Japan's Takao Cruiser

[Tanz]

HIJMS Takao

 

Takao was the first of four Takao-class heavy cruisers, designed to be an improvement over the previous Myōkō-class design. The Myōkō had proved to be unstable and required modifications, which were incorporated into the Takao design.

 

The Takao-class ships were approved under the 1927 fiscal year budget as part of the Imperial Japanese Navy's strategy of the Decisive Battle, and forming the backbone of a multipurpose long-range strike force. Takao was built by the Yokosuka Naval shipyards, and like her sister ships, was named after a mountain. Mount Takao is located outside of Kyoto and is not to be confused with the similar Mount Takao located outside of Tokyo, or the city of Takao, which uses the same characters, on what was then Japanese territory of Taiwan.

 

 

Takao was launched on 12 May 1930 at the Yokosuka Navy Yard and commissioned on 31 May 1932, and was the lead ship of her class.

At the start of World War II, Takao was commanded by Captain Asakura Bunji and assigned to Vice Admiral Kondo Nobutake's Cruiser Division 4 together with her sister ships Atago and Maya. In late December 1941, she provided gunfire support for the landings at Lingayen Gulf on Luzon in the Philippines.

 

In early 1942, Takao operated in the Java Sea in operations culminating in the Battle of the Java Sea in early March. On 1 March, one of Takao's floatplanes bombed the Dutch merchant ship Enggano. The next night, Takao and Atago overtook the old United States Navy destroyer Pillsbury and sank her with no survivors. Early on 4 March, Takao, Atago, Maya and two destroyers of Destroyer Division 4, Arashi and Nowaki attacked a convoy near Tjilatjap. The Royal Australian Navy sloop HMAS Yarra defended the convoy for an hour and half, but was sunk with 34 survivors of her crew of 151. (Of these 34 survivors, only 13 were alive to be picked up a week later by the Dutch submarine K-XI and taken to Ceylon.)

 

 

The Japanese cruisers then sank three ships from the convoy: the tanker Francol, the depot ship Anking, and a minesweeper. Two Dutch freighters were also captured.

In June 1942, Takao and Maya supported the invasion of the Aleutian Islands. On 3 June 1942, their reconnaissance floatplanes were attacked by United States Army Air Forces Curtiss P-40 fighters from Umnak and two were shot down; on 5 June, Takao shot down a B-17 Flying Fortress.

 

In August 1942, she was assigned to Operation Ka, the Japanese reinforcement during the Battle of Guadalcanal, and participated in the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands on 26 October. A determined attempt to shell the US base at Henderson Field led to the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal: early in the morning of 15 November 1942, the battleship Kirishima, supported by Takao and Atago, engaged the American battleships Washington and South Dakota. All three Japanese ships hit South Dakota multiple times with shells, knocking out her radar and fire controls. Takao and Atago fired Long Lance torpedoes at Washington but missed. However, Kirishima was quickly disabled by Washington and sank a few hours later. Atago was damaged. Takao escaped unharmed, but was forced to retreat to Truk.

 

 

 

In 1943, Takao supported the evacuation of Guadalcanal. Under the command of Inoguchi Toshihira, she operated in the central Pacific from her base at Truk. On 5 November 1943, she was refuelling at Rabaul in the Bismarck Islands when she came under attack by SBD Dauntless dive bombers from USS Saratoga (see Attack on Rabaul). Takao was hit by two bombs, killing 23 and damaging her steering; she was forced to return to Yokosuka in Japan for dry dock repairs.

 

On 22 October 1944, she joined Takeo Kurita's "Centre Force" and sailed from Brunei Bay for the Battle of Leyte Gulf. On 23 October, as she was passing Palawan Island, the force came under attack from two US submarines. At 06:34, Takao was hit by two torpedoes from USS Darter, which shattered two shafts, broke her fantail and flooded three boiler rooms. She turned back to Brunei, escorted by the destroyers Naganami and Asashimo, the torpedo boat Hiyodori and the transport Mitsu Maru. This flotilla was tailed by Darter and Dace until just after midnight on 24 October, when Darter ran aground on the Bombay Shoal and Dace remained to rescue her crew.

 

 

Takao was so badly damaged that it was considered impossible to send her back to Japan any time soon for full repairs. So the stern was cut off and shored up, and she was moored as an anti-aircraft battery for the defence of Singapore. While berthed there, she was attacked (Operation Struggle) on 31 July 1945 by the British midget submarine HMS XE3, commanded by Lieutenant Ian Edward Fraser and Acting Leading Seaman James Joseph Magennis, for which they were awarded the Victoria Cross. Magennis attached six limpet mines to Takao's hull using a piece of rope (the hull was covered with thick layer of seaweed, and the magnets of the limpet mines didn't hold them on the hull; when the mines exploded, they blew a hole 20 m by 10 m. Most of Takao's guns were put out of action, the rangefinders were destroyed and a number of compartments flooded.

