Bezo, I thought that the drawing being an AU version would not matter that much if he is only trying to get the general feel of what American cruisers look like, seeing as how my drawing is either using some detailing from your drawing, or details taken from pictures of the Northampton and the Louisville from the early 30s.
Tristan, keep in mind that if this is late 20s design, which would put it in between the Northampton class and the Portland class, then armor should be relatively light. The Penasacola and the Northampton were considered tin-cans, even though they either had the same armor, or better than the other cruisers of the world.
If you are going for a short hull, and a long hull, I suggest that the long hull have the forecastle deck raised in a similar manner to the Northampton, or even similar to the New Orleans class, to gain additional seakeeping. The Pensacola was a flush deck cruiser, but it suffered from excessive top weight and was often wet and it rolled, alot.
If you want a little extra inspiration, might I suggest looking as some of the early designs for the Pensacola:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/939 ... %20S-a.png
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/939 ... %20S-B.png