At that time it was normal. Bretagne and Courbet class was exactly the same
lonnking. Then FCS and telemeter were upgrated at the early 1920 so the brdge of
warship were modified. NF build Normandie an Lyon class BB straght from blue print
of 1912-1914. Thoose ship were designed when FCS where poor and just after the
launch of the first dreadnought BB. The Breatgne and coubet were modified whit a
three pod mast and superstructures in order to carry a 9 meter long telemeter.
Normandie an Lyon would have surely received the same three pod mast and
superstructures in order to carry the same FCS type.
The withe cylinder object is the armored control room only used during battle. The
real control room is the small cubic structure near the first smockstacke, this room
was called "passerelle de majorit?.

Even the US ships of that era were minimal in their conning tower dimensions. They
have towering cage masts, but the actual bridge was very minimalistic.



Sparse superstructures were common on most Dreadnoughts before their rebuilds in
the late 1920s/early 1930s.

I imagine the forward bridge is that white cylindrical object aft of the bow turret.
Probably has armored viewing slits. If you look at the Nevada and USN BB's of that
era (newly commissioned, not the rebuilds we have) they also have a small oval
forward bridge.



Andrea Doria pre-rebuild. Same armored cylindrical bridge (sorry for the epic size).

In the engineers defense, it's would have a lower center of gravity and would need less
armour plate to protect.

Erm, the one converted to a carrier was her sistership, Bearn.

Anyhow, that minimalist bridge design seems to be in line with most French
battleships of that era.

Remember the Normandie class dates to 1912, and most dreadnoughts at the time
lack the high, windowed bridges characteristic of most post-war and WW2 designs.
Indeed, almost all the surviving ones had their superstructures rebuilt after that.

As this class was never converted, I suspect there aren't many detailed plans of
them, just simple line drawings outlining its basic shape. And perhaps due to that,
SDE didn't take into account there should have been some windows around the
forward superstructure area.

That being said, I still love the Normandie. Perhaps my favourite BB in the French line
so far. Small, sleek, and often mistaken for a CL or CA, and ignored by enemies until
its too late.

Well the french are known for retreating so the bridge at the back would make
sense so they could see where they were going =P

but on a serious note maybe they 4got to put in the windows but from pics ive found
from other pics they are ment to be in the front tower of the ship