the technique and history

[Exatem]

the supply of weapons is one of the branches of industry that in order to succeed must demonstrate the ability to be always updated and for this, so that it is competitive, it must be technically very advanced.
It has always been very much spoken, even because in some cases overwhelmed by a veil of mystery, of the Nazi secret weapons that, according to Hiler, would have allowed to overturn the outcome of a conflict now marked. .

the German pre-war industry was encouraged by Nazi militarism and the arms industry experienced a period of great prosperity. there was a factor in particular that in intentions had to stop the Germanic rhyme but that in the vex encouraged and intensified the search and development of new weapons. I refer to the Treaty of Versailles with which it was forbidden to the Germania defeat to produce ships of great tonnage, aircraft of great ability, cannons of great caliber. In short, the Germans managed to overcome these limitations by creating easily convertible firearms, developing the “tastable” battleships, perfected planes and gliders. the factories of large industrial groups such as krupp and mauser provided weapons and ammunition many foreign countries constantly keeping pace with technological developments and developing projects and prototypes otherwise prohibited. this constituted the basis for the subsequent development under the regime that centered research and experimentation. the imposed limit of 10,000 tons for warships was boldly (there was no regressive experience) circumvented by the extensive use of light alloys and the use of arc welding. the research effort was based on considerable investments by financial groups that in return collected great successes in the sale of weapons on foreign markets (among the most prominent customers were Russian and South America).
the marine waffenamt test office depended on the oberkommando der marine that commissioned the research and experiments facilities. He exhibited a “chemische-phisikanalische” for chemical research, “torpedo” for studies on torpedoes, “speer” for mines and “nachriche” for radio broadcasts. the war effort embraced all fields, from chemistry to metallurgy, from radio to television, new plastics and new construction methods were discovered.
many of these projects were less “bizarre” and unrealizable while others did not go beyond the level of prototype, but some became reality and gave rise to future scientific research. among the weapons that today appear more fruit of the fantasy of julius verne than of the German scientists, there were the “cannone alone” that concentrating the sun rays should have burned a plane in flight; or the “cannone a vortice” that as the name suggests would have created disturbances such as to break down the allied aircraft. In reality an experimental prototype was created by a certain doctor zippermeyer in a search center of the tyrol but was never used in practice.
the “wind cannone” managed to break at 200m of distance of the wooden boards from 2,5cm but although it was an interesting experiment, it was actually a failure. another rather peculiar weapon was the “sounding cannone” of Dr. Wallauschek who generated a powerful sound emission could kill a man. an infrared-functioning portable viewer was already distributed to the troops before the war ended while the automatic weather stations, were already reality and transmitted information from the Atlantic to the germany.
but this rapid evolution was not only a German prerogative. We have discussed many times about the evolution of the sword and the shield also thanks to the arguments brought by the president who has written several times on the topic illustrating to perfection how, to a progress of the sword, corresponded an equally efficient countermeasure (the shield).
between 1939 and 1945 the evolution of the war material was enormous. from the first rare tanks, little less static than a house with the cannon, came to the tiger from 67 tons and 88 cannon (already treated in this trhead) or to the stalin from 50 tons and 122mm cannon. wood and cloth biplanes had their evolution in reaction aircraft. the naval battles, as we have seen many times, were carried out with the contenders to hundreds of miles from each other without any visual contact and exchange of cannons. the naval war had passed from jutland to midway. the Americans, who had begun the conflict with 7 aircraft carriers, in 1945 could deploy more than 100 of which 27 heavy and 89 light, the cruisers passed from 37 to 79, the 172 to 667 fighters, the submarines from 100 to 250. In 1940, he built 6,000 aircraft that became 96,370 in 1944. tanks passed from a few hundred in 40, to 17.565 in 44.
merchant shipbuilding (in thousands of tons), from 440 to 12,400 in 1943.
Between December 1942 and May 1945, in Europe alone, the Americans released more than 1.536,000 tonnes of bombs, impressive numbers, which demonstrate that war was also fought among the national industries. . .

 

[Exatem]

Initially the Germans were able to grasp clamorous successes by landing with surprising ease of those who tried to hinder their expansionist myres. This superiority shown on the battlefields did not depend on mysterious technological innovations but on the improvement of existing ones. the coordination of the earthly forces, armoured and motorized infantry, with the aerial ones, was allowed by the adoption of efficient communication systems and was decisive in the tactics of the blitzkrieg against which the opponents insisted to oppose fortifications, ditches, trenches, which were regularly overwhelmed by the impetus of the Hitler troops.
then as we know things changed and innovative German weapons, the allies opposed the numbers. a me262 could not defend itself at the same time from allied hunting nugols, the tiger were faced by groups of sherman and t-34, the modern submarines were driven by more and more efficient escort ships including light carriers. v1 and v2, remote controlled tanks, magnetic mines, electric torpedo, assault rifle ... none of these innovative weapons managed to be decisive and decisive.
so much propaganda and feared secret weapons of the reich could not avoid Nazi defeat. to make an example I chose to talk about one of the myriad of ideas and projects, some also “exotic”, which is an example of how German technicians developed their ideas by embracing all fields of engineering.
Germania had the looming need for efficient and reliable torpedoes since until then the motrices in use had been problematic. for the time it was a very complex project that required all the experience and knowledge available to solve the problems posed during development. First of all, for reasons of economy and power in relation to the little available space it was necessary to adopt an internal combustion engine that however had to work under water and therefore, without air. then should have reached maximum power in the shortest possible time (about 2 seconds) with cold start, completely automatic and had to push the torpedo at least 75 km/h. Considered the limitations imposed by the ingots (a torpedo measuring 533mm in diameter) and by the weight limits, a traditional solution was to be discarded. the accessibility to the motor had to be facilitated and possible even in cramped environments like those of a submarine. in return, given the brevity of the arms race, a long life of the components was not required. at these design difficulties the junkers responded with an innovative engine that then will become famous when, developed by the company wankel, will be adopted in the automotive field, the rotary valve engine jumo km8, an 8-cylinder V with angle of 90° that instead of burning air, it worked burning its own exhaust gases with oxygen and fuel. http://www.douglas-self.com/museum/museum.htmhttp://www.douglas-self.com/museum/power/unusualiceng/rotaryvalveic/rotaryvalveic.htminstead of conventional valves in the head, it had blades opening to the intake and exhaust ducts with the rotation of the distribution. each cylinder had two bosch aircraft candles and the engine was powered by a monobody carburetor. water cooled, had a compression ratio of 6,6:1 and a displacement of 4,34 liters. complete weighed 200kg and developed at the counter a power of 425hp to 4360 turns. the base was very evolved and made of an aluminum alloy, silicon, manganese, magnesium, copper, zinc and titanium. realized in a single fusion had the shirts of the cylinders reported and between each pair of heads of biella, there was a bronze of counter. the engine, powered by air, turned to the counter for 50 hours without any inconvenience going beyond any expectation of duration. It was a masterpiece of engineering that would make the new secret weapon one of the most dangerous. a prototype was examined by English and American technicians and then in 1951 the nsu was involved in the project of the wankel rotary engine.
Fortunately for allies this torpedo was never realized despite a first order of 100 to be delivered by the beginning of 1945. but suddenly the order was cancelled and 8 years of studies and research were thrown away.
industrial production was one of the decisive factors and was the basis of the victory of allies. war became mechanized and destroyed as it had ever been in the past and began its evolution leading to a future in which man will play an increasingly less important role in the battlefields.

