Takao	Atago
Maya	Chokai

What makes these ships cool? Well, as one of my reference books puts it, their "massive bridge structure, complete with "greenhouses" at the three upper levels, would not have disgraced a battleship. Not surprisingly, this class proved to be somewhat top-heavy..." Overall, this was a very successful design: fast, and heavily armed. Their main gun armament of 10 x 8" guns was a barrel heavier than most U.S. CAs, and two barrels more so than the Brits (though admittedly the firing arcs for Turret #3 were pretty poor). And their torpedo battery of 16 x 24" tubes gave them an additional punch that no Allied cruiser could come close to matching. Having torpedo-armed cruisers turned out to be a major advantage in night fighting. Chokai was flagship at the first major battle near Savo Island, when Vice Admiral Mikawa delivered the most brutal butt-kicking to the U.S. Navy it has ever had the misfortune to receive in a straight-up fight.

Again, for the serious Japanese naval buff, a must-have book is Janusz Skulski's "The Heavy Cruiser Takao," which was published in 1994 and is sold in the U.S. by the Naval Institute Press. Even more preposterously comprehensive than his earlier work on Yamato, this book should quench the thirst of even the most obsessive detail freaks.