AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |
Back to Blog
![]() In December 1941 she gave gunfire support for the Japanese landings at Lingayen Gulf on Luzon in the Philippines.In short, she was 15,000 tons of bad dreams to the US, Australian, British, and Dutch navies when she was commissioned May 31, 1932. Torpedoes, 2.8-ton 610mm wide steel fish almost 30-feet long that could travel 52-knots and deliver a 1,100 lb warhead to an enemy ship at ranges over ten miles away. A staggering 80+ antiaircraft guns and 16 torpedo tubes made her a threat to both planes and ships. ![]() Takao had long legs and could cross the Pacific and back or sail to Europe on only the fuel in her bunkers. These guns could fire a 280-pound Type 91 armor-piercing (AP) shell to 18-miles, making short work of any smaller ship. The ten gun layout, in five twin turrets, was very distinctive. They were also heavily armed with ten 8-inch 20 cm/50 3rd Year Type naval guns, with a 70-degree elevation that was influenced by the British Royal Navy County class cruisers. Her and her sisters were fast (35-knots) and as such could outrun any battleship or battlecruiser in the world. Designed in 1927 just after Japan nodded and winked at the London Naval Treaties and before the Washington Naval Treaty that limited cruiser size to 10,000 tons, the Takao class were a beast at almost 15,500-tons when fully combat loaded. The new ship was one of the premier heavy cruiser designs of all time, the Takao was the lead ship of a 4-vessel class of very large all-gun warships. The Japanese had named her after the old 1880s era Takao, a 1700-ton cruiser that had served at the Battle of Weihaiwei against the Chinese and at Tsushima against the Russians. Here we see the Imperial Japanese Navy’s heavy cruiser HIJMS Takao with a bone in her teeth at high-speed. This is the last thing you wanted to see steaming towards you if you were on a US destroyer in WWII
0 Comments
Read More
Leave a Reply. |