Monfalcone type Great Cruiser Design for China

Just before WW1 China ordered from Austria-Hungary 4 cruisers of two types as a first step to acquire larger vessels for it's new navy (which it wanted since the early 1900's) One larger 4.900ton vessel and 3 smaller 1.800ton ones.

Similar to the smaller cruisers history, an agreement was made between China and the Czech Skoda company (Which was the primary gun and armour producer for the Austro-Hungarian Armed Forces) together with CNT - Cantiere Navale Triestino (Trieste Naval Shipyard) in Monfalcone to design a larger more heavily armed cruiser. The design offered and eventually accepted in the summer of 1914 and was very similar in layout to the older armoured cruisers having the main 20cm cannons in two twin turrets located at the ends of the ship while the secondary 12cm and tertiary 47 and 37mm guns on the sides evenly spaced, with two single 45cm torpedo tubes. Armour would had been more thad adequate with 100mm belt and 63mm deck armour.
Construction started at the end of 1914 while the keel laid down early 1915 and some work was done when WW1 started but as experienced workforce was taken away from the shipyard, after hostilities broke out construction was commencing very slowly. By the time of Italian capture of the city in late 1915 the hull was almost finished and the ship was almost ready for launch with 15% completion. The machinery and parts of the armament was ready to be delivered from the Skoda Plzen factory and the Ganz-Danubius Turbine works in Budapest, while the rest of the steel and other building materials needed was assembled in Austria as well. After the recapture of the area in 1916 by the Austrian forces they found the shipyard in bad condition having most facilities destroyer and many equipment transported away, though the ship hulls there suffered minimal damage and construction work could easily be continued.

If built this larger cruiser would had been the very first modern cruiser (Not protected or armoured cruiser) to be equipped with fully enclosed gun turrets and according to the much later First London Naval Treaty, the very first heavy cruiser of the world to be equipped with 20cm or 8" guns. Construction might had preceded the British Hawkins class which was a WW1 design response to a suspected heavily armed German commerce raider cruiser.

Data for the original design as to be built for China:
Dimensions: 135,3 (wl), 137 (overall)  x 14,7 x 4,88m
Displacement: 4.900tons (standard), 5.350tons full load
Armour: 63mm Deck, 100mm Belt
Engines: 37.000shp Ganz-Danubius Steam Turbines
Range: 5.300km at 24km/h (3.000nm at 13knots)
Speed: 52km/h (28knots)
Armament:
2x2 20cm/45 (203mm) Skoda K14 Guns
12x1 12cm/45 Skoda K14 Guns
10x1 47mm/44 SFK L/44 S Guns
4x1 37mm/43 L/43 C10 V Guns
2x1 45cm Torpedo Tubes

Original drawing:
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