The French Fleet
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French ships are described as the "Jack of All Trades" of Leviathans. Not the best at anything, but without any glaring weaknesses either. And while "Jack of All Trades, Master of None" is a common phrase, everyone always forgets the second part: "...but better than Master of One." Sometimes being better at more things is more important than being the best at only one thing.
To illustrate this fact, the French do not have any uncommon slots specific to their nation on their ships, though they do have faction specific Admiral cards that deal with primarily use of torpedoes and maintaining speed with damaged engines.
French Ships
Battleships
Paris Class
Bastille Class Class
Battlecruisers
Conquent Class
Cruisers
Faucon Class
Liberte Class
Destroyers
Grenouille Class
Poisson Class
French Admiral Cards
French specific Admiral cards are based around keeping engines functional, and attacking the enemy with Torpedoes.
10 points - Makeshift Engines: Once Per Game: A ship may use its printed MP value, ignoring MP reductions from destroyed engine slots. For just 10 points, it isn't a large investment, though it's also not a guarantee that this Admiral card will get used. It also potentially gets you out of a bad spot that other Admiral cards could have kept you out of in the first place. Maybe worth leaving behind unless you are strapped for points.
20 points - High Impact Torpedos: Once Per Turn: Add 1dGreen to one torpedo roll. A 2.5 average improvement in your torpedo breach roll if you're worried about cracking that German battleship's armor. This is enough to get you up and over the armor threshold for a 50% chance to hit on the German ships with Red torpedoes, so could be worth a look. Only useful if you're taking torpedoes, and expecting them to struggle to breach their target when you hit with them.
30 points - Torpedo Crew: Once Per Turn: Add 1dBlue to one non-Saturation Fire gun shot. Not the most logically named Admiral Card, the flavor suggests the torpedo crew helping aim the gun when they aren't firing their fish, or using a torpedo to encourage a ship to steer into a good shot? Regardless, adding 3.5 average to your breach roll is nothing to sneer at, and that can be enough to make a non-bracketing shot punch through. With that in mind, it is only once a turn, and so you will need to use this on either a necessary to hit shot or to bring an unlikely shot up to a reasonable chance. This is likely the best of the French Specific Admiral cards, and probably top 3 of the ones the French can take period, with the other two also at 30 points.
40 points - Torpedo Sights: Once per Turn: You may rotate three torpedo tokens one hexside after the movement phase. Potentially huge for actually hitting with your torpedoes, it turns regular torpedoes into a much larger area denial weapon, and can go from forcing your opponent to fly in a predictable way, to guaranteeing the torpedoes get a chance to breach their armor. The 40 points is a large opportunity cost though, and requires a lot of torpedo equipped ships to put it to good use. This feels like a gimmick that a pair of interceptors and chaff equipped ships lock down completely.
50 points - Engineering Expert: The first destroyed Engine Slot for every ship does not reduce the ship's MP value. Expensive, yes, and like the 10 point upgrade doesn't really improve your ships' chances not to be involved in a situation where it is needed. Still, it just works, and keeps your ships moving, and moving fast, even if they are outflanked and attacked in their aft quadrant. Probably better uses of your points though.
Other Admiral Cards in a French Fleet
10 points - Improved Keel: Once Per Game: Before an enemy Breaking the Keel Roll is made, announce that you will apply -1 to the die roll result. Nearly worthless. A -1 roll on a 2DRed is basically a one time +5% chance to not die. Elsewhere at 10 points you can find something better that you can use to avoid getting to the point where it might be useful.
10 points - Airman: Choose one Ship Type at the start of each turn. All ships of that type may ignore one destroyed Armor Slot. Somewhere like here. Potentially a way to help protect your damaged ships for not a large investment. Worth a look if all you have is 10 points to spare.
20 points - Breaking the Keel: Once per turn: Add 1DGreen to one non-Saturation Fire gun shot. It's an average of +2.5 to a single shot, but you can get a 1dBlue with the French specific 30 point Admiral's Card. Maybe worth while if you need that extra 10 points for something, but otherwise why not just upgrade?
20 points - Lieutenant: Choose one Ship Type at the start of each turn. All ships of that type may ignore destroyed Steering Gear Slots. French ships, especially battleships, have a lot of steering gears that make them much more maneuverable than they appear to be. However, this is a defensive upgrade and you need a destroyed steering gear for this to even be remotely useful.
30 points - Type Reduction: Once per game: A ship may reduce its Type to 0 for movement order. This one can potentially be a devastating trick. You get one ship, once a game, that can move after every other ship on that turn. As you move, and then simultaneously shoot, this isn't as devastating in this game as say Star Wars: Armada, but being able to steal the initiative in a Battleship duel, and move yours after even all of the opponent's destroyers, can make for a huge difference. Probably the most efficient Admiral's Card in terms of value for points.
30 points - Commander: Choose one Ship Type at the start of each turn. All ships of that Type have +2 MP. This is considered to be by some players potentially the best Admiral Card in the game, and potentially game breaking for it's cost. It also makes French ships insanely fast and maneuverable. Hard to advise against this one if you're playing to win, easy to advise against if you're trying to have fun with some friends.
40 points - Tesla Support: Twice per turn: You may ignore a ship's damaged Tesla Coil effect when firing. Twice per turn isn't enough to fire an entire ship's weapons, but that might be all you need to actually hit something with a damaged ship. Still, it's something that only gets good later in the game where something that was always working could have kept you from getting to this point.
40 points - Rear Admiral: Choose one Ship Type at the start of each turn. All ships of that Type have +1 max range. If you can use this to out-range your opponent, great. Not always an option though with the tight, cramped quarters of many brawls.
50 points - Repair Bonus: May repair twice at 12+ when a Crew Slot is on the same side as the damaged Slot. Expensive but potentially useful. You're going to take damage at some point, and a 12+ is better than 50/50 odds with a Green crew. 2 repairs in a turn can turn you from nearly destroyed to functionally back in the fight, especially if you are fixing Tesla Coils or guns.
50 points - Sky Admiral: Choose one Ship Type at the start of each turn. All ships of that Type may ignore one destroyed gun battery Slot. Taking shots even when you shouldn't be able to can win games. It's expensive because it needs to be. Maybe too expensive though, as there are other upgrades that work right away and don't require you to already be in a bad position.
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