My pleasure. I'm only sorry that the drawings in Warship 1997 are rather faint on a grey background, and don't reproduce clearly.
I think your 'pure guesswork' is far too modest! It is IMHO quite reasonable to work on the basis that the five designs were closely related, and to bear in mind the end result, which was Leander, and less directly, Arethusa. For those who haven't seen it, the drawing of Design 3 in Warship is very well and accurately rendered by your Design C. Spot on! That leads me to believe that your Design D with 3x2 6in would also be accurate, while altering Design E in the light of knowledge about screws and gun layout shouldn't be too difficult. [For my own amusement/enlightenment, I simply cut the stern off your Design A aft of the funnel and superimposed it on your Design D. It satisfied me, but you might want to make some detailed adjustments.]
That leaves the 'mystery' of the 6x5.5in Design 2. I can offer a suggestion, which might save you some work!
In 1929 there was another series of small cruiser designs. I discussed them in Warship 2011 with drawings by John Jordan based on the tiny official ones and written descriptions. The smallest was Fleet Scout E, 3500tons, 38knots. The original sketch design had 6x5.5in with single mounts a,x,y at forecastle deck level, z at quarterdeck level, and two side by side 'superimposed' above a in sided b positions, like the forecastle guns in the old Birmingham subgroup of the WWI Towns. Design E was not wholly liked, and revised with some protection and 5x6in guns with a single centreline 6in in b position above a. From the side, apart from the size of the gun mounts, the appearance was identical. That would also be true of what I think the most likely gun layout for a 6x5.5in Design 2 Pre-Leander; sided guns just ahead of the bridge as in Design 1, where each would have quite good arcs of fire forward - much better than the centreline 6in of Design 1. But I've never seen drawing or description to confirm or deny, and I was wrong some years ago when I stuck my neck out with my [very logical!?] suggestion for sided turrets like Juneau for the Fiji 5.25in versions with 7 or 8 twin turrets. They were either sided on the forecastle (7) or all centreline (8)!
(Incidentally, there are a lot of small RN cruiser designs in that article between 1929 and 1939 that Shipbucket might enjoy, few of them at all well-known. For example, the two original alternative layouts for the Tribal class, with five twin 4.7in, are known only from very simple sketches. "Damnable Folly" Warship 34, p130-147, 2011 if any of you want a library to borrow it.)
|