RamscoopRaider
Donor
France actually does need a fairly large navy to maintain that huge empire of theirs, not as big as the UK's but large enough, of course this mostly requires smaller cruisers and gunboats for colonial duties, they can get away skimping on Battleships and larger cruisers. But the UK also relied on France holding the Med so they could concentrate sufficient force to keep the HSF bottled up. Until Italy enters the war the French Navy is what is keeping Austria-Hungary bottled up, too much cuts and Entente shipping in the Med suffers. Also if the French navy is much smaller, it might make Italy more likely to stay CP, if Italy thinks they can easily establish Naval superiority over FranceCutting their navy might seem plausible, no? After all, if Britain can be relied upon to protect France's interests, France might not need a large navy of its own.