Line #188 Characters/WorldOfWarshipsJapan


1	Warships attributed to the [[UsefulNotes/KatanasOfTheRisingSun Imperial Japanese Navy]] (大日本帝国海軍 Dai-Nippon Teikoku Kaigun) in ''[[VideoGame/WorldOfWarships World of Warships]]''.
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3	The Imperial Japanese Navy (also called 日本海軍 Nippon Kaigun for short) was one of the two factions to be introduced on the game's launch, with all four main lines. In December 2016 alternative line of Destroyers was released. In August 2018 this line was finally extended to the Xth Tier.
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5	The faction as a whole specializes in mounting the most devastating weaponry possible. Be it battleships' guns or destroyers' torpedoes - Japanese weapons are just plain [[{{BFG}} bigger]]. Their cruisers are best suited for setting enemies on fire, but they also mount powerful torpedoes - the famous Type 93 "Long Lance", just like destroyers. However, Japanese ships suffer from CripplingOverspecialization. Abysmal AA defence is typical for the entire tech tree (as was the case in RealLife), and they don't have any real tricks other than their powerful main armament.
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7	[[foldercontrol]]
8	!Researchable ships
9	[[folder:Japanese Destroyers - Torpedo Boats]]
10	Japanese Destroyers are defined by the "stealth torpedo" strategy: Launching torpedoes from outside of detection range to nail unaware captains. To do this, they possess some of the best concealment values in the game and long-range and high-damage torpedoes. This comes at the cost of their guns, which tend to be accurate but fire and turn slowly.
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12	!Umikaze
13	Tier II Japanese Destroyer. ''Umikaze''-class was the first series of large (>1000 tons of displacement) destroyers, built in Japan. They were built in 1909-1911, and were used in WWI to search for German East Asia Squadron. Both ships of the class were turned into minesweepers in 1930, and decommissioned in 1936.
14	!Wakatake
15	Tier III Japanese Destroyer. A series of eight small "second-class" destroyers, the ''Wakatake''-class was built in 1921-1925. Their small size limited their utility, and one of them even sank in a storm. As such, they were used primarily in coastal waters around Japan and China. Out of seven ships all but one were lost in WWII, with the last one striking a mine in August 1945, and never being repaired.
16	* AnachronicOrder: ''Wakatake''-class was built in 1921-1924, but here they are put before ''Isokaze''-class, constructed in 1916-1917. Justified, as they were specifically designed to be smaller and cheaper than previous classes.
17	!Isokaze
18	Tier IV Japanese Destroyer. This series of four destroyers was built in 1916-1917, and served in the Japanese Navy until 1935.
19	* {{Nerf}}: Got heavily nerfed during the IJN DD rework, and is now a shadow of her former self.
20	!Mutsuki
21	Tier V Japanese Destroyer of the torpedo line. The ''Mutsuki''-class, heavily based on earlier ''Minekaze''-class, and sometimes considered its second series, was built in 1924-1927. Unlike all previous classes, they featured new 610mm torpedo tubes, thus enabling them to carry the famous "Long Lance" torpedoes. All twelve ships were lost in WWII.
22	* ThemeNaming: They were named after poetic names of months of the year.
23	!Fubuki
24	Tier VI Japanese Destroyer of the torpedo line. A completely new class of destroyer, built in 1926-1931, ''Fubuki'' did for destroyers what HMS ''Dreadnought'' did for battleships a generation previously. With new, dual-purpose guns in twin mounts and three triple torpedo launchers, they remained formidable opponents in WWII despite their age. The first two series numbered ten units each, while the last is usually considered a separate class. Of these two series all but one ship were sunk.
25	* AdaptationalWimp: She inexplicably lacks the "X"-position (the first after the superstructure) turret, her guns reload longer, and lack AA capabilities. All that was needed to put the destroyer on Tier VI without wrecking the game balance.
26	!Akatsuki
27	Tier VII Japanese Destroyer of the torpedo line. The third series of aforementioned ''Fubuki''-class, built in 1930-1932, it featured new boilers, that allowed to remove one of them. Four ships were built. Only one of them, ''Hibiki'', survived the war and was given to the USSR, where she served as ''Verny'' until 1953.
28	* {{Irony}}: Despite being in the torpedo boat line, Akatsuki has more guns than her gunboat counterpart the Shiratsuyu. The Shiratsuyu in turn has access to the torpedo booster consumable and is thus often considered the better torpedo boat of the two.
29	!Kagero
30	Tier VIII Japanese Destroyer of the torpedo line. The second[[note]]after ''Asashio''-class[[/note]] series of Japanese destroyers to exceed 2000 tons of displacement, they were built in 1937-1941. Unlike the ''Fubuki''-class, they had only two torpedo launchers, but each of them had an additional tube. Nineteen ships were built, of which one survived the war and served in the ROCN until 1970, that being the famed ''Yukikaze''.[[note]]''Yukikaze'' led an exceptionally charmed life; she participated in nearly every major engagement of the Pacific war, from Midway to ''Yamato'''s last sortie, without ever sustaining serious damage. She was one of the few Japanese destroyers to survive the war.[[/note]]
31	* MacrossMissileMassacre: Starting at this tier Japanese destroyers can mount the torpedo reload booster.