 

[Exatem]

when we talked about the torpedoes, we did not mention the differences between the classic anti-nave to the smallest anti-submarine torpedoes (see for example the annexed mu90). the differences are not only dimensional but also technical and more specifically concern the trigger system of the explosive charge, the so-called “scratch”.
the treccani writes: ”that causes the explosion of the charge of the torpedoes for shock both against the hull of the attached ship (a. percussion) and at a distance fixed by the hull, for effect of disturbances induced by the metal hull of the ship on a magnetic device (a. magnetic), or of the noise of motors or of the propellers of the ship (a. acoustic), or for effect of ultrasound signals emitted by the sameToday we talk about the “inertia” or “percussion”, the most ancient snow system considered erroneously of simple realization but in reality a complex and difficult tuning device.
until the end of the Second World War the torpedo was an exclusively anti-ship weapon and its project therefore had to respond to this only need, as well as the design of its components. the impact with the target was violent both for the high relative speed, and for the rigidity of the (corace) structure of the target. at that time one of its fundamental components was the shock-driven steel, a device that had to be sized to function when subjected to strong accelerations in a very short time, with a great “intervention readiness”. simplifying the operation, the mesh is composed of a mass bound to an elastic system. when the torpedo strikes the target the mass performs its run to hit a fire capsule or to close an electric circuit triggering the explosion. the old anti-shiprpedo, without autoguida, was launched on the “future point” of the target thanks to calculations performed by the launch control unit (first still with a simple ruler) solving a triangle whose sides were constituted by the conjunct between submarine and target, from the target route and the torpedo route. the summit of the last two sides was the future point, that in which the ship and the torpedo should be found at the occurrence of the impact. The latter happened with corners not far from the 90° therefore, orthogonally to the hull and therefore with relative speed almost equal to the speed of the torpedo. the rigidity of the structure against which the impact occurred defined the latter “hard impact” (we will then return on this definition).
as I said the inertia ferret works when subjected to a certain deceleration of a certain duration. if a deceleration of indefinite duration is applied to the device, it performs all the necessary stroke with a deceleration of minimum intensity that is defined as “shoot acceleration”. this is the characteristic of sensitivity of the chill. If the acceleration has an intensity equal to or greater than the minimum value, the shot takes place after a time interval called “snap time” and is what characterizes the readiness of the winch.
summing up, because the ringer functions it is necessary that the deceleration is equal to or greater than the shutter acceleration and that it is applied for a time equal to or greater than the shutter time. This information was collected with laboratory tests by obtaining the “polar digram of snap accelerations” which even if it does not faithfully reflect the real impact characteristics, however, allowed to highlight the behaviour of the shotgun.
in the after-war the antisom torpedo was developed, self-propelled and self-guided weapon that, launched by carriers such as ships, planes, helicopters, autonomously search the target by means of a sonar installed in the acoustic head and once found it, chases it along a course of approach that can be of three types: collision, of deviated pursuit, of pure pursuit. the antisom torpedo, acting in the three dimensions, more resembles a missile than the traditional anti-nave torpedo. This new use has led to important changes to the weapon and consequently also to the winch that must work to the impact with a target with geometric and dynamic characteristics clearly different from a surface ship. thanks to computer simulations it was learned that the torpedo with proportional navigation system (a collision hijack), in a high percentage of cases ended the attack in the poppieri sectors of the target. This percentage increased in the case of deviated tracking up to 100% in the case of pure pursuit. Of course, these hypotheses are valid in case the submersible target follows a straight course, an inversibly hypotheses since the target will realistically notice the attack and will try evasive maneuvers. in this case the case reaches 100% whatever type of attack brought by the torpedo.
This is the most unfavorable impact for the weapon as the relative speed assumes the minimum value, moreover the figure of the target is the one that offers less surface. even worse is the angle of impact that, being the forms of stern attributable to a cone, reduce almost to zero the same. the geometry of the shock entails that the direction of deceleration is strongly angled than the axis of the torpedo and goes to fall in the area of the polar diagram in which the straw has less sensitivity. if to this we add the fact that the stern cone is a light non-resistant structure, the impact of the torpedo can be defined “soffice”. It is clear that the difficulties in bringing the attack are greater.. .

 

[Exatem]

back to the case of “hard impact”.
the impact between two bodies having high relative speeds produces deformations in both bodies, these can be elastic or permanent depending on whether you exceed the yield limit of the material. between submarine-bersaglio and torpedo the most deformable is the torpedo and deformation reaches values such as to involve the collapse of the same. defining “stop time” the period in which the relative speed reaches zero and, “time of destruction” that in which deformation becomes such as to cause the break of the hull, experimentally detect times of arrest between 10 and 30 milliseconds. more difficult is to determine the time of destruction which however is less than the time of arrest. This does not imply that the winch can not work even after the collapse of the torpedo has started, so it can be assumed as a maximum time available for the proper functioning of the inertia winch, the stop time. comparing the stop time with the shutter time, it is necessary that the first is equal or higher than the second. also the acceleration of stop must be equal to or greater than the acceleration of snap (condition that always occurs in hard shocks).
In conclusion, in the impact against “hard” target, the operation of the winch is ensured if the shutter time is equal to or below the stop time of the torpedo. the winch must be “ready”.
as mentioned above and below the waves, the German Navy had many failed launches at the beginning of the conflict, some because of the hydrostatic dish that distorted the share to which the torpedo traveled, for which the weapon passed under the target, others due to malfunctions of the inertia steels. In this case the torpedoes hit the hull without exploding. the cause was identified thanks to research conducted at the eckernforde serpedo. a 40-metre high tower was built from which simulacrums of torpedoes were dropped, reaching 26 m/s (about 50 knots). the shock occurred against plates of different thickness placed at the base of the tower and the data obtained allowed to solve the problem. a placard that proved functional, was the one employed by the Italian marine director called “universal tray with regulatory pendulum”. was formed by a commuter mass with a contrasting spring that held in place two levers which endured the percussor subjected to the load of another spring. deceleration rotated the mass freeing levism and allowing the percussor's race. was such a complicated and reliable device whose shutter time did not reach the 10 milliseconds. However, the polar diagrams on the three floors were strongly dissimmetric and therefore, not usable in antisom use.
as we have seen the relative low speed entails a weak bump and moreover, strongly angled. the sum of these two conditions, make it extremely difficult to operate an inertia ring. to only advantage there is the shutter time. we have seen that in the case of the impact against ship, the winch must carry out all the race by making contact within the time of stop. this because the operation ends with the collapse of the structure of the torpedo itself. in the case of antisom instead the collapse does not happen so the completion of the race can take place even a moment after the end of the shock. for “antisom shooting time” therefore the minimum duration of deceleration should be understood. This is an advantage that partially compensates for the penalties described.
many are the parameters that affect the characteristics of the impact.
- the increase in the mass of the torpedo decreases its intensity and increases its duration.
- the increase in relative speed and the opening of the cone increase the intensity leaving the duration unchanged.
- the decrease in the order range, currents, the increase in the thickness of the strip, increase the rigidity of the structure causing an increase in intensity and a decrease in durability.
- the increase in the elastic module of the material increases its intensity and decreases its duration.
- the increase in the specific weight of the material decreases its intensity and increases its duration.

but what happens in case of failure? the structure of the target undergoes a more or less marked deformation depending on the intensity of the shock and the same can be elastic or permanent. In the first case, a speed equals and is contrary to the component of the normal relative speed to the impact surface. in the second case this component is extinguished. in both cases the torpedo suffers a deviation that will be canceled by the fears for which the torpedo will settle taking a parallel course to the previous one the impact at a certain distance from the target.
3 cases may occur:
- the distance between the target axis and the torpedo axis is less than the sum of the rays of the two hulls. the shock will be repeated on another point of the stern.
- the two quantities are equal. the torpedo crawls on the target hull.
- the distance is greater. the torpedo parades parallel to the target.
in the attack they were able to attack a diver unit, the torpedo could hit the propeller or the stern cone by putting out use the propulsor immobilizing the boat. This is also an important result, it is not enough. The submarine could still launch its missiles. it is therefore necessary that the charge be sufficient to lesion the spherical shell of the resistant hull while exploding at a few meters away. the explosive charge must therefore be sufficient to destroy the hull resistant even at a relatively considerable distance from the hull itself.
at equal conditions it can be said that:
- a light torpedo that hits a diving unit receives an intense but short impact.
- a torpedo affecting a titanium hull receives a less intense but longer impact than a steel hull.
if in the anti-ship use what counts, as we have seen, is the readiness of the device, in order to obtain the desired one can intervene by decreasing as far as possible the race. As this entails a greater sensitivity that can be dangerous (think about an undesired shot with the torpedo still in the launch tube), you can act on the mass and on the elastic constant decreasing the first and increasing the second obtaining a less sensitive but equally ready-made platinum.
in the case of antisom, however, what matters is sensitivity, given the modest amount of shock, while the readiness is less important since the mechanism can complete the race even after the shock has exhausted. to increase the sensitivity you need to decrease the stroke and/or decrease the elastic constant and/or increase the mass.
It is evident that it is not possible to achieve a system that meets both needs; for this reason for the use of antisom, mass torpedoes have been developed much lower than the anti-shipping ones and equipped with specific pins. you might think of fitting two or even three pins by integrating the different polar diagrams, but it is a little practical solution for which you prefer to “specialize” the weapon rather than look for a universal one.

in the continuous pursuit between defense and offense, these characteristics have suggested to submarine designers some solutions.
- the rigidity of the stern structure must be proportionate to the prevailing threat, i.e., to the mass characteristics and speed of the torpedo that could attack the boat.
- the design of the stern must be realized the way to limit as much as possible damage to propeller and axis. In addition, an auxiliary emergency system should be provided to govern the affected boat.
- the stern cone must be the most "unfinanced" possible by reducing the value of the impact angle of the torpedo while at the same time removing the stern cap from the explosion point.

in the continuous course between offence and defense, the planners of torpedoes, in order to overcome the case in which the torpedo continues its race parallel to the target, they introduced “the proximity rod” or “influence”.
but this is another story...

