I feel like I'm repeating myself, but I would strongly recomend that this ship have a pair of Macks (combined mast-stack) as the Albany class had.
sorry, maybe i've missed your post, you mean the 1976 or the 1960 one?
The 1960 one would almost certainly get a mack just for the increase in centerline space it offers, but the 1976 one is also a possibility.
As a minor note, I've checked the inner dimensions of the barbet on the Montanas (Thank you Voyager989!), and at least 37' 3", which means you can stick a full 44 round Mk 26 Mod 1 GMLS right down in the barbet hole without any other cuts to the ship. A few hundred tons of balast (extra electrical generators and concrete!) down in the old magazine, and you're good to go. A properly modified Mk 4 GMLS with a similar magazine size to the Mk 26 Mod 1 might also be a possibility. Both of these would reduce centerline space taken by the GMLS systems, and might reduce the need to cut through the armor deck.
One final note - horizontal magazine spaces can be directly adjacent to each other - for example, this 1956 design for a refit Des Moines shows Talos and Terrier magazines right next to each other:
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Timothy, while I agree with you about the viability of the Macks ( heck, I started my Missoula project with them!) there's the inherent cost increase in reducting smoke uptakes, rearranging the deck and boat stowage layout, fitting new ventilators and fans for the generators etc. in other words: budget! I would like to see such a version, for sure, but I believe the version BB1987 has come up with now, is the more realistic one. That was a reason why I discarded the macks, reverting to the original funnel arrangement of the Baltimores ( though, strictly speaking, I ought to have fitted a Boston-style single stack!)
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refit Montanas with multiple Talos mounts any objections to Macks on cost grounds is just stupid. That said, the Mack also provides a much more stable platform for a large radar such as the SPS-2 (It's a box girder!), which I agree, she would have mounted.