View source for IJN Furutaka

{{About
| about = Japanese heavy cruiser '''{{PAGENAME}}'''
| usage = other uses
| link = Furutaka (Family)
}}
{{Specs-Card
|code=jp_cruiser_furutaka
|images={{Specs-Card-Image|GarageImage_{{PAGENAME}}.jpg|ArtImage_{{PAGENAME}}.png}}
}}

== Description ==
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The '''{{Specs|name}}''' (古鷹, [[Abbreviations#.28JP.29_Naval|namesake]]: Mount Furutaka) was the lead ship of the namesake class of "scout heavy cruiser" of the Imperial Japanese Navy. Designed to directly counter the American [[Omaha (Family)|''Omaha'']]-class and the British [[HMS Hawkins|''Hawkins'']]-class cruisers, the ''Furutaka''-class features superior mobility and firing range that allows the ship to, in theory, outrange and outspeed their counterparts.

With the arms races during late 1930s rendering the Washington naval treaty null and void, the Imperial Japanese Navy started a massive modernization program for most, if not all of their ships. {{PAGENAME}} was one of the ships to receive a major overhaul. With the weight restrictions removed, the Furutaka's beam was widened to accommodate new machinery, such as replacing the six single 200 mm turrets with three improved twin 203 mm 3rd year turrets, an addition of torpedo bulges, replacing the hull-mounted torpedo tubes with conventional launchers with the famous Type 93 "Long Lance" torpedoes, improved Kampon boilers to maintain the ship's mobility with her increased weight, as well as improved anti-air defense.

Along with her sister ship [[IJN Kako|''Kako'']], Furutaka was assigned to the Cruiser Division 6 at the outbreak of Pacific war. After covering the Attack on Pearl Harbor and island hopping campaigns around the Pacific in 1941, ''Furutaka'' and the Division 6 saw combat at the Battle of Savo Island on 8 August 1942, to which the Japanese managed to score a victory by sinking three American heavy cruisers and forced an Australian cruiser HMAS ''Canberra'' to be scuttled. After ''Kako'' was sunk by an American submarine a day later, ''Furutaka'' and the remaining Cruiser Division 6 would be sent to cover the invasion of Guadalcanal. Around two months later, ''Furutaka'' and the Division 6 were caught off-guard by the American Task Force 64 due to being spotted by the American radar. In the ensuring Battle of Cape Esperance between 11-12 October, ''Furutaka'' was sunk by a combined fire from USS ''Salt Lake City'' and USS ''Buchanan'' after her Type 93 torpedo storage was detonated.

Introduced in [[Update 1.89 "Imperial Navy"]]. Compared to her sister ship [[IJN Kako|Kako]], Furutaka leans more towards a conventional heavy cruiser, featuring good continuous firepower and various weaponry to deal with all kinds of targets. While a bit slower than her sister ship, Furutaka is still quite mobile for a heavy cruiser; this will be very useful for evasive maneuvers and keep up with the rest of the fleet. However, care must be taken to not expose your broadside, as your belt armour is not thick enough to withstand incoming fire when not angled properly.
== General info ==
=== Survivability and armour ===
{{Specs-Fleet-Armour}}
<!-- ''Talk about the vehicle's armour. Note the most well-defended and most vulnerable zones, e.g. the ammo magazine. Evaluate the composition of components and assemblies responsible for movement and manoeuvrability. Evaluate the survivability of the primary and secondary armaments separately. Don't forget to mention the size of the crew, which plays an important role in fleet mechanics. Save tips on preserving survivability for the "Usage in battles" section. If necessary, use a graphical template to show the most well-protected or most vulnerable points in the armour.'' -->
The Furutaka's armour layout is mostly the same as her sister ship [[IJN Kako|Kako]] with some improvements, most notably the addition of 57 mm of RHA around her ammo elevators that made them less prone to damage, as well as a torpedo bulge capable of taking up to 250 kg torpedo hits. One negative change being that a small coal bunker strip on the upper midship section were removed, though this reduced protection is mostly negligible.

As with the Kako, Furutaka's armour is rather mediocre at flat angles (at 75 mm), but became very effective when angled properly. Since the Furutaka has more crew than the Kako (680 men compared to Kako's 616) and only has a few extra AA mounts, she can survive a bit longer than her sister ship.

The Furutaka retains the unique fire resistant characteristics from the Kako, meaning that she will suffer less casualties from a fire damage and sometime doesn't lose any at all. This made the Furutaka much more beginner friendly than other ships at her rank, as well as highly survivable with proper damage control.

