WesWorld

- After being heavily damaged, the RMI has opted for RM Francesco Morosini to be heavily modified, instead of scrapping or repair. During the process (which is a reconstruction) the shape of the ship will be radically changed. She will emerge much more capable than before, mainly due to new features being incorporated into her design. Lots of improvements have been thought of since she started operating aircraft 3 years ago.

- The new Turbine Class destroyer to give some extra punch, speed and mobility to the RMI.

- 130mm/50 guns in new design mounts allowing RoF to be increased to about 10rpm.

- 65mm/64 semi-automatic guns in single mounts with 20rpm RoF. And semi-automatic mounts have existed since the 1880's Stephan.

- The usual 37mm/54 AA guns. 60/90/120 rpm RoF.

- New aircraft, 24x Fiat CR.20 and 48x Fiat BR.2, both navalised and thus with slightly lower performance.

- Two hangars. Upper hangar is open and unarmoured. Lower hangar is closed, and armoured with a 100mm thick belt at the side. Deck armour is roof of lower hangar, thus forming a 100mm thick armoured box. Lower hangar used for bombing up and fueling. Upper hangar used for maintainance, warming up engines, and storage.

- Hull has been lengthend in accordance with reconstruction rules. No bulges fitted. Differing freeboard and draft.

- New 140,000shp powerplant instead of old 130,000shp plant. Speed is much the same.

- Vastly increased bunkerage.


RM Francesco Morosini, Italian Portaerei laid down 1920 (Engine 1927)

Displacement:
27,085 t light; 27,986 t standard; 32,953 t normal; 36,927 t full load

Dimensions: Length overall / water x beam x draught
822.75 ft / 787.40 ft x 98.43 ft x 27.56 ft (normal load)
250.77 m / 240.00 m x 30.00 m x 8.40 m

Aircraft:
Airgroup of 72; 2 squadrons of fighters, 4 squadrons of T-bombers

Armament:
16 - 5.12" / 130 mm guns (8x2 guns), 70.55lbs / 32.00kg shells, 1927 Model
Breech loading guns in deck mounts with hoists
on side ends, evenly spread
16 - 2.56" / 65.0 mm guns in single mounts, 9.00lbs / 4.08kg shells, 1927 Model
Quick firing guns in deck mounts with hoists
on side ends, evenly spread
32 - 1.46" / 37.0 mm guns (12 mounts), 2.20lbs / 1.00kg shells, 1927 Model
Anti-aircraft guns in deck mounts
on side, all amidships
Weight of broadside 1,343 lbs / 609 kg
Shells per gun, main battery: 300

Armour:
- Belts: Width (max) Length (avg) Height (avg)
Main: 5.91" / 150 mm 428.54 ft / 130.62 m 11.91 ft / 3.63 m
Ends: Unarmoured
Upper: 3.94" / 100 mm 459.32 ft / 140.00 m 16.40 ft / 5.00 m
Main Belt covers 84 % of normal length

Upper belt covers lower hangar for its entirety.

- Torpedo Bulkhead:
1.38" / 35 mm 428.67 ft / 130.66 m 25.13 ft / 7.66 m

- Gun armour: Face (max) Other gunhouse (avg) Barbette/hoist (max)
Main: 1.57" / 40 mm 1.18" / 30 mm -
2nd: 0.79" / 20 mm 0.39" / 10 mm -
3rd: 0.79" / 20 mm - -

- Armour deck: 3.94" / 100 mm, Conning tower: 5.91" / 150 mm

Machinery:
Oil fired boilers, steam turbines,
Geared drive, 4 shafts, 140,000 shp / 104,440 Kw = 30.66 kts
Range 5,940nm at 24.00 kts
Bunker at max displacement = 8,941 tons