32	* MasterOfNone: She's a pretty uninspiring torpedo spammer that has to choose between smokescreens or torpedo reload booster. In all other aspects she's largely been eclipsed by other destroyers that do her role better.
33	!Yūgumo
34	Tier IX Japanese Destroyer of the torpedo line. An improved version of ''Kagero'', this class, built in 1940-1944, featured an improved main battery with better AA capabilities. These ships were considered elite units, and were all lost during WWII.
35	* JackOfAllStats: The only Japanese destroyer other than Akizuki with decent guns and can be tailored to be a gunboat. Unlike Akizuki however, she has a pair of quad torpedo tubes like the Kagero and Shiratsuyu, and has access to better torpedoes.
36	!Shimakaze
37	[[quoteright:214:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wows_shimakaze.png]]
38	Tier X Japanese Destroyer of the torpedo line. The most powerful destroyer of the IJN, she was built as a SuperPrototype of a new generation of warships. She was laid down in 1941 and completed in 1943, but was sunk by American aircraft on 11 November 1944.
39	* MacrossMissileMassacre: With 3 quintuple torpedo tubes, she can launch 15 torpedoes at once.
40	* MasterOfNone: [[ZigZaggedTrope Zigzagged]] She does still boast the the strongest torpedo broadside by a wide margin (though said torpedoes still have their flaws), and she is still very fast and stealthy. However, Shimakaze is considered the most off-meta of the tier 10 destroyers since she really struggles in a fight with another DD. Especially since the addition of Harugumo and Daring, which have such high gun DPM they can drop a Shimakaze almost faster than she can launch torpedoes. But where this trope really comes into play is that other destroyers have torpedoes with almost or ''better'' torpedoes, but with less quantity.
41	* StealthExpert: Very low detection range.
42	* SuperPrototype: Well, she was this in RealLife. It's one of the few Tier X ships that existed [=IRL=], and her in-game self successfully competes even with post-war designs.
43	* WeaksauceWeakness: Her torpedoes have very bad detection ranges (the longest-torpedo option has a detection range of 2.5km).
44	!Yamagiri
45	[[quoteright:214:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wows_yamagiri.png]]
46	Japanese Super-Destroyer of the torpedo line. A larger version of ''Shimakaze'' that has one more torpedo tube in each mount.
47	* MoreDakka: She has an alternative firing mode, that allows her to shoot three salvos with negligible reload, and then reload for a long time.
48	* MultiRangedMaster: She can switch between two sets of torpedos in battle: 20 and 12 km (20 and 8 with alternative loadout).
49	[[/folder]]
50	[[folder:Japanese Destroyers - Leaders]]
51	At Tier V the line branches into a mini-line of more well-rounded destroyers. While these boats are still armed with great torpedoes (albeit less of them), their guns have somewhat improved turn time and reload. Starting at Tier VIII they also get dual-purpose main battery and a Torpedo Reload consumable in a separate slot.
52	* PintSizedPowerhouse: Not ships themselves - they are actually quite big, but their guns. At Tier VIII their caliber drops to 100mm, but their HE shells gain the same armor-piercing capabilities as cruiser-mounted 152mm and 180mm guns.
53	!Minekaze
54	Tier V Japanese Destroyer of the universal line. The first post-WWI series of first-class destroyers in Japan, they were built in 1918-1922. Unlike previous classes that were based solely on British designs, the ''Minekaze''-class incorporated a number of innovations based on German destroyers that were handed over to Japan as war reparations. Out of fifteen ships four survived WWII, but three of them were broken up in 1947-1948, and only one was given to China and served in the ROCN until 1960.
55	* {{Nerf}}: Got heavily nerfed during the IJN DD rework, and is now a shadow of her former self.
56	!Hatsuharu
57	Tier VI Japanese Destroyer of the universal line. The ''Hatsuharu''-class, constructed in 1931-1935, was a smaller, but more modern version of the ''Fubuki'' design. All six ships were lost in WWII.
58	* AdaptationalWimp: She lacks her single X-position gun mount, so ''Shiratsuyu'' can feel like a significnt improvement. The in-game version has a piece of superstructure with a single AA gun on top replacing said mount.
59	!Shiratsuyu
60	Tier VII Japanese Destroyer of the universal line. ''Shiratsuyu''-class was a further improvement of ''Hatsuharu''-class, which by the end of the series deviated from the original so far, the first and the last ships of the series were practically different classes. Ten ships were built in 1933-1937, but none survived the war.
61	* MacrossMissileMassacre: She gets the Torpedo Reload consumable, and unlike other IJN destroyers does not have to give up smoke for it. This allows her to pump out 2 walls of 8 torpedoes within 5 seconds of each other. This was nerfed so that she now has to chose between smoke and the reload booster.
62	!Akizuki
63	Tier VIII Japanese Destroyer of the universal line. ''Akizuki''-class was built in 1940-1945 as a complement for the ''Kagerō''-class. Armed with new 100mm guns, they were formidable opponents for American aircrafts. Out of 12 completed vessels, six survived the war, mainly due to their extremely late completion and shortages of fuel preventing them from performing many missions. Two of these ships were scrapped, and four were given as war reparations to Allied nations, where they were too quickly decommissioned, with the last being [=ROC's=] ''Fen Yang'', scrapped in 1963.
