Penelope displaced about 5,220 tons standard and 6,665 tons at full load. She was 154 metres long, with a beam of 16 metres and a draft of roughly 4.3 metres. These were small dimensions for a light cruiser facing concentrated torpedo damage. Her shallow draft raises a counterfactual possibility: a torpedo running only a little deeper might have passed beneath the hull.
Notable Point · 7:08-7:50
Small-cruiser dimensions and underwater vulnerability
Penelope's draft of roughly 4.3 metres raises the possibility that a slightly deeper torpedo might have passed beneath her small hull.