=== Mobility ===
{{Specs-Fleet-Mobility}}
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With her displacement increased by 2,600 tons, the Furutaka is noticeably slower than her predecessor. Although she is still fast for a heavy cruiser with top speed of 71 (AB)/61 (RB) km/h with good acceleration. She is fairly slow to decelerate and traverse around, though it's still decent for her class nonetheless.

{{NavalMobility}}

=== Modifications and economy ===
{{Specs-Economy}}

== Armament ==
{{Specs-Fleet-Armaments}}
=== Primary armament ===
{{Specs-Fleet-Primary}}
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{{main|20 cm/50 3rd year type No.2 (203 mm)}}

The Furutaka's main armament consists of six 203 mm 3rd year type No.2 cannons mounted in three twin turrets in A-B-X setup. This gun is the standard armament for the Japanese heavy cruisers next in the line such as the [[IJN Mogami|Mogami]] and [[IJN Tone|Tone]] and thus is very powerful. The turrets have sluggish traverse speed and are poorly protected, but have a very wide coverage that allows the Furutaka to fire broadsides from up to 75 degrees of angle, increasing the ship's effectiveness when angled.

The 203 mm has three shell choices: a basic HE shell with 8.57 kg of TNT equivalent that can deal a decent amount of damage per hit, a powerful APBC shell with 235 mm of penetration at 10 km and packing a sizeable explosive filler of 3.25 kg TNT equivalent, and an HE-TF shell, which is near useless due to the slow turret traverse speed. The gun has a good reload time at 12 seconds (ace crew), though she will be occasionally outgunned by her opponents due to the low gun count.

{{:20 cm/50 3rd year type No.2 (203 mm)/Ammunition|20.3 cm Type 0 HE, 20.3 cm Type 91 AP, 20.3 cm Type 0 HE-TF}}
=== Secondary armament ===
{{Specs-Fleet-Secondary}}
<!-- ''Some ships are fitted with weapons of various calibres. Secondary armaments are defined as weapons chosen with the control <code>Select secondary weapon</code>. Evaluate the secondary armaments and give advice on how to use them. Describe the ammunition available for the secondary armament. Provide recommendations on how to use them and which ammunition to choose. Remember that any anti-air armament, even heavy calibre weapons, belong in the next section. If there is no secondary armament, remove this section.'' -->
{{main|120 mm/45 10th year type (120 mm)}}

The Furutaka retains four 120 mm 10th year type cannons from the Kako. The guns can still work well against PT boats and small crafts, but will not help much against larger vessels and aircraft.

{{:120 mm/45 10th year type (120 mm)/Ammunition|120 mm Type 1 HE, 120 mm Type 0 HE}}

=== Anti-aircraft armament ===
{{Specs-Fleet-AA}}
<!-- ''An important part of the ship's armament responsible for air defence. Anti-aircraft armament is defined by the weapon chosen with the control <code>Select anti-aircraft weapons</code>. Talk about the ship's anti-air cannons and machine guns, the number of guns and their positions, their effective range, and about their overall effectiveness – including against surface targets. If there are no anti-aircraft armaments, remove this section.'' -->
{{main|25 mm/60 Type 96 (25 mm)|Type 93 (13.2 mm)}}

The Furutaka's anti-air capability is improved from the Kako with the addition of 8 x Type 96 AA guns in four twin mounts placed around her second funnel. While the ship is no longer defenseless against aircraft, the Type 96 AA guns have a rather short effective range at around 2 km, and the low number of guns for her size means that enemy aircraft can still manage to get past your defense and drop their payload. It is always recommended to man the gun yourself as soon as you spot an enemy getting close to your ship, since the AI gunners is too ineffective at engaging enemies.

=== Additional armament ===
{{Specs-Fleet-Additional}}
<!-- ''Describe the available additional armaments of the ship: depth charges, mines, torpedoes. Talk about their positions, available ammunition and launch features such as dead zones of torpedoes. If there is no additional armament, remove this section.'' -->
{{main|Type 93 Model 1, Mod 2 (610 mm)}}

The Furutaka is equipped with 16 x Type 93 Model 1 torpedoes, launching from quadruple launchers on the port and starboard side on the midship section. Each sides can launch up to 8 torpedoes, with 4 inside the tube and 4 reloads. As usual, with fast travel speed, very long range, and huge warhead, the "Long Lance" torpedoes are highly effective against any targets.

