Choosing the worst treaty heavy cruiser

What was the worst heavy cruiser design?

The panel settles on Northampton, with Admiral Hipper also criticized for extreme design inefficiency.

The panel separates ships that cheated treaty displacement from designs that used their allowed weight poorly. Admiral Hipper receives criticism for the limited capability returned by a very large and complex hull. Northampton is the final choice because it carried forward Pensacola's scout-cruiser assumptions while making some compromises worse. The discussion also explains that the later heavy-cruiser label can mislead readers about ships originally conceived for scouting roles.