Why Hawkins and County cruisers began as large light cruisers

Had the problem that led to the Hawkins class reappeared after World War I?

The comparison is rejected here because Hawkins and the Counties were conceived as large light cruisers whose later treaty classification did not change their original design role.

Hawkins and the County class were conceived as large light cruisers before the later treaty division made gun calibre decisive in cruiser classification. Their original role and design assumptions survived that change of label. Light-cruiser terminology already existed before the First London Naval Treaty and developed alongside older protected- and armoured-cruiser categories. The earlier Town class illustrates the transition from second-class protected cruisers to lighter ships with armour belts. Hawkins and the Counties occupied the larger end of this light-cruiser family, while the C, D, and E classes remained smaller light cruisers. Treating every later heavy cruiser as though it had been designed to that later category obscures this development.