=== Scout plane ===
{{Specs-Fleet-Plane}}

Located amidships is a catapult with one E7K2 scout plane which provides unique offensive and defensive abilities, expanding tactical options. Ship-launched scout planes fly just like regular tree units but lack munition choices and cockpit views. The E7K2 is equipped with only defensive machine gun turrets (ventral as well as dorsal) but it does carry 4 x 60 kg bombs. It also has the scout plane ability to cap zones and lay down smoke cover (up to 3 times). Captains will be wise to remember to utilize the aircraft and consider when best to use it, for example to cap a point early or late in the match, to create a smoke screen to stymie enemy bombardment and repair, to attack enemy units directly, or perhaps something completely new! Carrying a heavier bomb load than most other scout planes, this unit has a very good chance to sink enemy boats or even a destroyer.

== Usage in battles ==
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The Furutaka is a versatile ship that can fulfil many roles, with a combination of good protection, powerful armaments, and decent mobility. She is able to take many hits from most enemies except dreadnoughts when angled properly, while capable of dealing huge damage in return with her main guns and torpedoes. Due to this, the Furutaka will be usually targeted by the enemy team.

With her wide firing range, angling the hull will greatly benefit the Furutaka, as not only is she able to deliver full salvoes at steep angles, she is also much harder to be damaged as her profile will appear smaller, as well as bouncing a lot of shells from the enemy. However, always remember that you are not a one-man army, and you will need someone to cover your back, especially against aerial threats.

=== Pros and cons ===
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'''Pros:'''
* Powerful main armament
** Accurate 6 x 203 mm (8 inch) cannons with good reload time
** Can do full broadsides from an even more steep angles compared to the [[IJN Kako|Kako]]
** Very powerful APBC shell
* Great survivability
** Can take a lot of punishments when angled properly
** Resilient against fire damage
* Decent mobility for a heavy cruiser
* Equipped with powerful 16 x Type 93 torpedoes
* One scout plane.

'''Cons:'''
* Quite large in size, can be easily targeted
* Early war Japanese fit
** Main turrets can be easily knocked out
** Slow turret traverse
** Weak anti-air capability
* Belt armour is not thick enough to withstand most of the incoming fire from broadside angles
* Outgunned by most heavy cruiser within its BR, therefore is reliant on superior rate of fire to make up for it
* Torpedo turrets can't both be used at once and has to turn the whole hull to make use of the other

== History ==
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Furutaka, although being the lead ship of her class, was laid down after her sister ship Kako in December 1922 at the Mitsubishi shipyard in Nagasaki. Despite construction on Furutaka starting later than on her sister ship, she was completed sooner and was commissioned into service with the IJN in March 1926.

During the interwar period, Furutaka served alongside her sistership before being assigned as a reserve in the early 1930s. During this time, Furutaka underwent overhaul work which, amongst other changes, modernized her anti-air armament. Following the completion of the modernization effort, Furutaka was recommissioned into active service.

However, by 1937 Furutaka found herself once again in drydock for another major overhaul. This time around, Furutaka received upgrades in almost all aspects. Most notably, her primary armament was upgraded to three dual 8-inch guns, a number of smaller calibre AA weapons were added and the previously integrated torpedo launchers were replaced with two quadruple launchers abaft of the funnels. This increased Furutaka's overall displacement significantly, prompting the addition of bulges to the hull in order to preserve stability and also act as an additional layer of torpedo protection.

Modernized for war, Furutaka began her service career by taking part in the invasion of Guam in December 1941 and later, Wake Island. In early 1942, Furutaka assisted in Japanese landings in New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.

Furutaka also took part in the Battle of the Coral Sea in May 1942, securing the capture of Tulai island, escorting the Shōhō carrier, and then escorting the damaged aircraft carrier Shōkaku back to Truk. After reorganization in the Japanese navy, Furutaka participated in the successful Battle of Savo Island, witnessing the sinking of her sister ship Kako while Japanese forces returned to Rabaul. However, Furutaka joined her sister ship in the deep shortly afterwards, being sunk by American fire during the Battle of Cape Esperance later in October 1942.

''- From [[wt:en/news/6194-development-furutaka-readied-for-war-en|Devblog]]''

== Media ==
<!-- ''Excellent additions to the article would be video guides, screenshots from the game, and photos.'' -->

;Skins
* [https://live.warthunder.com/feed/camouflages/?vehicle=jp_cruiser_furutaka Skins and camouflages for the {{PAGENAME}} from live.warthunder.com.]
{{Skin-gallery
 |market|ugcitem_1000423|IJN Takao 1944.jpg|Camo "IJN Takao, 1944"
}}

== See also ==
''Links to articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:''
* ''reference to the series of the ship;''
* ''links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.''

== External links ==
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* ''topic on the official game forum;''
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* [[wt:en/news/6194-development-furutaka-readied-for-war-en|[Development] Furutaka: Readied for War]]

{{ShipManufacturer Mitsubishi Shipbuilding}}
{{Japan heavy cruisers}}