Colorado triples and the 40,000-ton threshold

Could a Colorado-class battleship with triple rather than twin 16-inch turrets remain below 40,000 tons?

A Colorado already displaced about 33,100 tons, so a triple-gun variant could remain under 40,000; the harder case is reducing a 43,000-ton South Dakota design.

The answer distinguishes adding guns to Colorado from redesigning the much larger 1920 South Dakota class. Colorado has several thousand tons of margin below 40,000, making the stated threshold plausible. Bringing South Dakota below treaty scale would require a much more demanding reduction.