US destroyer leaders and guided-missile development

Did the US Navy have a better technological path toward guided-missile destroyers?

Yes; destroyer-leader programs gave it a useful development path beyond adapting older hulls.

The US Navy had more development underway than a direct conversion from older destroyer hulls would suggest. Its destroyer-leader designs provided another line of work and helped the transition toward guided-missile ships. Part of that development later fed into ships armed with Talos. The path therefore branched across related ship types rather than following one hull lineage.