Takao-class heavy cruisers
“Takao” class heavy cruisers – 4 units
“Takao” 28.4.1927 / 12.5.1930 / 5.1932 – Died 30.4.1945 “Atago” 28.4.1927 / 16.6.1930 / 3.1932 – Died 23.10.1944 “Chokai” 26.3.1928 / 5.4.1931 / 6.1 932 – Killed 25.10. 1944 “Maya” 12/24/1928 / 11/8/1930 / 6/1932 – Died 10/23/1944
13400/15625 (“Atago” and “Takao”) or 11400/13906 (“Chokai” and “Maya”) t; 192.5/201.7 (vl)/203.8 x 20.7 (“Atago” and “Takao”) or 19 (“Chokai” and “Maua”) x 6.1-6.3 m; 4 TZA, 12 PCs, 130,000 hp, 34.3-35.5 kts, 2281-2570 tons of oil, 8000 (14) miles (“Chokai” and “Maya”) or 8500 (14) at (“ Atago" and "Takao"). Armor: side 100 mm, traverses 75-100 mm, deck 32-35 mm (above the power plant up to 70-90 mm), turrets 25 mm, barbettes 75 mm, deckhouse 16 mm. Ek. 900-920 people Armament: “Atago” and “Takao” – 5×2 – 203 mm/50, 4×1 – 120 mm/45, 6×2 – 25 mm, 4×4 – 610 mm TA, 2 catapults, 3 seaplanes; “Chokai” and “Maya” – 5×2 – 203 mm/50, 4×1 – 120 mm/45, 2×2 – 25 mm, 2×2 – 13.2 mm, 4 x 2 – 610 mm TA, 2 catapults, 3 seaplanes.
In response to the “First Cruiser Bill” adopted in the United States in 1924, the Japanese “New Shipbuilding Program to Replace the Fleet of 1927” four 10,000 ton cruisers were included. These ships were supposed to be a repetition of the “Myoko” type, but with the introduction of some improvements to its design - the elevation angle of the main battery guns increased to 70°, the fixed guns were replaced with three-tube rotating ones on the upper deck, and the armoring of the cellars was strengthened. The composition of aviation weapons expanded to two catapults and three seaplanes. In the hull design, extensive use of new high-strength steel, aluminum and electric welding was planned. The project for the “improved Myoko” was ready in 1926. The main difference in the armoring scheme for ships of the Takao type was a slight reduction in the length of the belt along the waterline (from 123.6 to 120 m). The thickness of the belt at the ends opposite the cellars increased from 100 to 125 mm (along the lower edge, correspondingly, thinning to 76-38 mm). In addition, unlike previous heavy cruisers, the Takao class was equipped with light anti-fragmentation armor for the conning tower. For the first time, Japanese cruisers used 203 mm/50 Type 3 No. 2 main battery guns, which fired heavier shells than those used in the 200 mm/50 Type 3 No. 1 guns. In addition, these guns had an increased elevation angle, which theoretically made it possible to use them as anti-aircraft guns. The latter circumstance served as the basis for reducing the number of 120-mm anti-aircraft guns from six to four. At the same time, two 40-mm Vickers anti-aircraft guns appeared on the ships. The transfer of the TA to the upper deck led to a number of problems: significant upper weight and lack of space forced the abandonment of triple TAs in favor of lighter twin ones. To compensate for the reduced broadside, Takao-class cruisers developed a rapid reloading system for torpedoes and lightly armored storage for eight spare torpedoes. In 1936, the longitudinal strength of the hull was strengthened during repairs on all four ships. At the same time, the 40-mm machine guns were replaced with 2x4 13.2-mm machine guns. In 1938 – 1939 “Atago” and “Takao” underwent a more significant modernization, during which two-pipe TAs were replaced by the same number of four-pipe ones. Spare torpedoes (8 pieces) were protected by 25 mm armor. Instead of quad 13.2 mm machine guns, anti-aircraft weapons after modernization