Before and during World War I France had one of the most powerful militaries in the world and owned vast colonies overseas. Why was the French Navy so much smaller than their British or German (or even American) counterparts?
And as follow-up questions: Why didn't the French navy participate in the big naval clashes in the North Sea (Dogger bank, Jutland etc) alongside their British allies? What were some of the French naval achievements or disasters during the Great War? They fought in Dardanelles and had skirmishes with the Austro-Hungarian navy, didn't they.
I'm not sure I'd classify the French navy as small. At the outbreak of war they had 4 dreadnoughts, 6 semi-dreadnoughts, and 15 pre-dreadnought battleships. They also had another 35 cruisers of various types. That's not that far behind the US's 33 battleships and 39 cruisers.
They didn't show up at Jutland due to the 1912 Anglo-Franco naval agreement. The British had identified the Germans as the most likely naval enemy, and wanted an overwhelming force of British ships in the North Sea to counter the German Navy. So basically they agreed to allow the French to patrol the Mediterranean while the British would cover the North Sea.
The French never entirely abandoned the Atlantic and always kept destroyer squadrons based there. But they did move all their heavy ships to the Med to fulfill their part of the agreement.