I'm working on the follow on design to the Thetis class cruiser I posted earlier with a launch date in 1941, but I can't decide on a good layout for the secondaries
This layout gives me a decent amount of separation so no single hit can take out all the guns on one side, though there's a danger of loosing all the aft ones. It gives the guns great firing arcs to the aft but forward is restricted to two guns. Ammunition supply is complicated by the need to manhandle it across the deck so a ready store is necessary since the engine room is right below.
Unfortunately it makes it hard to fit boats and torpedoes where I want them.
The second layout makes the ammunition supply much simpler since they can share a magazine. The guns are quite close so a single hit could take out both (And the ~25 men manning them) and the crews might get in the way of each other. Blast might also be an issue.
It does have the no inconsiderable advantage that it keeps the aft half of the ship clear for boats and torpedoes.
Firing arcs are not as good as the other layout.
Edit:
I did some more mucking about and I think I've come up with an acceptable solution
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