Takao (高雄) was the lead vessel in the Takao-class heavy cruisers, active in World War II with the Imperial Japanese Navy.

[2] Propulsion was by 12 Kampon boilers driving four sets of single-impulse geared turbine engines, with four shafts turning three-bladed propellers.

[2] Takao’s main battery was ten 20 cm/50 3rd Year Type naval guns, the heaviest armament of any heavy cruiser in the world at the time, mounted in five twin turrets.

Takao was laid down at the Yokosuka Naval Arsenal on 28 April 1927, launched and named on 12 May 1930, and was commissioned into the Imperial Japanese Navy on 31 May 1932.

[2] At the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Takao was commanded by Captain Asakura Bunji and assigned to Vice Admiral Nobutake Kondō's Sentai-4 together with her three sister ships and provided gunfire support for the landings at Lingayen Gulf on Luzon in the Philippines.

On 2 May, Takao assisted in rescue efforts for the seaplane carrier Mizuho, which had been torpedoed by the US submarine USS Drum off of Omaezaki.

However, during the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands on 26 October, all three cruisers (together with Myōkō and Haguro) participated in night combat operations resulting in the sinking of the crippled and abandoned American aircraft carrier USS Hornet.

All three Japanese ships hit South Dakota multiple times with shells, knocking out her radar and fire controls.

She was targeted by SBD Dauntless dive bombers from USS Saratoga and hit by two bombs, killing 23 crewmen and damaging her steering.

[2] Takao was assigned to Vice Admiral Ozawa’s First Mobile Fleet based at Palau from 1 March 1944, and was stationed at Davao in the southern Philippines from 1 April.

In what came to be called the "Great Marianas Turkey Shoot", Japanese aircraft attacking US Task Force 58 off Saipan suffered severe losses.

On 22 October, Takao sortied from Brunei as part of Admiral Kurita's Center Force for the Battle of Leyte Gulf.

Takao was hit by two torpedoes from USS Darter, which shattered two shafts, broke her fantail and flooded three boiler rooms.

Takao limped back to Brunei, escorted by the destroyers Naganami and Asashimo, the torpedo boat Hiyodori and the transport Mitsu Maru, and on to Singapore by 12 November.

She was therefore moored as a floating anti-aircraft battery defending Seletar Naval Base along with Myōkō, the latter crippled at the Battle of the Sibuyan Sea and then further damaged by a submarine-launched torpedo.

[4] Concerned that both cruisers could interfere with Allied forces approaching Singapore, the Royal Navy launched Operation Struggle on 31 July 1945 with the midget submarines HMS XE3 (Lieutenant Ian Edward Fraser) assigned to attack Takao, and HMS XE1 (Lieutenant J. E. Smart) to attack Myōkō.

After penetrating the harbor defenses, XE3 maneuvered under Takao, where diver Acting Leading Seaman James Joseph Magennis exited the submarine.

Takao arrives in time to rescue the main cast and battles Godzilla at point-blank range, forcing back the kaiju, only to be destroyed by the monster's atomic breath and its resulting nuclear explosion.

The ship is also a playable character in the smartphone gacha games Azur Lane, Kantai Collection and other similar themed titles.