The three Maracaibo and one Maturin class ships each had one turret removed in their late 1930's rebuilds. This would provide he new armament for a new battleship of the Venezuela class armed with 12x12" rather than 9x14". A reshuffle of other fittings was needed to fit the four turrets in the same space as the three 14" turrets. While the hull and propulsion was the same, the rest of the superstructure was altered to be fit for purpose.
Lets face it, a battleship armed with 12x12" should not scare anyone. But. In my Alternate World there are a lot of battleships built with reusable weapons and there are many more that have had rebuilds from WW1 ships. All of those ships would have difficulties against this ship. Everything I have read about the 12"/52 caliber Russian weapon is all good. The size of the shell, coupled with 52 caliber length gave a very accurate gun with good penetration power. What more do you need? I envisage the use of this ship as a raider hunter or cruiser killer.
The main change from the Venezuela is the use of the new twin 5.1" DP turret to give the same 12 gun armament. More twin 40mm are fitted while less 20mm are placed aboard. The cross deck catapult and hangar arrangement, for aircraft handling, is a better layout than that on the Venezuela. Both ships had refits in US yards to have their electronic outfits upgraded on a regular basis.
