At the beginning of World War II, the Imperial Japanese Navy was the third largest navy in the world, second only to the U.S. Navy and the British Navy. As of December 1941. The Japanese fleet consisted of 18 heavy cruisers. In general, the structure and combat composition of the fleet were more offensive than defensive in nature. Japanese heavy cruisers were large ships with exceptionally powerful artillery and torpedo armament, high speed of navigation and significant draft. The cruiser was excellent for conducting combat operations in the dark . Significant dimensions, combined with powerful power plants, will allow to modernize the cruisers with "little blood", strengthening their torpedo and anti-aircraft artillery armament. Distinctive features of the appearance of the cruisers were pagoda-shaped towers-superstructures, which Japanese cruisers are easy to distinguish from the cruisers of the fleet of any other country in the world. In addition to superstructures of unusual appearance, the designers put on the cruiser and still extremely unusual curved chimneys. These caressing look of naval aesthetes ships went through the whole crucible of the wars in the Pacific Ocean.