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Something to keep in mind. The ATLANTA class cruisers had a erratic design history, where the USN (collectively) had a wide range views as to their purpose. In one view they were to be "small cruiser" replacements for the OMAHA class cruisers. Partly in that view and more precisely, they were to be oversized "Destroyer Leaders" with more fire power to aid destroyers in their torpedo attacks. A role for which the OMAHA's also filled. The whole idea and eventual practice of installing ASW sensor and weapons was almost an afterthought, not received well by many. They were initially to be 6-in armed cruisers of a small size, as such rather than have a 6-in main gun and 5-in secondary guns, the desire was to have Dual Purpose 6-in guns (precursors of the WORCESTER class), but development of the weapons would take a long time, so installing a large number of DP 5-in/38 guns was decided. Contra to the view they were designed as "AA-Escorts", they weren't designed with that role as a primary function when the design process started. The thought of them being AA-Escorts came as an obvious function once actual combat showed that carriers would be the main weapon of operations. If they were to be primarily AA platforms, there were several areas of their design that should have been different ... more fire control equipment (like four Mk 37 directors) would have suited that function. Also, the view that a cruiser is a cruiser, wouldn't have placed these ships in a battle line against heavier armed cruisers and battleships.