I'm reading trough Electronic Greyhounds as we speak, and finding more and more information there over the concepts in project DX. Quite a few drawings will get a revisit based on this information, but this will go slowly..... but it will happen.
First of all, here's the chosen design that lead to the Spruance as we know it: the Litton DX proposal.
This design took inspiration from the European designs of the time, most notably the County class. This design had a 3 turbine powerplant, with an electrical coupling between the shafts.
The design was modified after it was approved for construction, by mirroring the powerplant (so the smoke would drift away from the masts when having the same course as the aircraft carrier during landing operations), exhaust cooling to reduce heat signature, removal of the electric coupling and addition of a fourth gas turbine and a somewhat different setup of the masts and systems on board.
I also experimented with an different underwater hull colour for the ships of this time period. Opinions on that are very welcome!