The earlier Trento mounting used a common cradle and a single ammunition elevator, with loading restricted to a fixed angle and notable salvo dispersion. Zara retained twin barrels on a common cradle but gave each gun a separate ammunition elevator. All-angle loading improved handling while a slightly lower muzzle velocity tightened the pattern. The counterintuitive result was that surrendering a small amount of projectile speed could produce a more useful, less scattered salvo.
Notable Point · 1:53:33-1:54:50
Why Zara's guns dispersed less
The Zara class improved on Trento's 203 mm armament by separating ammunition handling and reducing muzzle velocity to tighten salvo patterns.