64	* AntiAir: With the right setup, her AA rating can get into the low 70's, very strong for a destroyer. While she lacks the defensive fire of the Americans, she's still a legitimate threat to careless aircraft. Historically, her 100mm guns were Japan's first true dual-purpose guns, which could be reloaded at any elevation.
65	* DeathByAThousandCuts: her low caliber guns lack punch and fire chance compared to other nations, but she gets 8 of them, and they have a base reload of 3 seconds! With captain skills, this can easily go into low 2 second territory.
66	* MightyGlacier: She's one of the slowest destroyers but carries firepower closer to that of a light cruiser.
67	* MilitaryMashupMachine: Has the speed, size, and turning circle of a light cruiser. Only the smaller caliber guns prevent her from completing the light cruiser package.
68	* MoreDakka: Carries 8 100mm guns. She can dogfight with a Gearing and make a good fight of it.
69	!Kitakaze
70	Tier IX Japanese Destroyer of the universal line. So-called ''Kai Akizuki''-class, which was planned as a larger and more capable version of ''Akizuki'' proper, this ship boasts two more torpedos in her one launcher, and a higher speed. ''Kitakaze'' was the name of one of the mass-produced ''Shimakaze''-class ships, which was cancelled and re-ordered as a ''Kai Akizuki''.
71	* MacrossMissileMassacre: It sports a hextuple torpedo launcher and has a torpedo reload booster allowing it to fire twelve torps in a short time.
72	* MasterOfAll: Kitakaze has absolutely murderous guns backed up by a strong (if quirky and long loading) torpedo system, a very heavy hp pool and a decent speed. Her weaknesses are her lack of defensive fire and poor turning characteristics, but that's only situational weakness.
73	** She did get a minor nerf to her concealment, but this barely changed anything.
74	* LightningBruiser: Withering guns and torps backed up by 20k hp and up to 40knts of speed. Shes one the few [=DDs=] that qualify.
75	!Harugumo
76	[[quoteright:214:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wows_harugumo.png]]
77	Tier X Japanese Destroyer of the universal line. A hypothetical developement of ''Kai Akizuki'', this ship has one more gun mount over its predecessor, at expence of larger size and a bit of speed.
78	* AchillesHeel: Harugumo does not like like torpedoes being sent her way. At all. She is already very large and clumsy for a DD, but her tendency to sit in smoke combined with her lack of hydroacoustic search means that by the time you spot torpedoes, it is already too late to dodge.
79	* MilitaryMashupMachine: She's a "cruiser-type destroyer", essentially a ship the size of a small light cruiser that prioritizes speed over armament and uses DD caliber guns.
80	* MightyGlacier: The first DD in the game to qualify. She has higher HE DPM than a Cleveland and is functionally more durable than one thanks to being smaller and lacking a citadel while sporting almost as many hit points. She's not much faster than one though, with a base speed of only 36 knts and having very poor acceleration and dreadful turning.
81	* MoreDakka: Harugumo has ten rapid fire guns, more than any other DD in the game.
82	[[/folder]]
83	[[folder:Japanese Cruisers - Light]]
84	Japanese light cruisers are very typical for their class, featuring large number of guns with small calibre and overall good fire-setting capability. Unusually their guns' reload time actually increases as player goes up the Tiers, reaching heavy cruiser levels at Tier IX, but their large amount outweigh this downside. Much like their heavy counterparts, Japanese light cruisers mount large amount of torpedoes, but their firing angles are much better thanks to torpedoes turning by themselves after launch.
85	* {{Roboteching}}: As mentioned before, their torpedoes turn by themselves right in the water, allowing for better firing angles.
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87	!Agano
88	Tier V Japanese Cruiser of Light Cruisers line. A series of four light cruisers, built in 1940-1944, to replace older post-WWI desins as flagships for destroyer squadrons. Three ships were lost in closing years of the war, with the last surviving only because there was not enough fuel for her and her squadron to accompany ''Yamato'' in her last mission. The surviving ship was later sunk by Americans as a target in a nuclear test.
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90	!Gokase
91	Tier VI Japanese Cruiser of Light Cruisers line. It is a hypotetical evolution of ''Agano''-class, based on it hull, but with addition of fourth turret, and with better AA guns.
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93	!Omono
94	Tier VII Japanese Cruiser of Light Cruisers line. This ship is based on Ōyodo, a specialized submarine squadron flagship, that was meant to provide submarines with reconnaissance with her carried aircrafts. In the game, she is instead finished as an escort ship for carriers, with two additional turrets and torpedo tubes in place of aircraft facilities.
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96	!Shimanto
97	Tier VIII Japanese Cruiser of Light Cruisers line. Based on the hull of ''Mogami''-class, they mount new guns, based on the largest AA gun Japan ever produced - 150mm/60 Type 5, which improves ther AA capabilities dramatically.
98	* RemovedAchillesHeel: Starting at this point, the line gets rid of Japanese tree's weakest point - weak AA defence. Historically, while [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type_5_15_cm_AA_gun 150mm/60 Type 5]] guns were never installed on any ships, two of their experimental mounts shot down ''two B-29 Superfortress bombers'' in a single engagement, after which Americans started avoiding the place of their dislocation. In the game, ''Yodo'' boasts the single most powerful long-range AA battery among researchable ships on Tier X, although her mid-range AA is middling at best.
