Colonel Cuniberti's ship design

I have long been a fan of Jane's Fighting Ships, especially the early editions. I happen to have an original copy of the 1903 edition. The most interesting feature of this edition was Colonel Cuniberti's all big gun battleship design. The main features were a 17,000 ton displacement, 24 knots, 12-12inch guns, and a 12inch belt. My back of the envelope calculations indicated that it wasn't a viable design. Frank Fox cautioned me that I might be missing something, and that I shouldn't dismiss it out of hand.