Zara's weight savings undercut survivability

The Zara class was intended as a better-protected and more balanced successor to the Trento class. Designers nevertheless reduced four shafts to two, omitted torpedo tubes, and cut internal subdivision and structure to save weight. A proposed eight-inch belt became 5.9 inches, yet the ships still exceeded treaty displacement by nearly 2,000 tons. Pola's immobilization by an air-launched torpedo raises the possibility that retaining four shafts might have preserved movement and avoided the circumstances leading to Cape Matapan. That remains a counterfactual, and greater subdivision or armour would not have saved the cruisers once British battleships reached close range. The criticism is that Italy accepted the cost of breaking the treaty without retaining the features intended to make these ships more survivable.