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100	!Takahashi
101	Tier IX Japanese Cruiser of Light Cruisers line. This ship is loosely based on enlarged version of ''Tone'''s hull, giving one more torpedo in each launcher, while retaining aforementioned main battery of fifteen uiversal guns.
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103	!Yodo
104	[[quoteright:214:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wows_yodo.png]]
105	Tier X Japanese Cruiser of Light Cruisers line. The hypothetical development of ''Tone's'' hull, combined with ''Taihō's'' power plant and six triple 150mm/60 Type 5 guns, this ship serves as the to of the Japanese Light Cruisers line.
106	[[/folder]]
107	[[folder:Japanese Cruisers - Heavy]]
108	Japanese heavy cruisers have good mobility and concealment, but poor armor and AA defense. Their guns tend to be slow to turn, but have decent velocity and arcs and a high fire chance with HE. Their torpedos have similar characteristics: the torps themselves are comparable with IJN destroyers (aka they're really good) but have difficult-to-use firing arcs, mostly being at the aft of the ship and can only be used when broadside or facing away from the target.
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110	!Hashidate
111	Japanese Tier 1 cruiser, available for free the first time you log in to the game. She was a light patrol gunboat designed for coastal operations. This gunboat was well-armed for her dimensions, including AA artillery. She was not armored and had low speed. ''Hashidate'' was authorized as part of the Circle Three Plan of 1937, and was laid down at ''Osaka Ironworks'' on 20 February 1939. She was launched 10 months later, 23 December 1939, and commissioned into the Imperial Japanese Navy 30 June 1940. She would serve most of her time as support for combat operations off of the coast of China, mainly in the 2nd China Expeditionary Fleet’s 15th Escort Group. At the start of the Asia-Pacific War, ''Hashidate'' participated in "Operation C", the invasion of Hong Kong. Thereafter, she would remain based in the same city for most of the war. On 22 May 1944, ''Hashidate'' was sunk by the USS ''Picuda'' in the South China Sea, while towing a crippled merchant passenger/cargo ship.
112	* FragileSpeedster: She's an agile cruiser that often burns under HE fire, on top of weak armoring.
113	* StarterEquipment: First IJN ship available for free at the start of the game.
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115	!Chikuma
116	Tier II Japanese Cruiser
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118	!Tenryu
119	Tier III Japanese Cruiser
120	* FragileSpeedster: Has fairly decent guns and powerful torpedoes, but her destroyer-like armor won't hold long against continuous fire.
121
122	!Kuma
123	Tier IV Japanese Cruiser
124	* CripplingOverspecialization: Has pretty good torpedoes for a tier 4 ship, at the cost of the rest of the ship being rather lackluster.
125
126	!Furutaka
127	Tier V Japanese Cruiser of Heavy Cruisers line. ''Furutaka'' and her sister ship ''Kako'' were the first high-speed heavy cruisers of the IJN, designed to counter the ''Omaha'' and ''Hawkins''-class cruisers of the US and British navies. They received a series of overhauls in the 1930s that modernized and improved basically everything about their designs, and served ably during WWII. ''Furutaka'' participated in the invasions of Guam, Wake, the Bismarcks, and the Solomons, as well as the Battles of the Coral Sea, Savo Island, and Cape Esperance. She was sunk at Cape Esperance, joining the many other wrecks of "Iron Bottom Sound".
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129	* {{BFG}} After a couple rounds of buffs, she's the lowest tier cruiser to get access to 203mm guns.
130	* GlassCannon: Despite being a Heavy Cruiser, her armor is no better than most Light Cruisers. However, her 203mm guns will easily citadel any other cruisers at her tier or even higher since she has the same guns used by the higher tier Japanese cruisers. In addition, she is the first cruiser with 10km torpedoes- not even Japanese destroyers get this torpedo range at tier V.
131	* MagikarpPower: Used to be a downplayed example. In her base hull she had six single gun mounts in an incredibly awkward configuration - two groups of three mounts on both bow and stern, organized in "pyramids". In her upgraded hull, however, she was getting three dual mounts - two on the bow and one on the stern. While Furutaka's broadside went unchanged, her front salvo basically doubled from this upgrade, not to mention redusing the pain from managing all these mounts. Her originas base hull has been since removed, and now she has three dual mounts from the get-go.
132	* SuddenGameplayChange: She is the first Heavy Cruiser the players have access to. Those who are used to spamming HE shells at the opponents and the faster turning guns on the earlier tier will learn that it no longer works.
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134	!Aoba
135	Tier VI Japanese Cruiser of Heavy Cruisers line. ''Aoba'' was the lead ship of her class of heavy cruiser. Originally meant to be part of the ''Furutaka'' class, design issues with those ships led ''Aoba'' and her sister ship ''Kinugasa'' to be split into their own class. Much like the other interwar-era ships of the IJN, she underwent a substantial overhaul in the 1930s that modernized her and prepared her for the upcoming war. Like ''Furutaka'', she fought at Guam, the Coral Sea, Savo Island, and Cape Esperance. In the latter battle, she was the victim of a misunderstanding by her admiral; believing that he was under friendly fire, he ordered a 180-degree turn that allowed the American fleet to cross his T. ''Aoba'' was smothered by an avalanche of shells and severely damaged. She spent the rest of the war ping-ponging around the Pacific while accumulating more damage that ultimately saw her written off as irreparable. She was permanently moored at Kure and used as an antiaircraft platform; successive US bombing raids left her sitting on the bottom of the harbor with her stern broken off. She was raised and scrapped in 1946-1947.
