There was also apparently a proposal to convert Trieste into a carrier, which I haven't seen drawings or specifications of. Does anyone have more information?
Do you mean from the RM itself?
It is known that the Spanish bought the hull of
Trieste in 1951, after its recovery (in 1949), with the intent to convert her into a light carrier, but I have never encountered any information about Italian plans for such a conversion.
The only Italian cruiser to be studied for such a project was
Bolzano, which was the subject of three different studies (1938, and twice in 1942). The only other cruiser in general to be studied for such a conversion was the recovered French cruiser
Foch, which had been suffered very little damage in her scuttling. I am not clear on if the intent was to turn her into a lancia-aerei as with the above
Bolzano design, or the flush-deck carrier concept considered shortly afterwards. That idea was dropped in April 1943 given the progression of the war and thee condition of the cruiser - less due to damage inflicted from her scuttling, and more her worn condition.
And lastly, while running a google search to find some more information on the Bolzano conversion, I saw an interesting post on a War Thunder blog that mentioned that
I had never heard of this, is it credible? Was this some sort of anti-aircraft conversion?
They are 50% right?
After the concept of completing her as a lancia-aerei or light carrier were abandoned (neither effort had actually started, despite the formal approval given the the former) in February, her CO proposed to finish her repairs as a cruiser, though with the superstructure rebuilt along the same lines as the most recent light cruisers - i.e. similar to the
Abruzzi-class (I suspect the war thunder poster may have seen a source say 'like the Condottieri' and assumed it meant the early ships, but it was explicitly the latest class in the series referenced) and the conversion of the No.1 boiler room (boilers No.1 & 2) into a mixed bunkerage and diesel generator space.
She still would have been a conventional heavy cruiser, but with a more modern superstructure arrangement common with more of the remaining cruisers in the fleet and with greater endurance at the cost of about half a knot off her top speed.
Such as it was, repair work was suspended shortly after this was approved, on February 24, 1943, and she was left to languish. There were simply too many competing priorities and the resources required were too great (though some sources say that some work was done as materials became available through the year).
As of the time of the Italian armistice, she was not projected to return to service before 1945. Her situation had in fact become somewhat worse - with the bombing at La Maddalenna on 10 April 1943 that sank
Trieste and damaged
Gorizia, the latter cruiser had also come into La Spezia for repair. Her much less severe damage (in large part down to her heavy protection) placed her as a higher priority effort and she was scheduled to return to service in March 1944.