were represented by 4x2 25 mm machine guns and 2x2 13.2 mm machine guns. The latter were replaced in September 1941 with two twin 25-mm machine guns. It was planned to replace the 120-mm/45 anti-aircraft guns with 4x2 127-mm/40 installations, but due to a shortage of the latter, the rearmament was postponed to a later date. The propeller was overhauled and modernized, which made it possible to reduce the fuel supply from 2570 to 2281 tons. To improve stability and torpedo protection, new side bulges were installed, which increased the hull width from 19 to 20.7 m. The increase in displacement led to a decrease in speed to 34. 3 knots A similar modernization was planned for “Chokai” and “Maya”, however, due to the workload of the shipyards, work was limited to the replacement in the spring of 1941 of 2x4 13.2-mm anti-aircraft machine guns with 2x2 25-mm machine guns and 2x2 13.2-mm machine guns . On “Atago” and “Takao” in March - April 1942, single 120-mm anti-aircraft guns were replaced with 4 x 2 127-mm/40 installations. At the same time, 13.2 mm machine guns were removed from “Chokai” and “Maya”, and the number of 25 mm machine guns was increased to 12 barrels (6x2), and in August - September of the same year their number was increased to 16 (8x2). On “Atago” and “Takao” in August - September 1942, 2x3 25-mm machine guns were additionally mounted (it became 2x3 and 6x2). In November 1943 - January 1944, 8x1 25 mm machine guns were added to Atago and Takao, and 10x1 to Chokai. In December 1943 - April 1944, during the repair of battle damage on the Maya, the main gun turret No. 3 and 120-mm anti-aircraft guns were dismantled, and six 127-mm twin guns were installed instead. The existing twin 25 mm machine guns were replaced with 13 x 3 and 9 x 1 machine guns of the same caliber and 36 x 1 13.2 mm anti-aircraft machine guns. Twin 610-mm TAs gave way to quadruple ones (it became 4 x 4). The superstructures were redesigned, strengthening their anti-fragmentation armor. New, larger ones were installed on top of the old boules, which increased the width of the hull to 20.7 m (at the waterline - 19.5 m). The fuel supply was reduced to 2370 tons. The crew increased to 996 people. After modernization, the standard displacement was 13,140 tons. At the end of June 1944, on “Atago” and “Takao” the number of 25-mm machine guns was increased to 60 barrels (6x3, 6x2 and 30x1), on “Chokai” - to 38 (8x2 and 22x1 ) and on “Maya” – up to 66 (13x3 and 27x1).
“Atago” 11/5/1943 damaged by American. carrier-based aircraft in Rabaul, repairs until January 1944. 10/23/1944 sunk in the Sibuyan Sea by torpedoes (4 hits) by Amer. Submarine “Darter”. “Maya” 11/14/1942 severely damaged by a downed American. by plane and was repaired until the beginning of 1943. 11/5/1943 heavily damaged in Rabaul by Amer. carrier-based aircraft, after which it was repaired until April 1944. 10/23/1944 sunk in the Sibuyan Sea by torpedoes (4 hits) by Amer. Submarine "Dace". “Chokai” 10/25/1944 in battle near Fr. Samar was seriously damaged by the Amer. carrier-based aircraft and scuttled by the escort aircraft. “Takao” 11/5/1943 damaged by American. carrier-based aircraft in Rabaul, repairs - until January 1944. 10/23/1944 seriously damaged by two American torpedoes. The submarine “Darter” underwent temporary repairs, after which it was used in Singapore as a floating air defense battery. 30/4/1945 sunk in Singapore. ultra-small submarine XE-3.
Japanese Tier 8 cruiser Atago/ARP Takao. Not just for the money.
