Eight Quadeshtu class cruisers were laid down in late 1916. They were to be armed with the same 5.5" gun as the Shapash class but this time in twin turrets. The twin turret came into use on the Gisco class battlecruisers and was earmarked as a future cruiser weapon. To keep it simple the same layout as the Mago and Shapash classes was carried forward to the Quadeshtu class. This allowed for an almost production line of hulls, armour and machinery, with only the armament differing from class to class. Greenland managed to produce nineteen light cruisers during the war (five were completed post war), which were needed to screen the fleet, and act as scouts. While eight ships were laid down, only four were completed the other four being cancelled in 1918.
The Quadeshtu class did away with the armoured conning tower as experience had shown it to be ineffective. This allowed the bridge structure to be pushed back almost onto the fore funnel, and allowed the space forward for the two twin 5.5" superimposed turrets to be fitted. The aft pair of 5.5" turrets were also pushed further back to maintain weight distribution fore to aft. This was all done without encroaching on the existing machinery spaces of the common hull to the three classes. What the Quadeshtu did do was to push the boundaries of how much crew could be fitted aboard these ships.
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Like the other old cruisers the six Quadeshtu class ships began being converted to AA cruisers from 1936, with the last two of the class starting their conversions in 1939 and rejoining in 1940. It was fairly simple to swap out the twin 5.5" for the twin 5" Dual Purpose turrets. Surprise, surprise the designers of the 5" DP turret knew there were dozens of ships in the existing navy that had the twin 5.5" mounted aboard that would need to be replaced with AA weapons, so the twin 5" was built to have the same size mounting ring to enable a faster changeover.
The converted ships were re-rated as Air Defence Cruisers (CLA) and assigned to the carrier force. More and better radar systems were fitted including the large frame bedstead at the foremast top. This was a large air search radar which obtained the long range sightings, then passed them on to the 'pepperpot' close range radar and then onto the radar controlled director on top of the bridge for direct fire on the selected targets.
The removal of the torpedoes, in 1942, was supposed to save topweight and reduce crew numbers. However the space, previously occupied by the torpedoes, was repurposed to a full medical facility where only a sick bay had been available previously. The sick bay being turned into more accommodation space. At least crew numbers did go down, which was also a weight saving device.
