Storm summarized it completely.

Having all MN in Nelson I am glad I did...

Pros... small hitboxes, great firepower, awesome AA guns, killer bombers

Cons... limited ammo, USN gun range, crappy fighters

agreed the normandie is a awesome ship, I helped take out a 1/3 of a Alsace and then
proceeded to doing 1 on 1s with 2 Nelsons winning both of them...

Their ships are fast, little devils. That speed, combined with the small hitboxes of
their BB1, 2 and 3, make them very potent rushers.

Using only a Normandie, I can mow thru BB4s and 5s quite easily. With 12 barrels,
39 knots and the size of a CL, once you sneak in range and take them 1 on 1, you
have pretty good chances of winning.

I loved it so much I've skipped the Strasbourg and Richelieu, and using it straight
until Alsace. Even despite the exp penalty of using high level crew on lower level BB,
I still end up with 40k or 50k exp quite regularly.

That's the pros of the French. Can't say I'm faced with any cons yet, so I'll leave that
part for someone else.

Massive power at BB 3 - 4 - 5 lvl

Best Bombers of both kinds

FIghters Suck.............