A line drawing depicting the cancelled CL-154 clasd anti-aircraft cruisers, the successors to the Atlanta and Juneau classes. Though the Atlana class light cruisers were originally designed to be powerful destroyer leaders, they provided their best work as dedicated anti-aircraft cruisers during the Second World War. The United States Navy appreciated the tremendous firepower so much that they began the development of other anti-aircraft cruisers. The CL-154 class would be the ultimate evolution of the Atlanta class design featuring fully automatic 5" guns. During World War 2 (first records appearing in 1942), the United States was working on an improved version of the 5"/54 gun (Similar to the ones used on the Montana and Midway classes). This gun, while retaining the excellent ballistics of the 5"/54 would also have the advantage of a new mounting with an automatic loading system. Several preliminary designs were developed, all of which resembled the Atlanta class, with three twin turrets forward and three aft. Turrets 2,3,4, & 5 were superfiring, giving the cruiser exceptional firing arcs. Some preliminary designs had two additional 5"/54 twin turrets amidships while other designs swapped them with quadruple 40mm Bofors. Interestingly, like the initial cruisers of the Atlanta family, two quadruple torpedo launchers were carried. While the Atlanta class cruisers were overweight, the new design had the advantage of a larger, more stable hull. The preliminary designs from 1944 were 580' in length and displaced 8550 tons, larger than the Atlanta class at 541' and 6718 tons. A powerplant of 100,000 shp would propel the ships at speeds approaching 35 knots. However, experiences with Kamikaze attacks influenced the anti-aircraft cruiser design further. The initial light anti-aircraft battery of 40mm and 20mm weapons was to be removed (In addition to the torpedo tubes). The space would then be used for the 3"/70 Mark 26 guns then in development. These weapons were further improvements of the 3"/50, featuring better ballistics and a higher rate of fire. Six to eight twin mounts were to be carried. These new weapons added additional weight and the cruiser had to be slightly enlarged to compensate. Twelve 5" and potentially up to sixteen 3" anti-aircraft guns (Some of the final designs still have a small number of 20mm guns as well) required a hull of 610' in length. At this size, the full load displacement was calculated to be almost 12,000 tons. This in turn required the powerplant to be slightly enlarged to maintain speed and the machinery was improved to produce 110,000shp. Six cruisers of the new design, designed the CL-154 class, were ordered initially. However, the anti-aircraft cruisers were given a lower priority compared to the Worcester class and their 6" automatic guns. In addition, a new class of destroyers armed with rapid-fire 5" guns (the Mark 42 being the single barrel variant of the CL-154's twins) was designed alongside the cruisers. This class, eventually becoming the Mitscher class, was seen as cheaper and almost as useful as the anti-air cruisers. Due to these factors, the CL-154 class went through a tumultuous period during 1945 when they were canceled and then reordered several times. It was only at the end of 1945, that the cruisers were canceled entirely. Unlike the other new cruisers (Worcester and Des Moines class), no examples of the CL-154 cruisers were ever built. The photo below shows one of the earlier preliminary designs of the CL-154 class, prior to the change to 3"/70 secondary guns.