Ten guns, a fine hull, and the price in stability

Pensacola carried ten 8-inch guns by placing twin and triple turrets at both ends of a slender hull. The arrangement helped retain the length-to-beam ratio needed for speed and contributed to a 10,000-nautical-mile range at 15 knots. The ships stayed roughly 1,000 tons inside the treaty limit at a time when there was no wider cruiser-tonnage cap, so that saving did not buy permission for more hulls. The compromise instead made the class top-heavy, reduced stability, and made accurate fire harder in a moving hull. The resulting 32.5-knot ship had Pacific reach and some belt protection, but its gun count imposed handling costs that a simpler arrangement could have avoided.