Pacific ships

Photos and the story

Atago

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ClassTakao class
TypeHeavy cruiser (CA)
FateSunk. Kondo's flagship on the battleship night off Guadalcanal, 14-15 November 1942. Not sunk there. USS Darter sank her in Palawan Passage on 23 October 1944.
Armament (class)Five twin 8-inch turrets and two funnels, with a heavier bridge.
Command

Laid down, displacement, length, beam, draft, speed, and complement are not stored for each hull, so this table leaves them out.

The armament line is the class drawing, not a measurement of this hull.

Atago
Presumed official IJN photographer, likely from the collections of Shizuo Fukui. Ships of the 4th Sentai underway, during a training exercise in August 1933. Takao, Atago and Chokai.jpg. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Atago was a Takao-class heavy cruiser of the Imperial Japanese Navy. On 24 August 1942 she was with Vice Admiral Kondo's force in the Battle of the Eastern Solomons. She was still afloat when that battle ended.

She was Kondo's flagship for the battleship night of the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal. On the night of 14-15 November 1942 he came with her to shell Henderson Field.

In that night action Atago fired on South Dakota. She remained afloat after the battleship night off Guadalcanal. Nobuki Nakaoka became her captain on 1 December 1942. USS Darter sank Atago in Palawan Passage on 23 October 1944.

The pictures on this page are the originals.