Why the Hawkins class can seem unsatisfactory

Why does the Hawkins class often seem unsatisfactory?

Because ships with light-cruiser origins were forced into the emerging heavy-cruiser role.

A viewer asks why the Hawkins class attracts so little affection. The brief answer identifies a role mismatch: they were light cruisers forced to do a heavy cruiser's job. This is a signpost rather than a full design assessment. Later classification and fleet employment can make a ship look deficient when it is judged against a role it was never optimized to fill.