What the County-class destroyers lost during design

Which deleted County-class destroyer design feature offered the greatest value?

Alex favours the longer hull, two-helicopter hangar, and larger Seaslug magazine. Drachinifel tentatively proposes freeing aft space by removing one forward gun mount, while acknowledging limited familiarity with the destroyers.

Alex identifies an earlier, longer County-class layout with a conventional two-helicopter hangar and more magazine space for Seaslug as the lost arrangement he would retain. The reduced design instead had a cramped sideways hangar for one helicopter. Drachinifel explicitly says he knows the County-class cruisers better than the destroyers before suggesting a possible redesign. His tentative alternative removes the superfiring 4.5-inch mounting and shifts the superstructure forward to leave more room aft for missiles or aviation. That suggestion is distinct from the earlier design feature Alex describes. The two forward twin 4.5-inch mounts provided a proven air-defence fallback while Seaslug's effectiveness remained uncertain. The answer also distinguishes the missile programme's commonly cited 1943 start from predecessor work in the late 1930s whose information and teams it absorbed.