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137	!Myoko
138	Tier VII Japanese Cruiser of Heavy Cruisers line.
139	* MacrossMissileMassacre: The first Japanese cruiser with 2 sets of triple torpedo tubes on each side
140	* UndergroundMonkey: This ship has a total of 6 reskins: the 4 ARP cruisers and the 2 dragons.
141	!Mogami
142	Tier VIII Japanese Cruiser of Heavy Cruisers line.
143
144	''Mogami'' was the lead ship of her class and an example of LoopholeAbuse incarnate. She and her sisters were built as "light cruisers" to fit the requirements of the Washington and London Naval Treaties, but their barbettes were fitted so that the original 155mm armament could be quickly swapped for 203mm guns. Early teething problems led to substantial rebuild program for all four cruisers, but they emerged as some of the best heavy cruisers of the IJN and probably among the best fielded during WWII. ''Mogami'' participated in the invasions of French Indochina, Malaya, and the Dutch East Indies, where she helped smash the tiny Allied fleet in the area at the Battle of Sunda Strait. She had a close call at the Battle of Midway; after colliding with her sister ship ''Mikuma'', the two cruisers were limping for Wake Island when they were attacked by American carrier aircraft. ''Mikuma'' was overwhelmed and sunk, and ''Mogami'' only got away after being pasted by six bombs. This ultimately saw her conversion into an aircraft cruiser; her turrets were removed and her deck extended so that she could carry more reconnaissance planes. In this capacity, ''Mogami'' served until 1944, when she was sunk at the Battle of Surigao Strait.
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146	* EliteTweak: She can use the 155mm guns in order to set fires and annoy battleships, or the 203mm guns in order to inflict opportunistic, crippling damage to broadsiding cruisers.
147	* LoopholeAbuse: The reason for the 155mm guns is to allow her to be branded as light cruiser, though the 203mm guns are still an option.
148	* MoreDakka: With 155mm guns, she has 15 of them in five triple turrets, and is matched only by the two ''Brooklyn''-class light cruisers on the US tech tree (''Helena'' and ''Boise'') one tier below.
149	* UrExample: Of the "heavy light" cruiser as well as the TropeMaker. Unlike previous light cruisers which had six to eight 152mm cannons and were very poorly armored, ''Mogami'' had fifteen main battery guns and heavy cruiser armor. Most nations would then field light cruisers of similar size. However ''Mogami'' only did this for the sake of LoopholeAbuse and was converted to a true heavy cruiser at the first opportunity.
150	!Ibuki
151	Tier IX Japanese Cruiser of Heavy Cruisers line.
152	* AlternateHistory: In [=WoWS=]' timeline Ibuki was never converted to a carrier, as she was in real life.
153	!Zao
154	Tier X Japanese Cruiser of Heavy Cruisers line.
155	[[quoteright:214:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wows_zao.png]]
156	* ArtisticLicenseHistory: The in-game rendering of the Type 1941 Heavy Cruiser design, as it was officially referred to by the [=IJN=] did not exist either in reality or ''actual'' paper (This distinction is important, you'll know why in a bit). The only evidence that the [=IJN=] were even considering a new [=CA=] design is from what little documentation survived the war. Specifically, all we know about this design are the various requirements for it, and whatever actual blueprints existed for it have presumably been lost/destroyed. So where's the source of the in-game 3D rendering? It's a modification of a [[https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/206523770419150848/428540715354816522/Zao_01.png fan-made blueprint]] drawn up by a magazine writer attempting to take a shot at designing this "what-if" cruiser based on the known requirements, and it explains why the ''Zao'' is so different compared to all the heavy cruiser classes in the tech tree before. So this is a paper ship… just on modern fan-made paper.
157	* MeaningfulName: Like most IJN heavy cruisers, she is named after a mountain. But Zao's namesake also happens to be a volcano, very appropriate for a ship with a reputation as a fire starter.
158	* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Depending on resource, the name can be spelled as "Zao" or "Zaou", though the former is much more common, and as a result, is mispronounced perhaps more than any other ship name (most community contributors and content creators pronounce it "zao" as a single syllable (which is, ironically, the correct pronunciation if it was a Chinese name, an alternate transliteration of "Zhao"), but it should be pronounced with two syllables "za-o" to reflect the reading of the two kanji in the Japanese written form).
159	[[/folder]]
160	[[folder:Japanese Battleships - Battlecruisers]]
161	Second line of Japanese battleships starts at Tier VIII and, much like the American Dreadnought line, consists of never-built ships, construction of which was prevented by the Washington Naval Conference. Japanese battlecruisers are even more reliant on the "sniper" playstyle than their heavier counterparts, and possess long-range main battery, good concealment and higher-than-average speed. Their main weaknesses are weak armor and small HP pool, making them unsuitable for close-range combat.