 

[Exatem]

I have changed the title of this discussion because it did not seem to me to answer the intentions.
Perhaps at the moment I was not too inspired

 

[Exatem]

no one would think of building an airport over a city built in turn over ammunition and fuel deposits.
Nobody but a carrier designer...

aircraft carriers are real mobile airfields where the rooms that allow to operate with aircraft, are concentrated in narrow spaces, with great problems especially regarding safety.
one of the most complex elements is the flight bridge. it will have to refer to some basic parameters: type and number of aircraft embarked; length and width of the hull; shape of the hull; type of propulsion and number of axes; dimensions of the aviorized; free edge; section maestre and size of the bridge intended as the upper “plattaband” of the hull beam.
to this is added the complication that the flight bridge must resist the impact of an airplane even in extreme conditions hypothesize all the weight concentrated on a wheel sole of the cart. other difficulties are represented by the openings necessary to practice in the bridge. the intake and exhaust ducts of the motor apparatus, lifts for ammunition, elevators for aircraft. all openings create structural discontinuities and must be properly roasted. for example the launch catapults and deflector screens in modern aircraft carriers with jets.
This is huge stress.

the plane was taken from the hangar and loaded on the flight deck with a forklift, from here it leads to the catapult where it is aligned and hooked to the launch bar through the front trolley leg. everything is held by a restraint system and the piston is put in tension with the pressure steam input while the plane’s weight is checked (essential for launch) and lifted the jbd (jet blast deflector), a jet deflector of the jet of the air cooled to sea water so that the exhaust gases are deviated upwards protecting both personnel and other aircraft.
the personnel officer removes the safety of the weapons and the pilot prepares for the launch accelerating to the maximum the engines.
the postburner is still off, then the pilot from the ready signal and the director at the launch from the way.
the restraint system is released as the steam pressure increases. in two seconds the plane reaches the speed of self-sustainment and the piston is braked by a water brake while the launch bar unloads.

the appontaggio also has remarkable difficulties, it is enough to think that an area of more than 10 tons, opposite to more than 100 knots and must be arrested in a very small space. very briefly we can say that a plane approaches the ship and near the bridge is aligned with the drawn strips in the junction area. flaps down, lowered cart and stop hook. the speed is about 140 knots. following the instrumentation for the landing, the pilot is guided in a 3.5° descent path. theoretically the hook should cover the second braking cable of the four available.
now the aircraft is released from the stop cable and brought on a lift that will descend into the avior.

the position of these lifts is perhaps the most salient difference between traditional aircraft carriers and those for vertical take-off aircraft. American aircraft carriers generally have side lifts, such as English invincible and Italian garibaldi, have central elevators. this determines the type of avitation that is said to be “closed” when the position of the lifts prevents communication with the outside i.e. in the case of central lifts.
The first American aircraft carriers were all closed but US designers preferred the concept of open hangar and elevators were laterally moved.
this solution has some advantages: Large-scale aircraft can be handled with the tail “overhanging” that protrudes beyond the edge, a possible failure does not block the operations on the bridge, at lowered lift there are no openings on the bridge as instead in the case of central lifts.
However, there are also some disadvantages, a wave could reach the elevator in a lower position by damaging the plane and jeopardizing the staff (on the roosevelt a wave flooded the aviorized and killed an officer). This risk is even greater on small units such as the garibald which presents a much lower free edge than a large American nuclear carrier. . .

 

[Exatem]

our history as regards aircraft carriers, is short and poor of achievements but in the 1920s many projects were made to equip the Navy with a unit that the war then proved absolutely indispensable to ensure the dominion of the seas.
between 1925 and 1936 three different projects were laid, remained at the level of study, for a carrier.
It was the project rota of 1925, the project vian of 1932 and, the Apulian project of 1936.
While for the first two the documentation available today is limited to a few drawings of external views, with some comments and rare photos, for the third one the pages of a report containing the synthesis of the main features were recovered. in any case these three projects represented the evolution of the idea of carriers developed in Italy from the middle of the 1920s until the middle of the next decade and then transmuted into the late conversion of units, never finished, of passenger ships in the project "aquila" and "sparviero".
In reality there was a fourth project, realized between 1928 and 1932, by the general of the naval genius Filippo bonfiglietti on commission of the ministry of the Navy and of this we will take care today.

the general bonfiglietti had been the designer of the heavy cruisers Trentino and Trieste and of the Bolzano, also participated in the realization of the projects related to the ruling class and the zara class.
to better frame the bonfiglietti project it is worth remembering that when the general was in charge of his editorial staff, the limitations imposed by the Washington Treaty of 6 February 1922, which imposed for the carriers a displacement not exceeding 27,000 tons, and an armament whose caliber could not exceed 203mm. Moreover, Italy, like the franc, had a maximum allocation of 60,000 tons so that no more than two units could be built from 27,000 tons or one of higher displacement.
It should also be borne in mind that the orientation of the marina in 1928 on the type of aircraft carrier to be supplied, was subject to some operational limitations that the reality would later deny. in a document at the time classified as “reserved” it was written: ...a displacement within 15,000 tons is now considered sufficient...( cut). it is advisable to study the possibility of constructing within the limit of 15.000 tons, keeping in mind that the ship must have speed and autonomy equal to that of the major ships, anti-silurant armament with complexes binati from 152mm, anti-aircraft armament of 8 complexes binati from 100mm.the office of the chief of state gave provisions for the draft maximum for a carrier of 15,240 ton able to reach the 29 knots, with 8 guns from 152/53 and 16 from 100/47 binati.
bonfiglietti began taking into consideration foreign achievements by drawing the conclusion that the correct displacement was the average one between the 9.500 of the Japanese hosho and the 14,000 of the American Ranger. the technical literature of the time indicated in 600 feet (183m) the minimum length of the flight bridge and in 10,000 tons the displacement. It was also believed that up to a certain limit the increase in length increased the operations of launch and recovery of the aircraft but, it was not convenient to push too high with the displacements, this because two carrier ships would have carried out an activity much greater than that of a single unit with displacement equal to the sum of the two. if the hull was not required to protect the sides and upper armor, the 14,000 tons represented the correct displacement. to this it was associated the maximum possible length for which the ratios of slenderness would vary within certain limits.

according to the bonfiglietti ratio the increase in length would have resulted in additional advantages. the hull would have been more slender than necessary for the attainment of the required speed so the installed power could be reduced (from the calculations emerged 70.000 cv/axis), moreover taking advantage of the space in length, would be available volume in width usable to realize a sufficient underwater protection. the suitable engine for bonfiglietti was the diesel that facilitated the exhausted gas discharge laterally leaving the bridge clear, but at the time it was not considered sufficiently reliable for which it was thought to employ the steam apparatus of the 30 class reduced by 50% (i.e. on two axes instead of on four). but this required to adopt a traditional exhaust with the fumaioli arranged in a lateral island including tree-lined, bridge and 152 guns. the eccentric weight of the island was compensated with aximetry of the Apulian absorbers and naphtha crates. poor importance was given to the protection of the walls since the carrier is a unit that operates aggregated to other naval forces able to guarantee a defensive screen. more important was to protect the hangars and generally horizontal protection against bombing. for the artillery while many believed that a carrier would be sufficient small anti-aircraft calibers, bonfiglietti instead proposed towers of 152mm although with light protection, more aligned to the general protection of the unit. a stabiliser system was not considered necessary even because at the time there was no system without first inconvenience among all the weight. the air force embarked would have been 12 reconnaissance aircraft, 18 fighters and 12 bombers.

bonfiglietti realized the preliminary drawings of an aircraft carrier with the following characteristics: lpp 210m, lft 220m, maximum width to the flight deck 30m and to the float 22,8m, height to the flight deck 17,97m, standard displacement 15,240 tons, which became 17540 full load. the naphtha would be contained in the Apulian absorbers cylinders and replaced by sea water as it was consumed so that the displacement at full load remained constant. the bulb was not foreseen but it was not excluded the adoption if the tests in the tank had recommended the use. was hypothesized a retractable prodier rudder. the dive was about 6 meters so as to ensure a sufficient drift against the action of the side wind. to ensure a relative stability of platform even in case of rough sea and strong side wind, the transverse stability had to be high so, taking into account the enormous moment of inertia, the metacentric height was fixed in 1.5 meters. to obtain this result the ratio between length and width was fixed to about 9. established the main dimensions, the next step was to look for a hull that responded to the best of those experienced. the choice fell on a torpedo-type hull with finesse coefficient of 0.57 for which the maximum speed obtainable to design, was of the 29 required knots.
aircraft carriers are ships with particular needs especially regarding the remarkable interior spaces necessary for the hangar as well as the flight bridge. Moreover it is ships with a considerable number of personnel assigned in part to the ship and in part to the component of the flight for which are indispensable numerous housing and large collective spaces. from above to below the bonfiglietti project provided: flight bridge, completely unwinded for the whole length excluded the island, 30 meters wide (free 24m) and high from the float to p.c. 11,8 meters. second bridge, 2.3 meters below the previous one, which constituted an effective parascheggie for hangar. deck, 4.5 meters below the previous one, used for aircraft shelter. battery bridge. corridor bridge. cover with ammunition deposits. triple bottom and Apulian cylinders for 91 meters long.
the flight bridge had a thickness of 35mm and the underlying bridge 15mm. 10mm blanket while the battery bridge measured 40mm. the ammunition and gasoline deposits were protected by 30mm nickel-chrome steel armour. Apulian cylinders had a thickness of 30mm while the triple bottom was provided in 16mm sheets. the rudder, of semi-compensated type, measured about 40m2 while the electrical system consisted of 6 turbo-dynamic generators of 180kw arranged in two separate premises.

