these are pictures of the Imperial Japanese Navy's Takao Class of heavy cruisers. all 4 were launched between 1930-31. these ships were considered the best heavy cruisers built for the IJN even though one more class was built after them. all four were sunk or disabled at the Battle of Leyte Gulf in October of 1944. these were powerful ships with a main battery of ten 8" naval rifles and capable of launching the excellent Japanese torpedoes as well. also very fast being driven by 4 geared steam turbines totalling 132,000shp to a top speed of 351/2kts. that's over 40mph for a machine that displaces almost 16,000 tons at full load. the cruisers were armored with a main belt of 11/2" to 5" in thickness plus an armored deck of over 1". being 6681/2ft long overall they were well shaped to make their high speed. the first picture is IJN Takao the name ship of the class. next is IJN Chokai at high speed. third is IJN Atago in different shots. and fourth is IJN Maya and finally another color picture of IJN Chokai again cruising along at significant speed. all in all an impressive class of heavy cruisers any one of which could out match a single heavy cruiser of any other navy of the time.
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