162	!Yumihari
163	Tier VIII Japanese Battleship of the Battlecruisers line. Project B-62 was a part of so-called "Eight-Four fleet", a naval strategy that called for having eight battleships and four battlecruisers available. Armed with four dual 410mm guns, the project was an evolution of ''Kongo''-class battlecruisers. Later on, the project had another turret added, becoming the ''Amagi''-class.
164	!Adatara
165	Tier IX Japanese Battleship of the Battlecruisers line. After ''Amagi''- and ''Nagato''-classes were laid down, it became clear how much they upstage the previous ''Kongo''- and ''Fuso''-classes. The program was revised, becoming "Eight-Eight fleet", with ''Nagato'' as battleship №1. The new ''Number 13''-class ships were meant to become new four battleships, but they were never laid down due to the Washington Naval Treaty.
166	!Bungo
167	Tier X Japanese Battleship of the Battlecruisers line. As a part of the "Eight-Eight fleet", Japan also had to build four battlecruisers. Project L was a possible variation of the project, but in the end another project was chosen, one that would become ''Kii''-class.
168	[[/folder]]
169	[[folder:Japanese Battleships - Fast Battleships]]
170	Japanese Battleships can be considered the "sniper" amongst battleships, as they possess the biggest and longest range guns with decent accuracy and decent mobility to get into position. However, this comes at the cost of their defenses, with weaker armor and AA defense despite a high health pool. They also have the worst concealment in the game.
171
172	!Kawachi
173	Tier III Japanese Battleship
174	* ATeamFiring: Her main problem; the guns are rather inaccurate.
175	* JokeCharacter: As slow as the South Carolina, with even worse dispersion; even at ranges of 2km, the guns can miss.
176	!Myogi
177	Tier IV Japanese Battleship
178	* FragileSpeedster: Like ''Kongo'', she trades armor for speed being a battlecruiser. She can reach 27 knots and has a pretty hefty broadside.
179	* LongRangeFighter: Fully upgraded has a staggering range of 18km for the tier, which can be further extended to 22km with the spotter aircraft it can carry.
180	! Kongō
181	Tier V Japanese Battleship
182
183	''Kongō'' was the lead ship of a class of four battlecruisers laid down in response to the construction of HMS ''Invincible'' in 1912. ''Kongō'' had the distinction of being the last Japanese capital ship built outside Japan; she was constructed in England, while her sisters were all built in Japan. They were essentially improved versions of the RN's ''Lion''-class battlecruisers and were considered some of the best capital ships of the day, though WWI didn't provide them a chance to show off. From 1929-1931, ''Kongō'' underwent the first of two substantial overhauls that saw her upgraded to the status of a battleship. The second overhaul, undertaken after Japan withdrew from the London Naval Treaty, further enhanced her speed and armor and earned her the status of a fast battleship. '' Kongō'' led a charmed life for the early part of the Pacific War; despite being repeatedly attacked by Allied planes, she was never hit. She also participated in the most successful Japanese battleship action of the war, during the Guadalcanal campaign. She and her sister ''Haruna'' sprinted down to Guadalcanal under cover of night and smashed the Marines' main airfield with almost a thousand 356mm shells, retreating before the dazed American aviators could launch a counterattack with their remaining planes. ''Kongō'''s luck held out until 1944, when she ate two torpedoes from USS ''Sealion'' and sank several hours later with most of her crew.
184
185	* FragileSpeedster: Her armor is rather lacking for a battleship, and it is possible for her to get citadel penetration from cruisers, not to mention her matchmaking spread has heavy cruisers armed with 8in/203mm guns that can citadel a carelessly positioned ''Kongō''. In exchange, she can reach speeds of 31 knots. (Justified, as she and her sisters were originally laid down as battlecruisers and were only rerated as battleships after extensive rebuilding in the 1930s.)
186	* LongRangeFighter: She has an impressive range of 21 km, the best in her tier, and can extend that even further with a spotting aircraft. However her dispersion at those ranges is generally poor.
187	* UndergroundMonkey: The four ARP Kongo ships in neon colors are identical in performance, with the exception of being premium ships.
188	!Fuso
189	Tier VI Japanese Battleship
190	* PowerfulButInaccurate: Carries a heavy 12 gun broadside, but the dispersion is terrible.
191	!Nagato
192	Tier VII Japanese Battleship
193
194	''Nagato'' and her sister were the last two capital ships built by the IJN prior to the Washington Naval Treaty. They were also the first Japanese ships to carry 410mm guns. Both ships were extensively rebuilt and modernized in the 1930s, as with many of the IJN's ships. ''Nagato'' was Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto's flagship during the attack on Pearl Harbor and also sailed with the fleet to Midway, though she did not participate in the battle. ''Nagato'' didn't see action again until 1944, when she fought at the Philippine Sea and Leyte Gulf. She was damaged in the latter battle and returned to Japan. Due to lack of materials and fuel, she was left unrepaired and permanently moored in Yokosuka as an antiaircraft platform. Throughout 1945, she was heavily damaged in successive US bombing raids, though never actually sunk; indeed, she was the only Japanese battleship still afloat at the end of the war. Having no other use for her, the US Navy expended her as a target during the atomic bomb testing at Bikini Atoll.
