The US Navy had not produced any small cruisers since the Chester class pre-1910. The USN had taken note of the use made of the 'light' cruisers as scouts and flotilla cruisers by the British and German Navies. The USN had many designs on the books and many new armaments under trial at the end of WW1. One such design was a battleship that had triple 6" as its secondary armament. It was felt that this mounting would make a perfect main armament for a new 'light' cruiser class. Ten ships were laid down between 1922 and 1924. They were to be fast ships with only light armour.
While the first ten ships were under construction, a further four hulls were laid down that would be armed with the new 8" gun developed to meet the new Washington Treaty type cruisers. See USS Pensacola.
