Takao-class cruiser
![]() The cruiser Takao | |
Class overview | |
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Name: | Takao class |
Operators: |
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Preceded by: | Myōkō class |
Succeeded by: | Mogami class |
Completed: | 4 |
Laid up: | 1 |
Lost: | 3 |
General characteristics | |
Type: | Heavy cruiser |
Displacement: |
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Length: |
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Beam: |
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Draft: |
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Propulsion: |
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Speed: | 35.5–34.2 knots (65.7–63.3 km/h; 40.9–39.4 mph) |
Range: | 8,500 nautical miles (15,700 km; 9,800 mi) at 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph) |
Complement: | 773 |
Armament: |
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Armor: |
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Aircraft carried: |
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Aviation facilities: | 2 catapults |
The Takao-class cruiser (高雄型) was a class of four heavy cruisers of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) launched between May 1930 and April 1931. They all served during World War II.
Description
![](../I/m/Takao_class_recognition_drawings.jpg)
The Takao-class cruisers were an evolution from the preceding Myōkō class, with heavier torpedo armament and had an almost battleship-like, large bridge structure.
Their main gun armament were ten 20.3-centimetre (8.0 in) guns in twin mounts and they were also armed with sixteen 24 inch Long Lance torpedoes (carrying more than the Myōkō or Mogami-class ships), making the Takaos the most heavily armed cruisers of the IJN. The only flaws the Takaos had were that they were top-heavy and thus prone to capsizing, as well as Turret #3 having a poor firing arc. These two problems were rectified in the follow-up Mogamis; nonetheless the Takaos were considered the best cruisers that the IJN ever built.
![](../I/m/Takao-class-midship-EN.svg.png)
Ships
Four ships of the class were launched. All served in World War II and all were sunk or disabled as a result of the Battle of Leyte Gulf in October 1944.
Name | Builder | Laid | Launched | Commissioned | Fate |
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Takao (高雄) | Yokosuka Navy Yard | 28 Apr 1927 | 12 May 1930 | 31 May 1932 | Scuttled 27 October 1946 by British Forces |
Atago (愛宕) | Kure Navy Yard | 28 Apr 1927 | 16 June 1930 | 30 Mar 1932 | Sunk 23 October 1944 by the submarine USS Darter. |
Maya (摩耶) | Kōbe-Kawasaki Shipbuilding Yard | 4 Dec 1928 | 8 Nov 1930 | 30 June 1932 | Sunk 23 October 1944 by the submarine USS Dace. |
Chōkai (鳥海) | Mitsubishi Nagasaki Shipyard | 26 Mar 1928 | 5 Apr 1931 | 30 June 1932 | Disabled 25 October 1944 at the Battle off Samar and scuttled by the destroyer Fujinami |
References
- Notes
- Books
- D'Albas, Andrieu (1965). Death of a Navy: Japanese Naval Action in World War II. Devin-Adair Pub. ISBN 0-8159-5302-X.
- Dull, Paul S. (1978). A Battle History of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1941-1945. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-097-1.
- Lacroix, Eric; Linton Wells (1997). Japanese Cruisers of the Pacific War. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-311-3.
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Takao class cruiser. |
- Parshall, Jon; Bob Hackett; Sander Kingsepp; Allyn Nevitt. "Imperial Japanese Navy Page (Combinedfleet.com)". Retrieved 2006-06-14.