The USS North Dakota has a mk5 12" gun that fired at 2-3 times a minute. My ace level maxed crew only reloads at 2 times a minute or 30 seconds. The Wyoming was increased to 27 seconds, even though it should also be at 20 seconds maxed out. They also share the same amo but different barrels.
Reloads are subject to balance related changes as crews can reload at differing rates irl.
obviously the lower crew levels should be reloading at a slower rate. But maxed and ace’d should be 3 per minute
The reload is still changed for balance reasons. They could give it the 20sec reload but they would most likely get moved up.
It’s got nothing to do with real life - Gaijin uses reload speeds as a balance mechanism, so they are not meant to be “accurate”
Eg see Community Bug Reporting System (it’s for tanks, but the point remains)
I know. that is what I am saying. I am just explaining part of their reasoning behind why they stated they can use reload for balance. Because reloads are different irl, they can change it for balance reasons.