As mentioned, it was thought to use a diesel system for propulsion to simplify the exhaust of the fumes but at the time there were no elements for setting up a 70,000 cv/axis diesel maximum project. then opted for a steam system with two turbines, reducer and six water pipe boilers divided into three premises. the propellers were 2, 4,4 meters in diameter and 260 g/min.
the flight component was planned in fiat br 1, ro1, fiat cr 20 and to transport them from the hangar to the flight deck would have used a forklift for each type. the area destined for the landing would have been tilted down to 10° for a length of 20 meters because it was believed that this facilitated the landing (the first British carriers, hermes and eagles, adopted this solution). were not intended for the time being braking systems. for boarding and landing of the aircraft were previewed two cargo peaks from 6 tons and two side cranes poppiere.
the crew was provided in 25 officers, plus 53 of aviation. sub-offices 95 and 62, subtypes and municipalities 1192.

 

[Exatem]

to complete the relationship, bonfiglietti also proposed three variants indicated with letters a,b and c. a was slightly smaller (210 meters for 22,4) and 14.000 tons. b was similar to the a regarding the size and performance, but with the narrow flight bridge for the prora and stern of the armament of six pieces 120 mm and four from 100/47.
the c was much smaller (170m for 26) and 11,000 tons and gave up the Apulian cylinders. the whole ship was less protected to contain the weights and the reduced armament to four complexes 120/50 and three from 100/47. even the number of arei boarded down to only 30 aircraft.

the general bonfiglietti passed in auxiliary and in 1931 left the service for reaching age. his project never saw light not for technical reasons but political as well as the subsequent “vian” projects presented the following year. a project that in the lines was strongly influenced by the previous one. after four years, in 1936, the Apulian general, who became president of maricominav, presented a project for a 14,000-ton aircraft carrier, capable of 38 knots obtained with a motorization of 160.000 cv and with 42 aircraft boarded.
the oppositions were mainly from the air force and the same marina, which influenced the decisions of the head of the government with the absurd conviction that the carrier was not necessary having already available a "unfatable carrier" represented by our peninsula.
then it was the war and the events pushed towards the “season of transformations” that resulted in the unfinished conversion of the transatlantic roma and augustus.

 

[numero1]

I found this:http://xoomer.virgilio.it/bk/museolaspezia/hybrid aircraft carrier 1925/index1.htmlI found that there should be everything about this book:
"british career aviation" by n. friedman (usni, 1988)"
and then http://xoomer.virgilio.it/bk/museolaspezia/projected aircraft carrier 1928/index.htmlbut you probably already knew

while on the general bonfiglietti... http://bonfiglietti.net/index.htmHim?
ciao

 

[Exatem]

I found this:http://xoomer.virgilio.it/bk/museolaspezia/hybrid aircraft carrier 1925/index1.htmlI found that there should be everything about this book:
"british career aviation" by n. friedman (usni, 1988)"
and then http://xoomer.virgilio.it/bk/museolaspezia/projected aircraft carrier 1928/index.htmlbut you probably already knew

Well, that I don't know this, it's hard...
I actually have some extra designs but are of low quality.

while on the general bonfiglietti... http://bonfiglietti.net/index.htmHim?
ciao

I think it is difficult that he is also because the general Filippo bonfiglietti was born to tivoli on January 8, 1868 so today it would have 146 years.
In fact he died in Loano on 17 December 1931, a town of which he designed the new fishing port.
If you want to see in photography, here:http://trucioli.it/2012/11/22/la-portaerei-bonfiglietti-del-1929/
e qui:http://www.duilioship.eu/index.php?it/133/percorsi-tematici/6/11/72It's about him.
I had also seen the web page you reported and there is besides the general biography, also an article on the aircraft carrier mentioned above, but I did not understand if the site is run by a descendant.

Admiral Giuseppe rota was born in Naples in 1860 and was the director of the naval tank of the spice wanted by brin and inaugurated in 1889. he collaborated on the realization of the project of the first Italian dreadnought (the "dante alighieri", of masdea) and of the bixio explorer in 1925 he created the navigator class explorers. in collaboration with giuseppe vian, the designer of the heavy cruisers of the Zadar class of 1928, developed the project of the light cruisers born from giussano, more known as the class leader. rota first elaborated a study for the transformation into carriers of the unfinished French Caracciolo, and then a project of maximum of a unit of 12000 tons employable both as carrier and as a cruiser, a project that was not approved by the Ministry of the Navy.

Bye.

 

[Er Presidente]

http://youtu.be/mjtkcuiwems

 

[Exatem]

after mentioning the Italian projects to equip itself with carrier ships, we continue to analyze what were the difficulties encountered in the studies related to new, unknown, type of naval unit.
the idea of the carrier ship (hence from now on) was born in the fertile minds of the flagship English in 1916 with the sole purpose of launching a surprise attack against the German battleships at the bottom, with twenty small aircraft. in the ambitions of the Admiralty there was the will to gain a margin of superiority that the famous battle of jutland (see above and below the waves) had not allowed her to obtain. in a hurry began then the works of transformation of the Italian transatlantic count red that was still under construction on the English stairs. the argus, so it was renamed, was completed on 14 September 1918 and the unity (clearly experimental) did not in time to participate in the war events for the aforementioned armistice of 11 November 1918. Nevertheless, the ship aroused the interest of many marines who rushed to ask for clarification and information to the royal navy.
among these demands were also those of the Italian naval director who asked and obtained in December of 18, exhausting news of the new unit. the result of this interest was the well-known project for the transformation of the battleship caracciolo then under construction to castellammare of stabia.
the project of the ansaldo (called “a”) for a npa of 24.000 ton, did not differ much from that of the argus. from the smokers under the flight bridge and addressed to the stern, to the lowerable bridge, at the poppiera end of the overlapping flight bridge. the Italian interest, as well as the American, Japanese, French, was however hampered by peace and in particular by the signing of the Treaty of Versailles of June 1919. the argus project was covered by the looks indiscreet by a protective “smooth frame” transferring evidence to the sea in the foggy Scottish coves. the failure of furious and vindictive semi- carriers was clear and some technical solutions, first of all those related to the landing, were not yet resolved. not being able to draw experiences from the seaplane support ships, an artificial island was built on the argus to experience the turbulence created by it. the first consequence of these studies was the suspension of the work on two other English npas then under construction (the eagle and hermes). We must wait until 1920 when the royal navy, following an additional cycle of experiments on the incomplete eagle, resumed the work on the unfinished ships. Meanwhile, united states and Japan decided that the moment had come and in turn began two experimental transformations that were realized in the langley and hosho derived respectively from a coal mill and a cistern.
but what did Italian do in the meantime?