Complement:
1,222 - 1,589

Cost:
£4.015 million / $16.059 million

Distribution of weights at normal displacement:
Armament: 157 tons, 0.5 %
Armour: 7,295 tons, 22.1 %
- Belts: 2,618 tons, 7.9 %
- Torpedo bulkhead: 549 tons, 1.7 %
- Armament: 94 tons, 0.3 %
- Armour Deck: 3,903 tons, 11.8 %
- Conning Tower: 131 tons, 0.4 %
Machinery: 4,419 tons, 13.4 %
Hull, fittings & equipment: 9,714 tons, 29.5 %
Fuel, ammunition & stores: 5,868 tons, 17.8 %
Miscellaneous weights: 5,500 tons, 16.7 %

Overall survivability and seakeeping ability:
Survivability (Non-critical penetrating hits needed to sink ship):
57,527 lbs / 26,094 Kg = 858.2 x 5.1 " / 130 mm shells or 8.2 torpedoes
Stability (Unstable if below 1.00): 1.24
Metacentric height 7.3 ft / 2.2 m
Roll period: 15.3 seconds
Steadiness - As gun platform (Average = 50 %): 70 %
- Recoil effect (Restricted arc if above 1.00): 0.06
Seaboat quality (Average = 1.00): 1.50

Hull form characteristics:
Hull has raised forecastle
Block coefficient: 0.540
Length to Beam Ratio: 8.00 : 1
'Natural speed' for length: 28.06 kts
Power going to wave formation at top speed: 51 %
Trim (Max stability = 0, Max steadiness = 100): 47
Bow angle (Positive = bow angles forward): 30.00 degrees
Stern overhang: 16.40 ft / 5.00 m
Freeboard (% = measuring location as a percentage of overall length):
- Stem: 32.81 ft / 10.00 m
- Forecastle (23 %): 32.81 ft / 10.00 m (23.62 ft / 7.20 m aft of break)
- Mid (50 %): 23.62 ft / 7.20 m
- Quarterdeck (23 %): 23.62 ft / 7.20 m
- Stern: 23.62 ft / 7.20 m
- Average freeboard: 25.71 ft / 7.84 m

Ship space, strength and comments:
Space - Hull below water (magazines/engines, low = better): 83.7 %
- Above water (accommodation/working, high = better): 197.3 %
Waterplane Area: 53,583 Square feet or 4,978 Square metres
Displacement factor (Displacement / loading): 144 %
Structure weight / hull surface area: 126 lbs/sq ft or 615 Kg/sq metre
Hull strength (Relative):
- Cross-sectional: 0.98
- Longitudinal: 1.13
- Overall: 1.00
Hull space for machinery, storage, compartmentation is adequate
Room for accommodation and workspaces is excellent
Ship has slow, easy roll, a good, steady gun platform
Excellent seaboat, comfortable, can fire her guns in the heaviest weather

- Heavily based on the Navigatori Class Esploratore.

- 4x130mm/50 guns in same mounts as Navigatori

- 4x37mm/54 guns to give some AA and anti-surface punch.

- Damn fast, all things considered.

- Triple 533mm torpedoes give respectable punch.

Turbine, Italian Destroyer laid down 1926

Displacement:
1,541 t light; 1,626 t standard; 1,764 t normal; 1,874 t full load

Dimensions: Length overall / water x beam x draught
342.29 ft / 334.65 ft x 33.46 ft x 13.78 ft (normal load)
104.33 m / 102.00 m x 10.20 m x 4.20 m

Armament:
4 - 5.12" / 130 mm guns (2x2 guns), 70.55lbs / 32.00kg shells, 1926 Model
Breech loading guns in deck mounts with hoists
on centreline ends, evenly spread, 1 raised mount
4 - 1.46" / 37.0 mm guns (1x4 guns), 2.20lbs / 1.00kg shells, 1926 Model
Quick firing guns in deck mount
on centreline amidships, all raised guns - superfiring
6 - 0.54" / 13.7 mm guns in single mounts, 0.08lbs / 0.04kg shells, 1926 Model
Machine guns in deck mounts
on side, evenly spread
Weight of broadside 291 lbs / 132 kg
Shells per gun, main battery: 300
6 - 21.0" / 533 mm above water torpedoes

