I understand.
It's pretty funny how the ships we like weren't necessarily very good military vessels. The Pensacolas, New Orleanses & the rest had a mediocre combat record, especially in the battles off Guadalcanal:
-The American 8" gun had a low rate of fire, and could not track small, fast targets like Japanese destroyers
-American cruisers usually had no torpedoes, unlike the Japanese CA's with lots of deadly "long lance" torps
-Armor was mostly poor, except with some of the later designs
-The AVGAS storage tanks in the hangars were a tremendous fire hazard, even though carrier aviation by the 1940's made seaplanes unnecessary.
-Until the Battle of Savo Island, cruisers were full of wooden furniture. Not what you want when Japanese shells start massive fires.
Oh well, they were definitely pretty to look at, especially before their late war modifications around 1943!