 

[Exatem]

the caracciolo project followed a stage of about a year. with respect to foreign trends, the marine direction had tended to spread from the British. the choice of a fast npa such as caracciolo, in front of much slower and experimental foreign achievements, was in fact a choice forced by the economic difficulties of the first post-war Italian. the decision to turn into npa one of the three transatlantics then under construction, the duilio to the aft of sestri, the cesare julius and the green count in great bretagna, as done for the argus, would have meant to commit all the few funds available for a ship not protected and excessively slow.
In fact the Italians, with the end of the war, had found themselves owners, at least on paper, of the second carrier of history almost without realizing it. the German imperial navy had, following an autonomous road, decided in 1917 to carry out a continuous flight npa. a more rational and advanced project of the argus that from the beginning planned a side island. the project, called “i”, was obtained from the transformation of the Italian ausonia piroscafo launched on 15 April 1915 in the yards “blohm & vos” and since then remained unfinished.
the Germans managed to conceal the advanced state of the project, written by professor juergen reimpell, to the Italians of the naval mission sent in germany. but the marine direction continued to show interest in the program and the hull of Ausonia remained at the disposal of the ministry until 1922 when the demolition occurred in germany.
the choice of marine direction, dating back to 1912, to point on a unit capable of developing minimum 28 knots, made the hull of the caracciolo the only of sufficient dimensions susceptible to transformation. Moreover, the performance of the Austrian fighters had led the Italians to overestimate the possibilities of hydropower. As a result, even on the ansaldo projects mentioned above, we were talking about “hydroplane transport” and for this purpose they were ordered to the m7 ar and m18 ar aircraft.
a series of coincidences contributed to the decline of Italian interest towards npas; the remembered attempt (reuscised) British to keep secret the results of the trials, the very serious economic difficulties of the post-war period, the abandonment in 1919 of the charge of chief of state by Admiral Paolo thaon of revel great author of the aviation boarded and finally, the decision to redesign as a post-Jutland line ship the caracciolo. In fact the Italian interests towards an aeronaval force for reconnaissance aircraft remained and on 12 March 1920 the marine direction promoted the "helicopters competition" to demonstrate that the attention for the air forces was not entirely supported. in the summer of 1920 the parliament rejected the extraordinary financing of 100 million necessary to complete the battleship caracciolo and the marina, given the English reserve, thought to turn overseas. the us navy in fact, already from 1918 had taken an autonomous way even if until that moment it was exclusively of theoretical considerations. the transformation works of the jupiter carboniera in fact did not begin that in March 1920 and finished after 28 months. langley (so it was renamed), was called “cruiser heavier than air craft n° 1”. This inspired the Italians who thought of a specially designed all-round cruiser, namely a faster langley. but the usual economic difficulties of the country led the Navy to reconsider the completion of the caracciolo in npa. the new plans for transformation were entrusted to the ship project committee chaired by the aforementioned general bonfiglietti and had to take into account the latest news proposed by the British as for example the introduction of the asymmetric island with incorporated the fumaiolo. the inexperience and fidelity to the idea that the flying carriers could be used as a npa, they spread the times and arrived at the end of 1921. Meanwhile, however, the well-known Washington conference was held, which heavily influenced Italian programmes. the impostic limits resulted in a new study of the project committee ships that in 1922 proposed a npa/shippers fast from 15,000 tons of which we have already spoken.
in 1922 the political events blocked the new projects and, indeed, with the establishment of the Air Force Commissioner, it ended with the subtracting of the small air force to the marine direction englobandola, in March 1923, in the new aeronautical direction. This measure, which will have adverse consequences in the following world war, does not initially affect the will to equip itself with a npa indeed, is precisely this period the contest for a system of support through a tail hook, intended for future fighters, reconnaissance and bombers boarded. to circumvent the Treaty of Washington, which imposed limits on numbers and dimensions of aircraft carriers, a unit of 9000 tons was hypothesized (the limit was 10,000 under which a ship could be made without any sanctions). but even this time it went beyond the tables of the designers and it was another missed opportunity also because the small size would have allowed the construction also at minor yards since the larger staircases were all occupied by the transatlantics roma and augustus and the cruisers trento and trieste.
in September 1923 there was the crisis of corfù and for several reasons the Italian fleet was inserted by the royal navy in the list of possible future opponents. This prompted our major state to request the project for a carrier to the general juseppe rota then president of the project committee. an unusual hybrid was proposed, i.e. a heavy cruiser with a flight bridge of only 86 meters for reconnaissance aircraft. If this project was a step backwards than the npa, it was still the logical consequence of the creation of the aeronautical direction that left the navy alone the management of the seaplanes boarded. but the subsequent reappearance with the great bretagna and the slowness with which the works of realization of bearn, a French construction initially seen as a threat, turned into negative factors for the Italian aeronavar programs.
the idea of carrying out even one experimental npa from 9000 tons, finally disassembled at the beginning of 1925 when revel's Minister of Navy thaon di revel dismissed and the head of the aeronautical genius was removed, the general driving from the roles of the navy. on 11 August of that year, the committee of admiration, chaired by the head of the government and minister of the navy, expressed itself against the carriers although it was appropriate to continue the studies.

In conclusion, it seems obvious that the history of the carrier in Italy has always been overwhelmed and dependent on economic and budgetary considerations before those techniques. In fact, until 1924-25 the prevailing opinion in marine direction was in favor of the new revolutionary unity. not even the historic hostility of the aeronautical direction manifested clearly before the emergence of balbo in 1926.
the Italian carrier was sunk by simple questions of money and chaotic political events that saw two new parliaments, five presidents of the council, ten ministers of war, four ministers of the Navy and three chiefs of state, all in a civil war climate.

 

[Exatem]

as we have seen the Italian navy was not indifferent to the carrier ships indeed, in fact it was one of the pioneers and among the first to explore the possibilities of joint operation with the air forces. the experimentation had to forcibly proceed with the technological development of the aerial medium and therefore initially began with the study of the possibility offered by the boarding of areostats and that for the dirigible it is used staff of marina, it is not so strange if you think of the analogies of the aerial navigation of the epoch with the marine one.
some ships were used as a dirigible support unit such as the “elba” and “liguria” cruisers. the helmet and the Ligurian were armored cruisers of the class “regions” or “lombardy” from about 2400 tons, 84.8 meters long and 12.3, designed by edoardo masdea at the end of the 800, operated between 1890 and 1920 in independent colonial missions and for the protection of Italian citizens and interests. were not intended as a team unit, which was unsuitable for insufficient armament and poor speed.
The elba cruiser was built in the arsenal of stabia castellammare. set on 22 September 1890 was classified torpedo rams at the time of the launch, on 12 August 1893, then reclassified protected cruiser and, completed in 1894, entered service on 27 February 1896. at the beginning of the nineteenth century he participated in the Chinese expedition in the context of the multinational force that had formed to sedate the boxer revolt. then took part in the first experiments of naval aviation and after being transformed into a laying in the period 1914-15, in the imminence of the first world war was transformed into a hydroplanant support, with the removal of the entire main armament and the construction of shelters, to accommodate 3/4 hydroplanes of the type curtisss "flying boat", to be dropped to the sea for takeoff and recover at the end of the flight by crane. at the end of the conflict the elba cruiser was withdrawn from service and disbanded on 15 May 1921 to be sold for demolition on 22 March 1923. The Ligurian was built in the genova ansald construction site, set on 1 July 1889, was launched on 8 June 1893. it was initially transformed into posemines then also participated in the first experiments related to naval aviation. an areostat hooked with a 500 meters long cable was towed by expanding the field of view and allowing the first aerophotographic detections.
encouraged by the first, positive experiments, in 1907 a section was established whose task was to study the use of the air force in the marina. of this commission was part of the Chaldean mario, a young naval officer who dreamed of flying, a real utopia at the time if the attempts of the German eight lilienthal (who died in a flight accident in 1896) and the French clement ader were excluded. In 1905 he took paper and pen and, learned of their successful flight attempts, wrote to the wright brothers asking for some technical details. he was pleasantly surprised to receive a comprehensive response from wilbur and orville, and from f.c.bishop, president of the United States Aeroclub. correspondence continued in the following years and was the foundation of a lifelong friendship. In fact calderara had already performed several experiments between 1903 and 1904 using primitive gliders and had studied the behaviour of a flat surface on a sloped plane calculating the coefficient of resistance to the wind using for the purpose, together with the ingenuity canovetti, the funicular between como and brunate as a tilted plane for their calculations. thanks to the data received by the wright brothers, calderara asked and obtained from the ministry of the Navy to be able to carry out some experiments. in 1907 the Gulf of poets (the spice) was the scene of the experiments of the "flying machine" of the intracting officer. initially the biplane, called “librator”, was settled on floats and gradually released. then was made available the destroyer "lanciere, a small unit of 415 tons that provided the speed necessary to stand out the flight then the trailer cable was released and the hydro-vehilar (or hydro-alient) was laying on the surface of the sea. by this method caldera reached the 15 meters height but then the lancer made a quick approach to the left and the hydrovelizer rushed dragging his pilot under water. calderara, semi-affogated and wounded, was transported to the hospital and was forbidden to continue his experiments considered excessively risky. but the passion is not commanded and on the occasion of a visit in Italy of gabriel voisin, calderarara approached him and asked him to be able to reach him as a designer and designer. Thus in 1908 calderara and voisin, who became friends in the meantime, worked side by side designing numerous planes to the “calderara-goupy”, a biplane with a detractive propeller. in the same year wilbur wright was invited to roma and was asked to train two pilots to fly. one could only be calderarara in 1909 lessons were held at the end of which Italian was considered able to fly. on May 6, however, his plane rushed to ferendolo gravely. returned to health, repaired the plane and resumed its flights. in 1911 he designed and built the world's largest flying machine, a hydroplane. Then there was the First World War and Chaldeira had to suspend his studies by landing on war units including command of a torpedo. his life ended in 1944 for a malore.

