The Cockatoo cruiser as an alternative eight-inch layout

What alternative heavy-cruiser layout could combine an eight-inch battery, armour, and practical construction?

The Cockatoo concept points to three triple eight-inch turrets in an A-B-X layout, an alternative that retains a conventional cruiser arrangement while concentrating useful firepower.

The comment proposes a compact, durable cruiser meant to meet enemy cruisers directly, with torpedoes reserved for a dangerous pursuer. The Royal Australian Navy considered Cockatoo cruisers with three triple turrets, to be built at Cockatoo Island before Britain offered two County-class ships instead. The abandoned Australian proposal offers a revealing alternative to the County-class path. An A-B-X triple-turret arrangement appears more likely than a Nelson-style concentration of guns forward, preserving a conventional three-turret layout while concentrating useful firepower.