The Germans, from 1912 onwards, had a good sense of what a light cruiser should be

The thread of German light cruiser development that started with the 21.5 knot 3rd Class protected cruisers, such as the Frauenlob, seemed to have a good sense of where the type was headed. They were early adopters of superfiring guns, although they were slow to discard the 4.1in gun. The British Town Class, which were analogous, were slower, but had gone to a uniform armament of 6in guns, although in an archaic layout. By 1912, they built the Magdeburg class ships with 12-4.1in guns and a speed of 27.5 knots. These, and the ships built after them, were re-armed with 5.9 in guns, much as the British did with the Arethusa and successors, except that they started with several 6in guns, as well as some 4in guns. The trend in light cruisers was towards 6in guns and a speed greater than 25 knots. The British Arethusa, C, and D classes were not particulary suitable for overseas service, although they were eventually deployed for such. The German ships were larger and more seaworthy, so they were better prepared for convoying and raiding on the oceans. In the event, they were only used for raiding and with the fleet, they way the war progressed.