Two of the new ships were authorized on 1 April 1940. The first vessel was slated to be laid down at the No. 1 slipway at Saint-Nazaire after "Joffre" was to be launched in 1941, displacing "Painlevé", which was not reallocated to another builder before the program ended. The second member of the class was to be laid down in 1942 in the new No. 10 dock in Brest, which was to have been completed by that time. On 15 May 1940, the navy proposed four names for the first two ships for Darlan to select; these were "Alsace", "Normandie", "Flandre", and "Bourgogne". According to Garzke and Dulin, the government considered authorizing two more vessels, though no contracts were placed. Initial orders for building material were scheduled for mid-1940, but following the German victory in the Battle of France by June, all French naval construction programs came to an end.