 

On 5 September 1945, the Straits of Johor naval base was surrendered by the Japanese to the British and the formal boarding of the still partially manned Takao took place on 21 September 1945. She was finally towed to the Straits of Malacca to be used as a target ship for HMS Newfoundland and sunk on October 19, 1946.

 

(I could not find images of her particular wreck..or her look while in Singapore in 45..so if anyone finds them please feel free to add them)

 

Builder: Yokosuka Navy Yard

Laid down: April 28, 1927

Launched: May 12, 1930

Commissioned: May 31, 1932

Struck: May 3, 1947

Captured: Surrendered to British forces on 5 September 1945

Fate: Sunk as target ship on October 19, 1946

 

Displacement:

9,850 tons (standard)

15,490 tons (full load)

Length:

Waterline: 631.7 feet (192.54 m)

Overall: 668.5 feet (203.76 m)

Beam: 59 ft (18 m) – 68 ft (21 m)

Draught: 20 ft (6.1 m) – 20.7 ft (6.3 m)

 

Propulsion: 4-shaft geared turbine, 12 Kampon boilers, 132,000 shp

 

Speed: 35½ knots - 34.2 knots (63.3 km/h)

Range: 8,500 nautical miles (15,740 km) at 14 knots (26 km/h)

Complement: 773

 

Armour:

main belt: 1½" to 5"

main deck: 1⅜" (max)

upper deck: ½" to 1"

bulkheads: 3" to 4"

turrets: 1"

 

Armament:

Original layout:

ten 20 cm/50 3rd Year Type naval guns (5x2)

four 4.7-inch high-angle guns (4x1)

eight 24-inch torpedo tubes (4x2)

two 40 mm AA guns (2x1)

After Modification:

en 8-inch (203 mm) guns

eight 4.7-inch (119 mm) guns

66 × 25 mm AA guns

16 torpedo tubes

 

Aircraft carried:

3 (1 Aichi E13A1 "Jake" & 2 F1M2 "Pete" seaplanes), 2 catapults

 

Below are some 3D pics of a model built by 'Andrzej1964' that I found online. They show really great detail of the IJN Takao :Smile_ohmy:  

 

 

 

[ReiAyanami]

Another great thread Tanz!

 

Takaos were very characteristic of the Japanese naval architecture. Not really my taste, because of the bulky fat superstructure and their atypical turret layout, but there is no question that they were powerful ships.  I think they were considered very top heavy, as with most Japanese cruisers and destroyers.

 

The large number of float planes is really strange too. Did this feature in most cruisers actually helped them at all?  

 

As for her end, it is strange that the British went into that much trouble to sink a clearly crippled ship, a few days before the end of the war. Perhaps it had a symbolic role rather than a tactical.

I tried to find something about her in the end, but even searching Operation Struggle doesn't give anything... hmmm

[Jumarka]

Very good article.

And those 3d renderings, wow.

[Coldt]

WIth a crapdesign like that you have to think.  Is all the extra weight worth that 3rd turret and one extra gun, or should you just go with a 3x3 setup and save yourself some trouble.

[ReiAyanami]

Technically speaking, the more turrets the better, as far as survivability in combat is concerned. It may not be efficient weight wise, but I say it will pay out, especially in theory (and so in the game)

[Skygunner]

ReiAyanami, on 23 September 2012 - 11:11 PM, said:

Technically speaking, the more turrets the better, as far as survivability in combat is concerned. It may not be efficient weight wise, but I say it will pay out, especially in theory (and so in the game)

The counter to that would be that the longer the ship,  the more armour you would have to mount in order to effectively protect all of them, hence the balancing.  That's why ships such as Nelson and Richeliu were built as such,   minimize area needed to armour, where as ships such as Agincourt or Hood, required much more weight to armour as comprehensively. I personally love the multi-turret look, so <3

[ReiAyanami]

True, but all new ww2 cruisers had negligible armour anyway for that to even matter. As you said, this is mostly the case for battleships with all or nothing armour type.

 

What I also forgot to mention earlier about the Takao, is the strange Japanese method of saving weight by recessing the deck forward and aft. Strange.

[Skygunner]

ReiAyanami, on 24 September 2012 - 01:10 AM, said:

True, but all new ww2 cruisers had negligible armour anyway for that to even matter. As you said, this is mostly the case for battleships with all or nothing armour type.

What I also forgot to mention earlier about the Takao, is the strange Japanese method of saving weight by recessing the deck forward and aft. Strange.

