High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! In the years before the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the French Navy considered several proposals for battlecruisers. The Navy issued specifications for a battlecruiser design to complete part of the 28 capital ships to be built by 1920. Three designs, one by P. Gille and two by Lieutenant Durand-Viel, were completed in 1913. All three designs were similar to contemporary battleship designs, specifically the Normandie class, which introduced a quadruple gun turret for the main battery, which was adopted for all three proposals. The first two called for the same 340 mm (13 in) gun used on all French dreadnoughts, though the third proposed a much more powerful 370 mm (15 in) gun. Though the design studies were complete, the French Navy did not authorize or begin construction of any battlecruisers before the start of the war.