This section gives a clear visual and engineering account of the conversion. Chicago was cut down so thoroughly that the old gun and magazine spaces were opened out and much of the ship above the main-deck level disappeared. The rebuild lasted five years and replaced the stripped structure with the towering arrangement that defines the Albany class. Its height shows why a strongly built heavy-cruiser hull, rather than a lighter ship, mattered for stability and internal volume.
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Chicago shows how radical the rebuild was
A look at Chicago's conversion shows the hull stripped down, rebuilt, and given the huge superstructure that defines the Albany class.