 

[Exatem]

a second aircraft carrier was the “europa” merchant who, built in glasgow, was bought by the marine direction. was a 119-metre-long cargo steamer and 14.4-stroke from a 501 hp dunsmir & jackson steam machine that made it reach the 12 knots. was transformed into a ship supporting hydroplanes and submarines with works performed in the arsenal of spice lasted three months. a prora and aft were realized two airships equipped with two side doors in correspondence of which were installed cranes constituted by ferroguides that protruded 5 meters from the walls for the mass to sea and the recovery of the planes. he had twelve seaplanes of which eight were ready to fly. his aircraft carried out almost 1900 war missions then in 1920 the ship was removed and demolished.
returning to the carriers, the first of the 900 were also the period in which eugene b. ely took off from the cruiser “birmingham” and landed on the “pensylvania” marking the beginning of the era of carriers. in great bretagna samson took off from the battleship “africa” and later from another battleship, the “hibernia”, this time in motion. Italy in 1912 acquired the hydroplane section of venetian while the following year the air school of marina was opened, which also included research activities. the marine obtained two yards for the construction of dirigibili while the first ship to be equipped with hydroplanes was the dante alighieri. the captain of the naval genius alessandro guidoni was the first to attempt an aerosilment at the controls of a farmas with the engine upgraded. Despite the positive outcome the project was suspended while the British formed the first squadron of aircraft and continued, like the Japanese, to develop the new weapon. the first squadron of the genus in Italy was created in 1918 to war by now ended. in 1926 he designed a catamaran hull and continuous flight bridge, but died during the trial of a new parachute.
However, at least at the beginning more than I would carry, we need to talk about hydroplane support ships which fell and hijacked the planes by means of load peaks with long and laborious operations that forced the ship to stop until finished operations. the first ships to have planes boarded were the cruiser "san marco" and the armoured "dante alighieri" then followed the "roma", the "emanuele victorious" and the cruiser "amalfi" while experimenting the first catapults with a curtis plane and a borel.
at the beginning of the first world war, the naval aeronautics had three hydroplanes bases with 15 aircraft and three dirigible stations with two dirigibles; at the end of the war the hydroplanes became 552 , the dirigible 25 and in addition 86 fighters were added. the first of the dirigible “navals” called “m2”, then “city of ferrara”, entered service in 1913 and ended down after the bombing of the river torpedo. the “city of jesi” was delivered in 1915, a version equipped with 4 engines to increase its speed. took off on 5 August from Ferrara for a bombing mission on the Austro-Hungarian port of Pula, he was struck by the contraerea and rushed to the sea. the missions carried out by the naval aeronautics had been thousands of which 1423 of the only airships that were abandoned in the military use for their vulnerability. but the marine direction had reached the end of the conflict with clear ideas on the aerial component and did not change after the end of the conflict. the means were preserved for future purposes.

 

[Exatem]

As we have been able to remember several times, in 1921 there was the Treaty of Washington with the consequences that followed, this is the period of the projects vian, rota, bonfiglietti, of which we have already seen.
on 12 December 1923 the ship was launched for the railways of the state the transport "city of Messina" that however was taken into charge from the marina and started to the transformation works started on 24 January 1925. the ship, renamed “juseppe miraglia”, 121.22 meters long, 14.99 wide, with a displacement of 5400 tons, was motorized with 8 yarrow boilers to water pipes, 2 steam turbines with parson reducer, 2 triple propellers and reached the 21 knots. at the end of the work the ship was equipped with two hangars that contained in total eleven macchi m18ar to foldable wings plus six were kept dismantled inside two stores. for the launch two catapults were used but there were still cranes that protruded 9 meters from the walls for sea and recovery. At first, a hein telon was used to recover aircraft but was removed in 1937. the ship managed to survive the Second World War and was used for the repatriation of the Italian prisoners then ended moored in taranto and demolished in 1950.
our cruisers and battleships of World War 2 were practically all equipped with catapults and planes boarded with reconnaissance tasks but this was clearly insufficient. already on 30 October 1912 c.f. de filippis after the Italian-Turkish conflict wrote to the Ministry of the Navy: "....voler consider the inferiority in which the navy will be found in that era if from now on it will not seriously regret the establishment of a marine fleet....".
but the naval aviation lost its autonomy and all the aircraft passed to the aeronautical direction. the war broke out and it was hard to establish a squadron of aircraft constituted by trimotors both s79 that severely damaged the British cruisers “kent”, “liverpool” and “glasgow”. Then there was the night of taranto that probably was of inspiration for the Japanese and for pearl harbor since in May 1941 a delegation with many Japanese officers led by General Tomoyuki yamashita carried out a very interested inspection of the Italian base. the dramatically ironic thing is that they were the Italians in 1923 with Admiral Berrnotti, to hypothesize an air attack on the naval base. but it also took matapan to convince that the choice of renouncing the naval aviation had been unarmed. so it was decided with guilty delay to start the transformations of two transatlantics, the “roma” and “augustus” in the carriers “aquila” and “sparviero” that were never completed. Also for the heavy cruiser “bolzano”, severely damaged in the battle of August 13, 1942, he thought of the transformation and the works were started in the arsenal of spice but on June 22, 44 an air attack wrote the end word on the history of the Italian ship.
the Second World War had established the decisive role of aircraft carriers with battles between aircraft without any direct contact between naval units. the Italian navy between 10 June 1940 and 8 September 1943, had lost 380 ships to which they followed another 385 after the armistice between those sunk in combat, self-taught, captured by the Germans.
the after-war brought us the impositions of the peace treaties and in account damages was imposed the delivery of 161 units of which a good part ended demolished. restrictions also prohibited us from holding any carrier ship.

 

[Exatem]

things changed with our entry into the born and gradually began to rethink a true Italian carrier. on 1 August 1956 the first ab-47g helicopters were delivered to the marina
and our navy was the first to equip its larger units of helicopters with antisom tasks, but it will be necessary to wait until the approval of law 36 of 1 February 1989 so that it is authorised to equip itself with fixed-wing aircraft.
in the mid-1980s the navy's largest state decided to base the fleet on two light carriers of type stovl, the "garibaldi", entered service in 1985, and a second unit almost similar whose online entry was planned for about 1994. for economic and political reasons, the project underwent continuous shifts until the collapse of the Berlin wall changed the needs of the mmi. In the 1990s, the project was further modified by moving towards an amphibian unit similar to the American “wasp” but smaller. the project resumed the road of the aircraft carrier towards the end of the 1990s and in 2000 it was finally approved. Finally on September 30, 1985 the light aircraft carrier stovl “juseppe garibaldi”.
On 20 February 1978, it was launched on 4 June 1983. 180.2 meters long, with a flight bridge of 173.8, 23.4 meters wide to the float and 30.4 to the flight deck, has a dive of 6.7 meters and displaces 13.850 tons. thanks to an innovative cogag type motor apparatus consisting of 4 tags fiat/ge lm-2500 with couplings gearboxes / inverters (which will be the subject of a future analysis), 2 axes with 5 blades fixed step, power of 60.400 kw for 30 knots of speed.
the crew is 600 sailors plus 230 aircraft, consisting of 12/18 aircraft, helicopters eh101, aircraft av-8b plus. the hull is divided into six bridges while thirteen vertical wallpapers form as many pond compartments, the hangar measures 108 meters for 15 and is 6 meters high, divided into three sections with bulkheads, counts on two lifts from 18x10 meters of the reach of 15 tons. to prora a sky-jump tilted of 6,5° the takeoff of the planes.
but the marina continued to hope to be able to equip itself with a second unit from the characteristics and finally, despite successive changes of course from the initial project, in 2000 the "cavour" took shape on the drawing tables but still maintaining some characteristics from an amphibious assault like the boats under the bridge to the stern and, the ramps for the boarding of landed vehicles from stern and right under the island.
the cut of the first sheet took place on 17 July 2001. the launch of the central and poppiera part of the ship took place on 20 July 2004 at trigous shore. then this part of ship was towed to muggiano, where in the meantime the bow was built. the two half were joined in November then the hull took to float in mid-December 2004. the ship has a full displacement of 27.000 tons, a length of 244 meters, a maximum width of 39, a dive of 8.7 meters and a continuous speed of more than 30 knots. the propulsion plant has a power of 88 thousand kw (equal to about 120 thousand horses) generated by four general electric-fiat avio turbines. 660 v and 50 hz for a total installed power of 17.6 mw, it consists of 6 diesel-generators groups of 2200 kw wärtsilä 12v200 cw and two generator-axis groups, also of 2200 kw. the flight bridge is 232.6 m long and 34.5 m wide (6.800 m2). has a short runway 183 meters long, ski-jump with 12° elevation, parking area right for 10/12 aircraft, 6 spots for helicopters type eh 101 plus a dedicated spot for missions will be in the bow and can be boarded all aircraft supplied to the marina. the hangar is closed and is 134.2 m long, 21.0 m wide and 7.2 m tall (8.5 in the highest point). is connected to the flight bridge with 2 lifts mctaggart scott from 30 tons of which one outside straight after the island of size 15 m for 14 m of type foldable, the second at internal bow 21.6 m long and 14 m wide are also present 2 elevators from 15 tons for weapons and 2 elevators of service from 7 tonn and the 2 main lifts do not interfere with the operations of takeoff and landing. the hangar can also be used as a garage for the transport of terrestrial vehicles and can contain up to 24 heavy vehicles such as tanks or up to 50 medium vehicles such as amphibian means aav7 ram/rs, centaur b1, arrow, dart, or up to 100 medium vehicles like lynx, puma, defender and vm90. the hangar can be reached via 2 60 tonn ramps. placed on the stern and straight, under the island.
it is able to operate without support throughout the Mediterranean and to be employed without support ports, can accommodate 1,210 people of which 451 crew, 203 for the flight component, 140 soldiers destined to functions of command and coordination of several forces including those of land, an assault unit of the San Marco Regiment composed of 325 rifles and different means and, with the possibility to embark more 91 people in particular circumstances.
the passive safety of the unit, i.e. the ability to defend from fires and fouls, was particularly cured using all the most innovative techniques and experience accumulated over the years. the ship is divided into 7 zones, and is equipped with a computer system of supervision and support to decisions under emergency conditions. the unit is equipped with all the necessary measures to operate in environment contaminated by nbc agents (nuclear, bacteriological or chemical). on board there is a completely automated degaussig demagnetization system, for the reduction of magnetic abnormalities generated by the unit and therefore to reduce the risk due to mines.