Date: 10/05/2016 | Posted in Home, Cruisers, Reviews | |
Atago is one of the oldest premium ships in World of Warships. And at the time, it was a wonderful way to waste money into nowhere, getting a ship at level 8 worse than the seven being pumped up. Since then, the game has undergone a large number of changes, Atago received a number of significant upgrades. So how does Atago feel now, and is there any point in buying this ship? You will find out the answers to these questions in our review today.
To begin with, it is worth noting that there is absolutely no need to spend your hard-earned money to get this Japanese to the port. As part of the Arpeggio project, it is enough to complete a number of not the most difficult combat missions before the end of October 2016 to receive Atago’s twin brother, the main ship of the Takao series.
And everything that I will write about Atago in the future, except for the economics section, applies equally to both ships, since in World of Warships these cruisers do not differ in anything except farming. Therefore, do not be surprised that in the text the cruiser is called either Atago or Takao, this was done deliberately to emphasize that this is the same ship.
It's time to move on to performance characteristics.
TTX
Artillery Main Corps
If you have upgraded the Japanese cruiser branch, then these guns are as familiar to you as the entrance to your own house. Since from level 5 to 9 these weapons do not change practically in any way. The firing range changes, the turret rotation speed varies, but the main battery itself remains the same.
The good news is that at level 8 these weapons are quite relevant. Land mines still cause damage to any ship you encounter, they also set fire well (17%), and APs are quite capable of upsetting any cruiser that turns up your side.
The crooked arrangement of the towers, which we inherited from the “ancestor” ship - Mioko, is depressing. One of the bow towers still “looks” back, as if inviting the Captain to shoot himself if everything does not go according to plan. The towers themselves rotate mediocrely; it takes 29 seconds to rotate 180 degrees. However, with the turn perk, it will already be 26 seconds, which is quite tolerable and comparable to the same New Orleans.
But let's get back to the guns. The maximum firing range is 15.8 km. It’s not exactly comfortable, but it doesn’t cause much discomfort either. Ballistics for such a range are acceptable; only highly maneuverable targets at long distances cause problems. The rate of fire is the weakest on the level, only 3.8 shots per minute.
Torpedoes
The torpedoes themselves arrived from level 7 without any changes. Long-range - 10 km, quite fast 62 knots. Only the number of torpedoes in the salvo has changed; Takao has 8 on board, just like Mogami. However, if we talk about the use of torpedoes, then everything is much better here. The fact is that on most Japanese cruisers, torpedo tubes have very small launch angles. In fact, to send fish at the enemy, you need to completely expose the side with the inevitable risk of being snatched into the citadel.
Atago’s 2 front devices “look” forward and to launch you need to turn them to quite comfortable angles, which will allow you to leave your citadel dry and healthy. However, you shouldn’t get carried away with torpedoes when playing Atago. Their range is by no means huge, and at launch distance they can easily give you the worst of it. It's more of a secondary weapon. Threaten a battleship brazenly rushing forward, spam the strait for a random frag, treat a destroyer holed up in the smoke, nothing more.
Air defense
And here Atago’s situation is even worse than that of other Japanese cruisers. There is literally no air defense at all. Even Aoba is inferior in terms of air defense strength! The damage of the auras is so negligible that Atago even shoots down level 6 planes with obvious effort; it’s not worth talking about planes of a higher level.
No, there is some chance to fight off the Aviks due to the barrier. But, if you are caught in CD, then the enemy Avik will do whatever he wants with you and in whatever poses he wants. In fact, Avik is the only class against which our Japanese are completely defenseless.
Vitality
40100 HP. In terms of the number of units of combat effectiveness, Takao loses only to Hipper. But, in addition to HP, armor plays an important role in survivability, and this is where things go wrong for Takao. There is just enough armor to confidently cock AP shells from all distances. Framed the side of a battleship? Don’t even rely on drafts, everything that comes into you will be full of damage. In addition, the citadel traditionally protrudes strongly from the water, and is actually accessible to everyone - I don’t want to push it.
