USS Norfolk's combat battery and peacetime limitations

What does the panel think of USS Norfolk's design?

The panel credits the automatic battery's wartime air-defense role but questions the small main guns on a large hull used for peacetime presence.

USS Norfolk combined a light-cruiser hull with the destroyer-leader role and eight automatic 3-inch guns in four twin mounts. The discussion also identifies 20 mm guns, Weapon Alpha anti-submarine weapons, and eight torpedo tubes. Its automatic battery is judged effective for defending against air attack in its period. The criticism concerns peacetime presence, where the large hull's small main guns were considered an inadequate fit for the mission. Replacing at least one twin 3-inch mount, and preferably two, with twin 5-inch mounts is offered as a way to address that weakness. The hull choice also prompted the question of why a vessel built on a cruiser hull was expected to behave like a destroyer.