with the historical path that I proposed to you I wanted to demonstrate how in the last century Italians did not seize, despite being often the first to discover, experiment, propose; the advantages of innovative proposals and for the epoch, revolutionary.

I remember that the cauliur will leave on 13 November from the port of civitavecchia to the head of a naval group constituted moreover from the new frigate of Bergamo, from the patroller c.te borsini and the supply of team etna. a piece of Italian that moves in the sea, between Arab Gulf and African coasts, whose tasks will be:to showcase Italian excellence by promoting Italian entrepreneurial excellence, humanitarian assistance to populations, maritime safety through anti-piracy operations and protection of national merchant traffic, support to the marines of the coastal countries, in function of cooperation, development and modernization and support to national foreign policy.
the naval campaign that will last almost 5 months, sees the participation of the ministries of foreign affairs, economic development and cultural goods and tourism, of the institute for foreign trade, fincantieri, some companies of the Finmeccanica group, expo 2015, pirelli, aerial piaggio, beretta, blackshape, federlegnoarredo, elt, intermarine, mermec group, rada, sitael, and, for the Italian fragrant operation
We hope that it will contribute to the recovery of this poor country. . .

 

[numero1]

"We hope it will contribute to the recovery of this poor country... "
a great wish, to which I add, and still compliments for the exhibition.
Hi.

 

[Exatem]

having mentioned the aircraft carrier Giuseppe garibaldi, offers me the pretext to talk about an innovative apparatus that has found use on this unit, the reducer / inverter.

the propulsion systems used today on military vessels, excluding nuclear vessels, are essentially four:
1) tailg (combined diesel and gas) combined diesel and gas propulsion
2) codog (combined diesel or gas) combined diesel or gas propulsion
3) Cogag (combined gas and gas) combined gas and gas
4) Cogog (combined gas or gas) combined gas or gas propulsion.
any of these combinations is always the problem of how to couple the engine axis to the propeller and in the case of the tags (gas turbines) how to realize the reverse of the bike.
in 1974, the news that the general electric had succeeded in creating a reversible gas turbine. according to the famous American company by the year it would have succeeded and complete the tests and revolutionary turbines would have been available on the market. this news aroused many interest, if the expectations had been respected, the new turbine would “retire” propellers with swivellable blades in the turbogas propulsion.
the reversible tag has theoretically a very simple operation.
in the unidirectional tag each wheel contains radial palettes all the same that, invested by the gas, imprison a rotation to the axis.
in the reversible tag there are two concentric rings of tilted palettes in an opposite way. if the gas invests the outer blades the axis rotates clockwise. but if you direct the same on the inner crown the axis will turn in the opposite direction thus obtaining the reversal of the propulsion.
the innovative and revolutionary element is therefore the gas conveyor/defactor that even allows to send the gas to both crowns obtaining the axis shutdown.
theoretically the system allows very rapid inversions of the motorcycle but in practice there are big problems first of which are the very high temperatures of the gas that cause problems of seal, resistance of the seals and of mechanical organs excessively stressed. at the evidence at the counter, then the yields were too low. these evaluations led to the conclusion that the most valid solution remained that of the unidirectional tag with adjustable blades and defined the failure of the reversible tag.
the studies resumed towards a joint that allowed the reverse of the motion with a readiness of maneuver. among the companies that accepted the challenge there was the French tosis of legnano that traced the history of the invertitor joint analyzing the deficiencies that had caused its failure.

the first really valid solution was that elaborated by a.g. vulcan that in 1909 patented a system to couple motor apparatus and propeller axis safeguarding the reducer from brusche variations of transmission of the bike. the vulcan consists of two shells equipped with palettes, which form a spherical compartment not connected mechanically between them. of the two impellers one is connected to the motor and works as a centrifugal pump. the other is united with the gearbox lazy works by hydraulic turbine. the drive couple is transmitted by the conductive semicalotta by means of a fluid (mineral oil) that also acts as a lubricant for the rotating parts, to the semicalotta conducted. if the joint is deprived of the oil does not carry out transmission of the bike.
it was planned to install between pump and turbine of the adjustable blades whose positions determined the direction of rotation. Unfortunately, at the time, there was no such thing as to function equally well both in one sense and in the other. to overcome the inconvenience the vulcan thought of deviating palettes made up of flexible blades but this collided with the fact that the deviant palettes had to be sufficiently robust to resist the thrusts. the problems of mechanical and hydrodynamic nature were insurmountable and irreparably limited the performance.
In 1909 the company studied a correct solution of the fluid dynamic point of view but with great manufacturing problems. the solution previewed the alternative insert between pump and turbine of a deviator blade that should have flowed by deviating the flow in one direction or the other. It was very difficult to ensure movement quickly and reliably.
in the 1920s the vulcan built a ship in which the steam turbine commanded during the march directly the propeller to fixed blades through two coaxial hydraulic joints. the first was of normal type and transmitted to the propeller the same direction of rotation of the turbine, the second had devious palettes that made the propeller rotate in the opposite direction. Filling with oil one or the other joint got the gear back or forth. was an abandoned solution quickly due to the size and excessive weight and too long times for filling/unloading joints.

the German engineer hermann fottinger proposed a solution that provided for the insertion of a deviant shovel to get the forward march and its disinsertion for the back march. Following the example vulcan adopted a crown of deviator blades that moved axially. positioning the deviator blades on the turbine side obtained a normal size pump and a smaller turbine. the result was a solution with higher performance than the vulcan joint but lower than those obtained with pump and turbine of equal size.

another solution was that proposed by the borg-wagner in which the insertion between pump and turbine of a series of deviating blades mounted on a ring equipped with hydraulic brake. leaving free to rotate the door-palette ring the oil flow is altered minimally and therefore the turbine rotates in the same way from the pump, but braking the ring the palettes stop by reverseing the direction of rotation of the turbine. in practice, however, the ring left free does not rotate at the same speed of pump and turbine, but it reaches an almost double speed. this places great limits and creates difficulties in the design of the ring.