However, Takao’s vitality is not as bad as it might seem. I will reveal the reason for this state of affairs a little later.
Maneuverability
The rudder shift time is 8.1 seconds. Quite a good result. But, if you install the appropriate upgrades, you can accelerate this indicator to a very destroyer-like 4 seconds. With this time, Atago begins to dodge at long distances, like Neo, from flying projectiles. Torpedoes also do not cause problems; even at short distances you can dodge the annoying enemy fish.
But don’t think that Atago is the king of maneuver. Everything is spoiled by the circulation radius of 800 meters. So, if you are caught while on board, a short transfer time will not save you in any way.
Disguise
The range of detection from ships is 11.5 km. If you stick to camouflage, you can get 9.1 km. However, unfortunately, this makes little sense.
The fact is that due to the not very high firing range, the invisibility window will be only about 600 meters. It’s not even worth talking about any serious application of such an advantage. You can try to cosplay as a Japanese destroyer and launch torpedoes from invisibility, the window will be already 900 meters away. However, such Takao will not be very effective. Still, the main firepower of this cruiser is concentrated in its guns.
Therefore, in my opinion, the most optimal option would be the “golden mean”: a perk for camouflage and upgrades for maneuverability.
The resulting 10.1 km will be more than enough to escape from dangerous situations, disappearing into the fog, while at the same time maintaining the most comfortable time for shifting the rudder.
So what's the point? This concludes the performance characteristics analysis. Based on its results, it turns out that Atago is still a trough, forcibly pulled to level 8 and completely inappropriate for it. But in reality this is completely not the case. At the moment, before the appearance of the Takao ARP version, Atago was a real synonym for kicking for money. How so?
The thing is that in one of the Atago upgrades they gave a consumable that is typical for tier 9-10 cruisers. And now we are, of course, talking about the healer. In the standard version, Atago has 2 heals, which gives an additional 11,000 HP. If you take a gold one and a superintendent, then there will be 4 heals, which means there will be more than 22000 additional “health” points. This is the level of level 7 battleships. And this makes Atago, if not an imbecile, then an extremely comfortable ship for its level.
Atago can afford to get into the kind of ass that any other cruiser would have glued fins to long ago. Atago will forgive you a bunch of the most crustacean mistakes. They framed the side of the battleship and raked the HP to the floor? No problem. Did you grab sudden torpedoes from the smoke? It's OK. Avik swooped in and raped him? And we'll deal with this. We retreat behind some cover, turn on a heal or two, and now we have practically a whole cruiser, instead of a barely alive disabled person.
And it’s just so fucking comfortable! Atago allows you not to worry about a suddenly arriving salvo, or to worry about air groups flying in your direction. You can safely exchange your HP, get into the thick of things, pursue destroyers, burn out battleships, without thinking at all that by the end of the battle you will remain dead.
It is for this and for its versatility that I love this cruiser so much. And that is why I recommend that you now make every effort to get this cruiser in the port “for free”. Moreover, now the ranked season is in full swing and Atago reigns there like no other cruiser. Simply due to his ability to survive.
Economy
This is the only section in this review that does not relate to Takao. Takao is not a premium ship, and its economy is at the level of the other 8 ships, while Atago is premium and is sold for very real money. So is this premium worth buying?
In my opinion, if you are experiencing a severe shortage of loans, then Atago, just like Tirpitz, are the first contenders for purchase.
Firstly, Atago is an extremely comfortable ship, which is not true for all premiums.
Secondly, healing allows you to live much longer on the battlefield, which accordingly increases your final income.
On average, with a premium account, for a spherical battle in a vacuum, Atago brings you 200-300K “pure” sulfur. For a successful battle, you can also farm pollama. In case of exceptional luck, you can see 700-800K of net income. Maintenance of the ship will cost you 52,000. Plus you will have to pay something for torpedoes and shells. I can’t say that Atago is a direct uberfarmer, however, she brings sulfur quite consistently. And how a long-term purchase can be completely justified.
