Why Colorado's turbo-electric drive disappointed

Was the US Navy surprised by the Colorado class's poor turbo-electric fuel efficiency?

Yes. It expected the system to outperform the compromise it replaced and discovered that it did not.

The American navy did not anticipate the relative inefficiency of Colorado's turbo-electric machinery. Planners expected the system to reconcile competing propulsion requirements. Operational fuel performance showed that the apparent solution had not actually squared the circle. Innovative machinery must be judged by realised efficiency rather than theoretical elegance.