Talk:Pola/@comment-121.54.32.166-20160524141902/@comment-107.199.62.209-20160527064247

They're quite useful. They have a niche. Zara and Pola are basically "daytime warships" and help day battle things quite well. In contrast, their night battle ability is not the best.

Their main role is being a stealth-CAV (like Abukuma is a stealth Torpedo Cruiser). Certain quests on 2-5 specifically disallow taking CAVs and force you to take Heavy Cruisers. With a Zara class you can get Air Supremacy on maps like this so Zara (or Pola) can daytime double attack while the enemy can't. Carrying Seaplane fighters, they can aid in getting Air Superiority, freeing up slots in your carriers. The small number of planes is irrelevant - with aircraft proficency, the first fighter grants about 27 air superiority points.

A more oft-overlooked advantage of the Zara-class is that they're not medium range (like every other cruiser). Their inherent range is Long (and works without using their exclusive Italian guns, which is good because those guns are bad). Like with Italia and Roma in battleships, this can be utilized to get early shots at the enemy fleets that only contain cruisers and destroyers because you outrange them.