Talk:Zara/@comment-175.156.32.158-20170301092637/@comment-24093250-20170303185302

It was also a matter of torpedo performance.

The Americans thought they were not worth it, and so did the Italians (whose earlier Trento-class cruisers had torpedoes of modest performance launched by fixed tubes, anyway). The other powers tried to seek high-performance torpedoes, and explored the oxygen-propelled concept, but only the IJN persevered to obtain those results.

Besides, their success in this area was arguably counterbalanced by the added weights of the torpedo tubes and reloads, and the inherent dangers that they posed to their ships. Moreover, I recently read an article that, despite the level of their training and equipment, the IJN ships failed to obtain in battle the number of hits that were postulated in the "Decisive Battle" doctrine.