Courageous as a 9.2-inch super-cruiser

What if the Courageous class had been armored 32-knot cruisers with four triple 9.2-inch turrets?

They would probably remain gunships and force Washington negotiators to recognize an intermediate super-cruiser or light-battlecruiser category around 20,000 tons.

The proposed ships are too heavily armed and large for the ordinary cruiser category but do not fit comfortably among capital ships. Their survival would create pressure for an intermediate treaty tier, while Hawkins would still help define the lower cruiser limit. The exchange also shows how terminology follows political and administrative needs as much as pure design logic.