Armour:
- Gun armour: Face (max) Other gunhouse (avg) Barbette/hoist (max)
Main: 0.79" / 20 mm 0.79" / 20 mm -

- Conning tower: 2.76" / 70 mm

Machinery:
Oil fired boilers, steam turbines,
Geared drive, 2 shafts, 40,000 shp / 29,840 Kw = 34.37 kts
Range 3,000nm at 15.00 kts
Bunker at max displacement = 248 tons

Complement:
135 - 176

Cost:
£0.737 million / $2.949 million

Distribution of weights at normal displacement:
Armament: 34 tons, 1.9 %
Armour: 20 tons, 1.1 %
- Belts: 0 tons, 0.0 %
- Torpedo bulkhead: 0 tons, 0.0 %
- Armament: 11 tons, 0.6 %
- Armour Deck: 0 tons, 0.0 %
- Conning Tower: 9 tons, 0.5 %
Machinery: 933 tons, 52.9 %
Hull, fittings & equipment: 533 tons, 30.2 %
Fuel, ammunition & stores: 223 tons, 12.6 %
Miscellaneous weights: 20 tons, 1.1 %

Overall survivability and seakeeping ability:
Survivability (Non-critical penetrating hits needed to sink ship):
405 lbs / 184 Kg = 6.0 x 5.1 " / 130 mm shells or 0.3 torpedoes
Stability (Unstable if below 1.00): 1.22
Metacentric height 1.4 ft / 0.4 m
Roll period: 11.9 seconds
Steadiness - As gun platform (Average = 50 %): 53 %
- Recoil effect (Restricted arc if above 1.00): 0.52
Seaboat quality (Average = 1.00): 0.84

Hull form characteristics:
Hull has rise forward of midbreak
and transom stern
Block coefficient: 0.400
Length to Beam Ratio: 10.00 : 1
'Natural speed' for length: 21.16 kts
Power going to wave formation at top speed: 69 %
Trim (Max stability = 0, Max steadiness = 100): 63
Bow angle (Positive = bow angles forward): 20.00 degrees
Stern overhang: -6.56 ft / -2.00 m
Freeboard (% = measuring location as a percentage of overall length):
- Stem: 21.00 ft / 6.40 m
- Forecastle (20 %): 20.34 ft / 6.20 m
- Mid (40 %): 20.34 ft / 6.20 m (10.50 ft / 3.20 m aft of break)
- Quarterdeck (15 %): 10.50 ft / 3.20 m
- Stern: 10.50 ft / 3.20 m
- Average freeboard: 14.49 ft / 4.42 m

Ship space, strength and comments:
Space - Hull below water (magazines/engines, low = better): 188.5 %
- Above water (accommodation/working, high = better): 86.2 %
Waterplane Area: 7,154 Square feet or 665 Square metres
Displacement factor (Displacement / loading): 61 %
Structure weight / hull surface area: 37 lbs/sq ft or 182 Kg/sq metre
Hull strength (Relative):
- Cross-sectional: 0.50
- Longitudinal: 2.17
- Overall: 0.57
Hull space for machinery, storage, compartmentation is cramped
Room for accommodation and workspaces is cramped
Poor seaboat, wet and uncomfortable, reduced performance in heavy weather

Like the "new" carrier. Although I have my usual gripe about not enough arrestor wires...

Nice to see she'll survive, and get even better.

There are still 12 arrestor wires, which is a large improvement over 0.

She will become a lot more capable. Loads of space to store aircraft and for maintenance. Armoured design tries to ensure that she won't burn. The lower hangar is proof against 6" shells out to 10,000yds with 0degree target angle. Thats fairly safe.

Beautiful work on the carrier RA. She'll be a real looker. I like the Eagle-like twin funnels in stead of one overwhelming one like the Lexintons or Yorktowns...

Turbine looks pretty good, too. I like the two-twin mount layout.

Regards,

Big Rich

Indeed, nice work RA!