One of the reasons WoWS excites me so much is the combined naval warfare. All ship types will be fighting,  armour that may be useless against a battleship may not be against a cruiser, or destroyer.  In that regards the "all or nothing"  BB's may actually fare worse, depending on the opponent.   Richelieu for instance, has a full length armour belt.  It's only very thick around the guns, but still it's there.   Since ships will have HP values that determine destruction along with integrity values,  Richelieu would gain a small survivability advantage over cruisers that an All or Nothing BB wouldn't have.

Ships are going to have the ability to let their full potential shine, be it in their aggression or destruction, it's going to be....well arcadey,  but fun.

Take Averoff for another instance.  She is a fully armoured ship with very few bits unprotected.  Like most cruisers she is going to be eaten by a Battleship, but in a slugfest with other cruisers she will take less damage than a standard treaty cruiser.


As for weight saving on Japanese CAs,  can you blame them?

[Captainhelios]

Japanese Cruisers just look awesome

[Crazyman23]

Its always that bridge structure that make Japanese cruisers look great. Gun layout is interesting as well.

[Coldt]

Crazyman23, on 06 October 2012 - 06:45 PM, said:

Its always that bridge structure that make Japanese cruisers look great. Gun layout is interesting as well.

While I have to agree with you on th superstructure, I find the gun layout to be inefficient and stupid.

[Gigaton]

Coldt, on 06 October 2012 - 07:44 PM, said:

While I have to agree with you on th superstructure, I find the gun layout to be inefficient and stupid.

While I don't know for sure (and have indeed caught one work claiming that the reasoning for the twin turrets is unknown), but perhaps it was a barbette diameter consideration? American cruisers were somewhat stubby when compared to the Japanese ones, with the latter being designed for higher speeds. LaCroix notes that the Model C twin turrets were already rather large for the smaller Aoba class. It seems barbette diameter also affected the turret placement on the American Pensacolas.

Regarding Pensacola, her 4 turret armament package appears to have been somewhat heavier than the 5 turret setup on Takao, though the unusually heavy American guns naturally affect that.

Tanz, on 23 September 2012 - 02:56 PM, said:

The Myōkō had proved to be unstable and required modifications, which were incorporated into the Takao design.

Apparently, the overweight problems of earlier heavy cruisers, including Furutaka and Aoba, were still unknown when the basic design for Takao was being made. Additional weight saving measures were used simply because expected additions in weight in the new design (such as the huge bridge structure, which was about 50% heavier than that of Myôkô, and it's top weight to boot).

ReiAyanami, on 23 September 2012 - 06:23 PM, said:

The large number of float planes is really strange too. Did this feature in most cruisers actually helped them at all?
As for her end, it is strange that the British went into that much trouble to sink a clearly crippled ship, a few days before the end of the war. Perhaps it had a symbolic role rather than a tactical.

The seaplanes are not that strange, IMO. Fleet scout being the traditional role of the cruiser, it seems logical to provide them with a decent set of planes as aircraft become more important for scouting. The general staff's requirements for main task for Takaos were: "...provide advanced protection for own support forces and drive back enemy's support forces. Independently of these tasks, conduct most of the fleet scouting. Expected opponents: the 10,000-Ton American and British 8-in-gun cruisers". Heavy cruisers formed the core of the scouting force in USN later in the interwar as well.

And yes, the seaplanes did provide useful service during the war, even if cruisers' scouting role became rather eclipsed.

Regarding the midget submarine attack, British were planning to invade Malaya and Myôkô and Takao were viewed as potential threat to such invasion (their condition being evidently unknown to British). Takao wasn't actually sunk in the attack, just damaged.

[Haguro]

Reportedly the crew conditions on the IJN CA's was much more spartan than on Western Navies cruisers.  This supposedly allowed IJN designers to pack more military equipment into these ships.  As previously mentioned the overweight design problems of the  Aoba class may not have been fully understood by the time the Takao design was completed.

[Scryer117]

good find on those 3d renders of takao, been searching for good images of it to use as base reference for my own IJN cruiser design for the future.

[Tanz]

Scryer117, on 12 October 2012 - 05:27 AM, said:

good find on those 3d renders of takao, been searching for good images of it to use as base reference for my own IJN cruiser design for the future.

Yeah when i saw it...I had to use it..fine work. Also saw you work in the Fan art section..looks great man  :Smile_honoring:

[IlonginusI]

:Smile_honoring: once again..awesome work. The Japanese gun layout was always strange but I guess do to the Washington Naval Treaty it what they had to do.

[Ariecho]

I'm not sure how I missed this thread.  Wonderful writing (as usual), and excellent pictures (+1)

[Capcon]

Thanks for taking the time.

 

For their actual displacement to me they have always looked fragile.

[Tpond]

Like all Japanese cruisers, the gun layout is whats cool looking