195
196	!Amagi
197	Tier VIII Japanese Battleship of the Fast Battleships line.. A ''battlecruiser'' that was nearly finished, then slated for conversion to an aircraft carrier with her sister ''Akagi'', until the 1923 Kanto earthquake damaged her so thoroughly that she was scrapped. ''Amagi'' is rendered as a theoretical fast battleship refit, retaining her speed, but wielding the same guns as ''Nagato'' with an extra one in the middle of the ship.
198	* MidSeasonUpgrade: Essentially a faster ''Nagato'' with an extra gun turret.
199	!Izumo
200	Tier IX Japanese Battleship of the Fast Battleships line.. A draft design that utilized an all guns forward concept (similar to the Nelson-class), whose hull design became the baseline for the famous ''Yamato''-class.
201	* AttackItsWeakPoint: From Alpha to a few months after release, ''Izumo'' had a glitch where her forward citadel hit area extended beyond its citadel armor, which translated to there only being 32mm of armor protecting a portion of the citadel. This made ''Izumo'' extremely fragile, but it's mercifully since been patched.
202	* DifficultButAwesome: Her awkward turret placement makes her this. All of her firepower is in the bow of the ship, making her perfect for bow on tanking… if it weren't for the fact that only the middle turret is superfiring. The 3rd turret requires the ship be turned almost sideways to use it, exposing your broadside to the enemy.
203	!Yamato
204	[[quoteright:214:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wows_yamato.png]]
205	Tier X Japanese Battleship of the Fast Battleships line.. The largest and most powerful battleship ever constructed, the pinnacle of Japanese battleship construction is also named for the nation itself (''Yamato'' being a representation of the Japanese people). Wields nine monstrous 18in/460mm caliber guns, and can devastate anything it shoots at (due to the overmatch mechanic (the ability of a shell to penetrate through bow armor), the only things it can't obliterate from the front are ships with "icebreaker" bows, or having a waterline armor belt that covers the citadel). Despite her size and power, ''Yamato'' was obsolete from the moment of her launch, as she hit the water only a few days after Pearl Harbor had definitively illustrated the superiority of naval airpower over surface ships. She never once fired her mighty guns at an enemy battleship; in fact, the only time she ever engaged surface targets was at the Battle off Samar, where she wound up being chased off by a group of tiny, lightly armed escort ships (to put this into perspective, ''Yamato'' by herself outweighed ''every ship in the American task group'' put together). She was ultimately sunk by carrier aircraft during a doomed sortie to Okinawa in the final days of the war.
206	* {{BFG}}: Formerly the largest guns in the game, 460mm (18 inch). They're notorious for penetrating everything. (The caliber is so large it overmatches the thin deck and bow armor on almost every ship, causing massive damage.)
207	* LightningBruiser: Extremely thick armor? check. (Formerly) Biggest guns in the game? Check. Respectable 27 knot speed? Check. Good secondary suite? Check!
208	* PointDefenseless: After the disastrous defeat at Midway in which the Japanese Navy realized there would be an increasing danger of air attacks, Yamato was refitted with a bristling array of 162 25mm AA autocannons. However, the autocannons were incredibly mediocre because they were a license-built copy of a French design which itself was vastly inferior to the 20mm Oerlikon.
209	!Satsuma
210	[[quoteright:214:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wows_satsuma.png]]
211	Japanese Super-Battleship. A [[SerialEscalation larger, longer]] version of Yamato and Shikishima, armed with four twin 510mm guns.
212	* LimitBreak: She has Combat Instructions that allow her to temporarily boost her main battery accuracy after carrying out adjustment fire.
213	* PowerUpLetdown: Generally, her AA is stronger than ''Yamato'''s, but since she has less small-range guns in favor of medium-range ones (that ''Yamato'' lacks), her short-range aura is weaker than her predecessor's.
214	[[/folder]]
215	[[folder:Japanese Aircraft Carriers]]
216	Japanese carriers utilize more squads of fewer planes, with a focus on torpedo bombers. They are excellent at repeated strikes on enemy ships, but are hurt much more if planes are shot down pre-strike and are hopeless 1v1 against American fighters. The ships themselves are stealthy and fast, allowing them to relocate as needed.
217
218	After the CV rework, Japanese planes became characterized by fearsome torpedo bombers and devastating armor piercing dive bombers. The carriers themselves retain their stealthy characteristics.
219	!Hosho
220	Tier IV Japanese Aircraft Carrier. The first purpose-built aircraft carrier to be commissioned in the world, ''Hosho'' ("Flying Phoenix") was completed in 1922 and commissioned in the same year, although she did not begin fielding aircraft until 1923 due to being commissioned lacking most of her aviation equipment. The ship provided valuable lessons and experience on carrier-borne aviation and carrier operations to the Japanese, and was involved in the opening stages of the [[UsefulNotes/SecondSinoJapaneseWar second Japanese incursion into China]], where her airgroups provided support to the IJA on the ground and dueled Chinese aircraft in the skies. Her small size and her limited airgroup made her ill-suited for frontline operations, and so ''Hosho'' was designated as a training carrier in 1939. She even participated in the disastrous Battle of Midway in a secondary role, and one of her aircraft even took a photograph of the burning, sinking ''Hiryu''. Afterwards, she continued service as a training ship for Japanese naval aviator recruits until the surrender of Japan, where she briefly saw service as repatriation transport before being scrapped in 1946.
