed forward of the superstructure in a superfiring pair.