Editing Light cruiser (section)

===World War II===
{{See also| List of cruisers of the Second World War}}

[[File:USS Atlanta (CL-51).jpg|thumb|left|{{USS|Atlanta|CL-51|6}}]]
In [[World War II]] light cruisers had guns ranging from the 5&nbsp;inch (127&nbsp;mm) of the US {{sclass|Atlanta|cruiser|0}} and 5.25&nbsp;inch of the British {{sclass|Dido|cruiser|0}} anti-aircraft cruisers, up to 6.1&nbsp;inch, though the most common size was 6&nbsp;inch, the maximum size allowed by the London Naval Treaty for a ship to be considered a light cruiser. Most Japanese light cruisers had 5.5-inch guns and could hardly be considered to be in the same class as a U.S. Navy light cruiser twice the size and carrying more than two times as much firepower. The ''Atlanta''s and ''Dido''s were born out of the tactical need for vessels to protect aircraft carriers, battleships and convoys from air attack.<ref>Osborne, p. 117.</ref>

The United States would move into full wartime production of the light cruisers of the [[Cleveland-class cruiser|''Cleveland''-class]] of which 27 would be produced. Not willing to allow changes to slow production, the United States allowed ships of the class to be built seriously overweight. They provided AA screening for the fast carriers, shore bombardment, and anti-destroyer screening for the US fleet. They traded a main gun turret for additional AA, fire control, and radar installations, over the ''Brooklyn'' class.<ref>US Cruisers: An Illustrated History Friedman, Norman pg 259–265</ref>