@Krakatoa: A good question that one "How fast is too slow?
I was not very clear. "The first try at a 10,000 ton cruiser design was based on Hawkins and was unsatisfactory (too slow)." I did not mean that Hawkins was too slow, but that the initial attempt to design a 10,000ton Treaty cruiser (County) was based on Hawkins and was too slow, the initial Staff requirement being 33knots.
As to armour, a 3in belt will no more stop an 8in shell than would Counties' armour, though by the time WWII came, that had been increased with a 4.5in belt. Exeter with a 3 to 5in belt stood up to Graf Spee surprisingly well, but was sunk in the East Indies caught already damaged and alone apart from a two destroyer escort by a force of four Japanese cruisers.
Have you ever read "Second World War Cruisers: Was Armour Really Necessary?" D K Brown Warship 16, 121, 1992. A bit extreme, perhaps, but interesting. No navy got much armour on to 10,000tons + 8in guns in the 1920s. Goodall, DNC at the start of WWII, was quite confident that two Counties could deal with a Deutschland.
How would the Hawkins hull do with 10-12x6" (2x2-2x3 or 4x3) ?
There were three proposals to upgrade Hawkins from central pivot7.5in.
1. 1920s: fit three twin 8in. That would have put Hawkins a few hundred tons over the 10,000ton limit, because the hull aft was not deep enough to take a MkI twin 8in which would have had to be on a raised barbette. Compare Belfast with long trunk triple 6in instead of Southamptons short trunk triples. Also it was thought that RN finding four more 8in cruisers so quickly was contrary to the spirit of the Washington Treaty. 13 Counties were well under construction and the first on trials by 1927.
RN was always very fussy about keeping to the 10,000ton limit, which is why I pointed out that your Hawkins with turrets would have been over it.
2. 1930 after London Treaty limited numbers of RN 8in, four twin 6in were considered for Hawkins class but not adopted. Finance probably, plus faster ships (Leanders) wanted.
3. Hawkins class were due to be scrapped after 1936 but could be retained after 1936 with guns smaller than 8in. Effingham was reconstructed with 9 single 6in. 12 twin 5.25in turrets were ordered to equip Hawkins and Frobisher with six each, but the war came and 5.25 turrets were slow in production and needed elsewhere, with no dockyard capacity to convert old ships, so that too fell by the wayside.
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