Named after provinces of France, Normandie and Languedoc were ordered on 18 April 1913, although neither was formally authorized until the enabling finance bill () was passed on 30 July, and Flandre and Gascogne on that same day. Béarn had been planned to be ordered on 1 October 1914, but it was brought forward to 1 January; the five ships would permit the creation of two four-ship divisions with the three Bretagne-class dreadnoughts then under construction.
