Completing Francesco Caracciolo would have required Italy to negotiate permission to finish the launched hull in place of an older battleship. Its projected displacement fitted within the treaty's 35,000-ton limit. A 28-knot Italian battleship armed with 15-inch guns would have forced France to account for it in every Mediterranean design and diplomatic calculation. The unfinished Marcantonio Colonna hull offered a separate carrier-conversion opportunity because it was further advanced than the other unlaunched sisters. Together the two ships could have formed a fast battleship-and-carrier core. Completing Caracciolo could also have raised the design standard for later Italian battleships.
Chapter · 58:09-1:08:59
Italy's unfinished fast battleship opportunity
Finishing a Francesco Caracciolo-class battleship, and perhaps converting a sister hull, could have reshaped Italian naval leverage in the Mediterranean.