I put the "cruisers" in quotes because they'll count as capital ships.
Essentially they look like an Italian 8" version of USS Brooklyn, with 15 8" guns, 8 3.9" guns, and solid armor. A little slow for cruisers, and with the now customary HUGE range.
I'm not sure about the TDS being used as a splinter plate: it seems that with the depth of the ship and the height of the belt that most of the area protected by the belt would not be protected by the splinter plate.