It was just a little short of the mark.
But here it was enough. (In fact, there was a BZ for x2 for silver)
Tactics
Nogebay & Set it on fire! The firing range will not allow you to play Takao and Atago from long distances. The element of these cruisers is fighting 12-15 km from the enemy, it is at this distance that the high speed of shifting the rudders plays the most important role. The main ammunition is high-explosive, they cause damage consistently and set fire quite often. If there are few opponents on the flank, you can play with aggression. If something happens, torpedoes will help you, and healing will allow you not to worry too much about the hits you receive.
Anti-class
Destroyers
Almost everything is food. They can’t escape from us - the maximum speed of our cruiser is more than 35 knots.
You won't be able to torpedo either - the short transfer time makes dodging torpedoes on Takao not a tricky task.
It turns out that the only thing left for the cornered destroyer is to push through the smoke. But this trick won’t work either - 8 torpedoes are almost guaranteed to hit the little asshole.
The dirty trickster can escape only when the distance is still great and he can go into invisibility. In all others, he comes to a complete and unconditional end.
Cruisers
At distances of 15 km, as an enemy, they are quite inconvenient for us. It will be quite difficult to hit the cruiser, as the ballistics are not the best. But the enemy will not confidently hit us, which reduces the whole point of such a confrontation to zero.
It’s a completely different matter when it comes to distances of 12-13 km or less. And here the main rule is - do not expose the side. Remember, the citadel is quite fragile, and healing will only restore 30% of such damage.
Feel free to attack the enemy, showering him with landmines. If the enemy is stubborn, put him on torpedoes; if he is stupid, armor-piercing guns will be used. And even though Atago’s BBs are not as cool as Hipper’s, they are quite enough to treat an enemy cruiser with half its HP.
All of the above is true for cruisers of the same tier and below. They are the ones that Atago will most often encounter in battle. However, there are times when our ship drifts among the dozens, and these cruisers should be feared like fire.
Battleships
Volley, 4 thousand, fire. Volley, 6 thousand. Another salvo, another 4 thousand, another fire. This is exactly how Takao deals with battleships. Consistent pyromania is the main way Japanese cruisers fight battleships, and this method is quite effective. In some cases, it is possible to keep three battleships burning at the same time.
The main thing is not to yawn during enemy volleys and sharply turn the steering wheel if the armored vehicle decides to try to kick you.
Still, they grabbed ten thousand through the nose? Singing “We are the champions”, we go into invisibility, throw a couple of fans of fish towards the enemy and calmly heal.
Aviation drawings
As has already been said, we have no air defense and against the Avik we can only turn on the barrier and hold off the fighter. Fortunately, in most cases this is enough. Very few air buttons are aware that the air defense on Takao is purely decorative. Seeing the barrier, most of the aircraft will turn their groups back. But there is always a chance that Avik is experienced and the groups will return. And then there is only hope left.
As a conclusion
If you don’t have Atago and don’t plan to buy it, then you simply must get Takao. After all, this is one of the best ships at level 8, for which you don’t need to spend a slot and sulfur; they will give you it right away with everything you need just for completing a chain of simple tasks.
And Takao will be very useful, since now the ranked season is in full swing, where, other things being equal, Takao or Atago will always win due to health. Which, by the way, is already clearly visible by how free Autags fill ranked battles.
But even in the case of a regular random, it will still be an extremely comfortable cruiser. Universal and capable of effectively fighting any enemy who has a main gun. Extremely durable and quite easy to handle. Takao or Atago will forgive you many mistakes and will consistently delight you with high results.
Those days when Atago could not do anything and was disparagingly called Outaga are gone; now it is a formidable and perhaps the strongest cruiser on the level. All you have to do is choose the free or paid version. Hurry up!
Author of the publication
offline for 4 weeks
Bes
Comments: 8542Publications: 388Registration: 06/11/2016
