The Oregon City design belonged to an evolutionary American heavy-cruiser pattern rather than a radical wartime departure. The ships were still considered useful in both World War II and the early postwar fleet. Operating in groups, their speed and nine-gun batteries could make an engagement costly for projected Soviet battlecruisers even if the larger ships could outrun them. Opening the video here clarifies what surface-combat capability the Navy surrendered when it rebuilt these hulls around missiles and command systems.
Notable Point · 2:19-3:13
Gun-cruiser groups could threaten Soviet battlecruisers
Groups of conventional American heavy cruisers could still pose a serious postwar surface threat before missiles reshaped their role.