Question about Bonfiglietti's Carrier Project.

Variant D seems to lack a funnel from the drawing. The bridge layout suggedts separate funnel-bridge island or IJN style side funnel(s)
 
My Italian friend has an entire book about them, I will try to get more info.
 
Tzoli said:
This is the book you are looking fpr:
La portaerei scomparsa del generale Bonfiglietti.
ISBN-10 887801558X
ISBN-13 978-8878015586

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Thank you Tzoli! By the way, has the book ever been translated into English? I don't know about Italian language.
 
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Dilandu said:
Maybe it was supposed to be diesel-powered?
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Looks like both: Diesel AND side funnels:

Top speed was about 26 knots, and the exhaust ducts were relocated on the sides, eliminating the funnel and thus making the island way smaller and without much interference, but this provisioned diesel engines and generators.
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If I'm not mistaken, there's a variant A, but sliced in the upper-right bow deck, additional small guns inbroadside and starboard, as well as an addition with guns. I don't know if it's true or not, and it's quite widespread on the internet as well.
 
My friend found some images though quite low quality and some data in that book.
Variant 1:
14,000 tons, 215 meters, 26 kn, 42 aircraft
Bonfiglietti-Variant-A.jpg
Variant 2:
Same as Variant 1
Bonfiglietti-Variant-B.jpg
Variant 3:
10,160 tons, 170 meters, 25 kn, 30 aircraft
Bonfiglietti-variant-C.jpg
Variant 4:
11,515 tons, 200 meters, 26 kn, 30 aircraft standard capacity, maximum 42
Bonfiglietti-Variant-D.jpg
Final design:
A 1/200 model was also built during studies, but politics killed the project.
Specifications for the final design of the carrier by Generale del Genio Navale (Naval General) Filippo Bonfiglietti:
Length between perpendiculars: 210 meters
Length overall: 220 meters
Hull beam: 22.82 meters
Beam at the flight deck: 30 meters
Height from keel to flight deck: 17.97 meters
Height from keel to forecastle deck: 15.67 meters
Height from keel to upper deck: 11.17 meters
Draught: 5.55 meters
Draught at full load: 6.12 mt
Standard displacement: (metric) 15,240 tons (15,000 long tons as per Washington)
Full load displacement: (metric) 17,540 tons
Armament consisted of four twin 152mm/53 turrets around the island and eight twin 100 mm shielded mounts, the same mounted on the Zara class.
Bonfiglietti-Carrier-sep.jpg
Portaerei_49983_-_Tav_I_-_1.png
 
Tzoli said:
My friend found some images though quite low quality and some data in that book.
Variant 1:
14,000 tons, 215 meters, 26 kn, 42 aircraft
View attachment 711080
Variant 2:
Same as Variant 1
View attachment 711081
Variant 3:
10,160 tons, 170 meters, 25 kn, 30 aircraft
View attachment 711082
Variant 4:
11,515 tons, 200 meters, 26 kn, 30 aircraft standard capacity, maximum 42
View attachment 711083
Final design:
A 1/200 model was also built during studies, but politics killed the project.
Specifications for the final design of the carrier by Generale del Genio Navale (Naval General) Filippo Bonfiglietti:
Length between perpendiculars: 210 meters
Length overall: 220 meters
Hull beam: 22.82 meters
Beam at the flight deck: 30 meters
Height from keel to flight deck: 17.97 meters
Height from keel to forecastle deck: 15.67 meters
Height from keel to upper deck: 11.17 meters
Draught: 5.55 meters
Draught at full load: 6.12 mt
Standard displacement: (metric) 15,240 tons (15,000 long tons as per Washington)
Full load displacement: (metric) 17,540 tons
Armament consisted of four twin 152mm/53 turrets around the island and eight twin 100 mm shielded mounts, the same mounted on the Zara class.
View attachment 711087
View attachment 711088
Click to expand...
Thank you very much!
 
The armaments of the A-D or 1-4 designs are likely 120 anti surface and 100mm AA guns
 
Tzoli said:
My friend found some images though quite low quality and some data in that book.
Variant 1:
14,000 tons, 215 meters, 26 kn, 42 aircraft
View attachment 711080
Variant 2:
Same as Variant 1
View attachment 711081
Variant 3:
10,160 tons, 170 meters, 25 kn, 30 aircraft
View attachment 711082
Variant 4:
11,515 tons, 200 meters, 26 kn, 30 aircraft standard capacity, maximum 42
View attachment 711083
Final design:
A 1/200 model was also built during studies, but politics killed the project.
Specifications for the final design of the carrier by Generale del Genio Navale (Naval General) Filippo Bonfiglietti:
Length between perpendiculars: 210 meters
Length overall: 220 meters
Hull beam: 22.82 meters
Beam at the flight deck: 30 meters
Height from keel to flight deck: 17.97 meters
Height from keel to forecastle deck: 15.67 meters
Height from keel to upper deck: 11.17 meters
Draught: 5.55 meters
Draught at full load: 6.12 mt
Standard displacement: (metric) 15,240 tons (15,000 long tons as per Washington)
Full load displacement: (metric) 17,540 tons
Armament consisted of four twin 152mm/53 turrets around the island and eight twin 100 mm shielded mounts, the same mounted on the Zara class.
View attachment 711087
View attachment 711088
Click to expand...
Those side guns, the ones mounted below the level of the flight deck, look to have terrible arcs of fire... Only the island guns are capable of firing into the port forward quarter...
 
Some more info from my friend from the book:
Apparently four 37/54 mm single mounts were supposed to be fitted somewhere in the island of the final design, but I can't see them in any of the drawings.
The first three variants were proposed as alternatives to the main project, although being that the most developed study they would need to be seriously considered to be implemented in steel form.
Variant D came instead in 1931 after the London Naval Treaty, specifically to fit the particular agreements between France and Italy: of the 34,000 tons allocated to the countries as building programmes under the political backing of Great Britain for the general ease of international relations, it was seen as more efficient to build three 11,515 ton carriers rather than two 17,270 ones by the Regia Marina. For the ship was considered either a standard boiler-turbine configuration, or diesel power (a feature discarded for the other designs), with side exhausts, eliminating the need of a funnel (a much easier task with diesel propulsion), and a 200x28 mt flight deck. Armament was indeed to have been four twin 120/50 mm shielded mounts, with the same amount of 100/47 mm for AA defence, although the placement amidships and slightly recessed of the 120 mm restricted their arcs of fire to about 45° on either side of the mount.
For Variant D it was also decided to place the elevators on the centreline (the final design had them offset to port, and I'm guessing the others as well by how this is reported), and the flight deck at the stern for all projects was slanted down 10° to facilitate landing.
Owing to their limited dimensions, Variants C and D would not have been fitted with the Pugliese underwater protection system, but the designer was still relatively optimistic that the subdivision would allow for the ship to still float with four large compartments flooded.
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In the end all projects were killed because of the continued and tenacious opposition of the Regia Aeronautica to give control to anyone else of anything that flew (keeping in mind as well that in the study of the main project it was considered for the complement of the ship to be mainly Navy personnel - of course - but with a preponderance of Air Force officers to conduct and coordinate air operations with their navy counterparts. Seems this was still not considered by the fine thinkers of the Mussolini government)
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It seems most navies organization was plagued about ownership of naval aircraft and their development.
 
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