Design work began in late 1939; three versions were prepared, all of which were developments of the Project C type that was created during the design process for the "Clemenceau" and "Gascogne" variants of the "Richelieu" class. Unlike the standard "Richelieu" type that mounted all eight of their main battery guns in a pair of four-gun turrets forward, the Project C design adopted an arrangement with two three-gun turrets forward and one triple turret aft. The design staff considered three standard displacements; , , and . The first was the same figure proposed for the British s and that incorrectly assumed for the German H-class ships, the third was the maximum under the agreement reached with Britain and the United States, and the third was a compromise displacement figured to be the minimum that could accommodate the mandated top speed of at least along with a battery of 406 mm guns.