The IJN Kako (加古, namesake: Kako River) was the second ship of the Furutaka-class heavy cruisers of the Imperial Japanese Navy. Much like her sister ship Furutaka, Kako was designed to counter the American Omaha-class light cruisers, featuring high speed and relatively heavy armament for its time to both outrange and outrun them.

After patrolling and engaging in skirmishes around the waters of China in the early 1930s, Kako received a major refit in 1936 to replace her 200 mm guns to the standard 203 mm guns of other Japanese heavy cruisers. She was later assigned to Cruiser Division 6 with her sister Furutaka and a pair of Aoba- class heavy cruisers. Kako and Division 6 would participate in several battles, covering the island-hopping campaign during the early stage of the Pacific war. After the Battle of the Coral Sea, Division 6 would be merged to form the Eighth Fleet. On 8 August 1942, Kako and her fellow Division 6 comrades would engage in the Battle of Savo Island, to which the IJN managed to score a major victory and sunk several Allied ships. Kako was credited for sinking the American heavy cruiser USS Vincennes during the battle. Just two day after the triumph, however, Kako would met her demise on 10 August, when she was ambushed and stuck by three torpedoes from the USS S-44. At that time, she was the largest Japanese warship to be sunk by a submarine.

Introduced in Update 1.89 "Imperial Navy", Kako is in her 1935 configuration (just a year before major refit that replace her turrets similar to her sister ship Furutaka). As with Furutaka, Kako was initially designed to meet the 10,000-ton displacement restrictions of the Washington naval treaty, and as such features several unique quirks for a heavy cruiser. To reduce the weight of the ship, the Kako features only few secondary and AA mounts. While this made her particularly vulnerable against aerial threats, the result is that the Kako has only 8,640 tons of displacement - comparable to most of the post-treaty light cruisers - while having greater protection compared to ships of a similar or higher displacement, as well as similar good mobility. Despite her low BR, Kako should never be underestimated, as her slow-firing 200 mm guns pack quite a punch against most ships she will face, especially at close range.