X-1 was an experimental unit, so a production class would trade some spectacle for a more practical combination of weapons and missions. A fifteen-boat cruiser-submarine force could absorb the minelaying requirement historically met by six Porpoise-class boats. Their roughly 12,000 tons would then remain available inside the ordinary submarine limit. That released allowance amounts to approximately twelve more T-class submarines, making the cruiser category a force-structure enabler rather than merely an exotic collection of large hulls.
Notable Point · 30:02-31:37
A combined cruiser-minelayer class releases ordinary submarine tonnage
Folding six historical minelayers into fifteen cruiser submarines frees about 12,000 treaty tons for roughly a dozen additional T-class boats.