when the apparatus of propulsion was determined of what would be the new Italian flagship, the cruiser portamobili giuseppe garibaldi, the tosi proposed a brilliant variant of the vulcan joint that allowed the reverse of the motion of the semicalotta conducted getting the march back of the ship.
the apparatus of propulsion of the garibaldi includes four tags coupled two to two through a reducer, two axes that put in motion two propellers to five fixed blades that in march rotate towards the inside of the ship. It is a cogag apparatus that also allows navigation with a single axis operated by one or two tags as well as of course the normal two-axis navigation with two or four tags.
The turbines are fiat ge lm 2500 and develop 25,000 cv even if they are used to 20,000 cv to lengthen their life. However with 80.000 cv the ship reaches the 30 knots with a very low speed of rotation of the propellers. the two pairs of tags are located in separate and compartmentalized premises ensuring manoeuvrability even with three adjacent premises. the aspiration of the tags takes place through independent stainless steel pipes equipped with dehumidifier filters and anti-ice devices. discharges converge into a single smoke after temperatures have been lowered to decrease the thermal track.
because the propellers are of the fixed-step type, here comes the tosi reducer / inverter, an absolute innovation.
It is a vulcan consisting of a semicalotta conducting the tag and a semicalotta conducted. under normal conditions with the joint full of oil, the movement of the two semicalotte is agreed.
but the tosis has a crown with 26 palettes. if the palettes are inserted into the oil flow, the transmission capacity gradually decreases until the insertion of the thirteenth blade. from that moment on, inserting the remaining palettes, the bike is reversed. the blades are inserted radially so that both the pump and the turbine have maximum dimensions compatible with the outer dimensions of the joint. each shovel is equipped with a servomotor accessible from the outside as well as the deviant palettes. the enclosure is dimensioned for a pressure of 24/30 bar that allows entry speed of 1200-1350 g/m. the tosi inverter allows to start the tag without load (to empty) and to give subsequently load gradually re-empting the joint. the tag can be in motion while the propeller is still allowing great accelerations and decelerations. the maximum performance of the piping system of the garibaldi is ensured with a mechanical coupling between the conductor line and the conduct that can be activated by means of a special adjustment.
the section of the transmission line between the “vulcan” joint and the second reduction consists of a hollow axis inside which is free to rotate another axis rigidly fixed to the conducting semicalotta; both the internal shaft, and the cable end in a self-synchronizing joint that allows the rigid coupling between the two, after proceeding to empty the “vulcan” coupling oil cup, establishing a mechanical and no more hydraulic coupling, between propeller and turbine.

the propulsor apparatus of the garibaldi is unique of its kind and remains a prototype; the decision not to replicate it in more recent construction units is due to a twofold reason: problems of wear and fatigue (resolved in the 1990s) and progressive rapid technological advancement in the realization of variable step propellers, making the adoption of the “tosis” inverter no more competitive.

 

[Exatem]

since the first steam machines were installed to operate wheels or propellers, the coal was the prince fuel and its kingdom continued until the first twenty years of 1900 when it was replaced by the naphtha, used both for the boilers of the steam ships, and for the diesel engines appeared on the ships around 1910. the transition period was long and difficult.
the first ships to experience the naphtha in their boilers were the Italian military ships thanks to the experiences conducted in 1893 by the c.f. of the naval victorious genius cuniberti on the torpediniera "104 s" and in 1895 on the torpediniera "stiletto". from that moment the naphtha was established as fuel, although during the First World War the great ships still used coal.
in Italy the last warships to use this fuel were the three corvettes “antilope”, “daino” and “gazzella”. It was three former German dredamines called m801, m328 and m803, built respectively in the yards oderwerke, shichau and koningber between 1940 and 1943. 62.5 meters long and 8.52, displaced about 720 tons. the engine system consisted of two coal boilers, which were relatively rich in fuel, two alternative machines and two propellers. the power was 2150 hp and the maximum speed was 17 knots. They were initially classified as auxiliary ships, then patrol ships, in 1954 dredamine and in 1956 corvetta, classification corresponding to their use. Later they became school ships and in 1950 they received definitive names. the armament was modified and the motor apparatus adapted to the naphtha operation. demolished between 1959 and 1967. in reality also some trailers continued to work fed to coal but limited to harbour activities.
for more than 70 years the coal used on the ships, had been moved by hand entailing a huge employment of labor for the loading of the same on board, for its transfer from the deposits to the service charcoal, for the supply of the boilers. to give an idea of the numbers the transatlantic “mauretania” built for the cunard in 1907, had a driving power of 68,000 hp thanks to the steam generated by 25 cylindrical boilers of which 23 double source and two simple for a total of 48 fronts. the machine staff counted 368 people of which 56 were engineers (official and sub-office), 192 firemen and 120 carbonai, therefore 312 people were destined to the conduct of the boilers. the shifts were articulated on three guards so each counted 18 engineers, 64 fireworks and 40 charcoal.

on military ships the situation was similar. the armoured “dante alighieri” had 23 boilers with a total of 319 employees, the “cesare” 24 boilers and 303 men, the explorer “nino bixio” 14 boilers and 118 employees, that is a significant number of crews responsible for the conduct of the fireworks. in addition to normal conduct, at least twice a day the grills were cleaned and the ashes were discharged. the grids were cleaned first moving all the coal on one side, then took a long pointed iron called “pinza” and detached the intersections formed between the bars of the grill, then moved the coal on the opposite side and repeated the cleaning. the ashes were discharged by dismembering the part below the grill then, collected in buglioli, were carried through special forklifts on deck or, discharged at sea through the “ejectors”. a large number of coals were responsible for the transfer of fuel from deposits to service charcoal (a operation that is still being carried over from one case to another by means of pumps and valves). coal was to be spread and collected in bags or baskets and then transported to the coals where it was poured. for these operations could not be distracted the personnel responsible for the conduct of the fireworks so it was necessary to carry the fuel to the furnace where the fireworks were located. on the smaller ships, however, where it could not be made personal, for the travase it was employed personal of all categories free from other services. for this reason and to minimize this operation, it was not the complete load of coal, but it was limited to what could be contained in the most accessible coals. from this custom came the definition “normal load” and “overload” meaning in the latter case, to have all full deposits.

as we have seen therefore, for the cargo operations it was necessary a large amount of work hand but while for the merchant ships it was used to the harbour staff, for the military ones provided the same crew mobilized the complete. on the merchant ships the boarding was facilitated by the more accessible position of the deposits, but on the military ships the cargo was made more difficult by the presence of the armours and the security guards.
for a battleship it was about 1000 tons of coal, it was necessary 15-20 bettolines that sided with the two sides of the ship, the coal was raised by hand until the doors of the coals and then poured into the deposits. an ungrateful work that to be made more acceptable was necessary to motivate. so the command organized a kind of race between the various departments of the crew and the prize went to those who first emptied the beet assigned while the band played hymns and marches. the officers also participated in it by inciting their men and spurring them towards the conquest of the prize. at the end of boarding everyone had to go to the shower and also the ship needed a special washing place that could last even 4 days. the black and thin dust was everywhere and was removed from the housing and squares.
We saw that the boilers were more than twenty on the armored, but why did they need so many? Suppose that to develop 15 knots there are 12 heated boilers and 24 boilers to reach the 18 knots. but the “response” of a boiler from the moment of its ignition, is not fast and because it reaches temperature and operating pressure, it takes a few hours. to quickly change the speed, without having to wait for the 4-6 hours necessary to send in pressure a boiler, it was used to keep 12 in operation and 12 in “food” i.e. lit but at a reduced pressure and not in connection with the steam collector to alternative machines. so they could be quickly brought into pressure and connected.
when the naphtha replaced coal, the number of boilers fell drastically. on the “littory” class battleships were only 8 as well as on the modernized “cest” classes where the 24 charcoal boilers were replaced by 8 to naphtha. In summary, the number of naphtha boilers was between 2 and 8 depending on the size of the ship. the reasons that led to this drastic reduction were due to technological progress and the possibility of naphtha boilers to quickly vary the amount of steam produced, because each of them is provided with a number of burners, from 4 to 16, which allow to vary the intensity of combustion and therefore the amount of steam produced; therefore simplifying, to accelerate or slow down just increase or decrease the number of burners on. the passage to the naphtha has also greatly facilitated the operations of boarding and travase of the fuel and has allowed to significantly reduce the staff, on the "discre" the number of personnel of the machine reduced of 170 units.
a further advantage was that the designers were able to realize the speakers of the naphtha inaccessible premises such as the double background freeing remarkable volumes first occupied by the charcoal that instead were located in elevated position to the sides of the hull so as to be filled through doors on the bridges and emptied from the bottom to the height of the plan of the fires.

coal was so “abandoned” for almost forty years. but the global oil crisis of the late 70s, led to the search for alternative sources and the reconsideration of coal as fuel for marine boilers as well as for terrestrial ones where it was never completely abandoned since the experiences continued in the thermal power plants. someone considered the construction of ships to coal boilers...