Pensacola, County, and York cruiser design compared

Were the Pensacola-class cruisers better than the County and York classes, and was removing their torpedoes a mistake?

Their scout-cruiser design made them fundamentally different; for combat the panel preferred County, then Pensacola, then York.

Pensacola and Northampton are described as scout cruisers retrospectively labeled heavy cruisers because of their 8-inch guns. The County class was conceived with the capacity to receive protection against its own gun caliber, while the early American ships could not realistically resist comparable shellfire. The panel stresses that 'better' depends on role, but would choose County over Pensacola and Pensacola over York for combat.