221	* UrExample: of Aircraft Carriers, being the first purpose-built aircraft carrier to be commissioned in real life.
222	!Ryujo
223	Tier VI Japanese Aircraft Carrier. ''Ryujo'' ("Prancing Dragon") was a light aircraft carrier with a flush-deck [[note]] lacks an island [[/note]] built in light of the infamous Washington Naval Treaty of 1922, in 1929. Designed to exploit a [[LoopholeAbuse loophole]] in the treaty requirements [[note]]namely by constructing a carrier below the 10,000 tons limit imposed so it would not be recognized as an aircraft carrier; ''Ryujo'' weighed 8000 tons [[/note]], the carrier was only lightly built and virtually armor-less to keep her below 10,000 tons. [[note]]An ObviousRulePatch imposed by Article 3 of the London Naval Treaty later in 1930 (to close the aforementioned loophole) ensured that the Ryujo was the only ship of her class completed, as the carrier was under construction at the time (she would be completed a year later)[[/note]]. While initially built with a single hangar, the IJN later demanded a doubled plane capacity from 24 to 48, to support a more capable airgroup. This gave the Ryujo her double-hangars, [[PintsizedPowerhouse allowing her to carry a massive amount of aircraft for a carrier of such diminutive stature]] [[AwesomeButImpractical but made her top-heavy and destabilized her in bad weather]]. Because of this, she was docked for modifications to improve her stability. She participated in the UsefulNotes/SecondSinoJapaneseWar and during World War II was later used in combat operations in Southeast Asia and in April 1942 she was involved in raiding the Indian Ocean, attacking British merchant shipping with her guns and her aircraft. Ryujo was sunk during the Battle of the Eastern Solomons in October 1942, after aircraft from the ''USS Saratoga'' attacked her with TBF Avenger torpedo bombers carrying conventional bombs and SBD Dauntless dive-bombers.
224	!Shokaku
225	Tier VIII Japanese Aircraft Carrier. ''Shokaku'' ("Soaring Crane") was the lead ship of the two-ship ''Shokaku''-class, built in 1939 and commissioned in 1941. She was one of the six aircraft carriers involved in the attack on Pearl Harbor. She fought in the Battle of the Coral Sea in May 1942, which saw her damaged too badly to participate at Midway the following month. After being repaired, she fought at the Battle of Santa Cruz in 1943 and the Battle of the Philippine Sea in 1944, which saw her torpedoed and sunk by USN submarine USS ''Cavalla''.
226	!Hakuryu
227	[[quoteright:214:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wows_hakuryu.png]]
228	Tier X Japanese Aircraft Carrier. A modification of the "Taiho Kai"[[note]]essentially a bigger ''Taiho'' with more bells and whistles[[/note]] to take that design's flaws into account. ''Hakuryu'''s design was the last purpose built aircraft carrier conceived for the IJN.
229	* StealthExpert: As of the CV rework, a full concealment build, along with equipping the longer-range 8 km torpedoes, can allow her torpedo bombers to stealth-torp, to the point where a player can get two drops off from the maximum range without the planes being spotted, and have the planes from the third drop be visible for mere seconds before they too conduct their strike and return, giving their victims little to no warning, or even not make them aware that torpedoes are on the way. Thanks to a GoodBadBug discovered during the public testing of the rework and was carried over to the live server unpatched, this gets taken up a notch, as the live torpedoes '''will not appear as armed''' until after any torpedoes that fail to hit the target go past their target, yet those that hit will still do damage. This behavior means that the target will hear the torpedo alarm go off, but will not get a voiced warning nor visual directional indicator as to the incoming torps. Hydro-acoustic Search will also NOT pick up the torpedoes. Fortunately for everyone else a lot of the bugs have been patched.
230	[[/folder]]
231	!Premium ships
232	[[folder:Japanese Premium Destroyers]]
233	!Fūjin
234	* PaletteSwap: Of the Kamikaze
235	!Kamikaze/Kamikaze R
236	Tier V Premium Japanese Destroyers
237	* BribingYourWayToVictory: An interesting example. She used to be nearly identical to the Minekaze, but when the IJN DD line was split and the Minekaze nerfed, her and her sister premiums were not nerfed. This left her with the old, very fast torpedoes. They also reload VERY quickly at just under 50 seconds. Strangely, indirect changes to equipment and captain skills have only resulted in her becoming STRONGER since she was removed from sale.
238	* StealthExpert: With the right setup she only gets spotted at only 5.4km!
239	!Shinonome
240	Tier VI special Japanese Destroyer
241	* BraggingRightsReward: While not useless unlike most examples of the trope, it's only available as a reward ship for completing a long chain of missions at tier 8-10, at which point you probably already have better premium ship trainers. Its also generally inferior to the Kamikaze trio if you're lucky enough to own one of those ships.
242	!Asashio
243	Tier VIII Premium Japanese Destroyer
244	* CripplingOverSpecialization: She mounts deepwater torpedoes that have incredible damage, range, speed and flooding chance, [[StealthExpert low detectability on both the ship and said torpedoes]], and can ''carry a torpedo reload booster along with a smokescreen'', but the torpedoes can only hit battleships and aircraft carriers. Combined with poor gun and AA performance, she functionally is a dedicated battleship hunter.
245	* MacrossMissileMassacre: She has insanely long range torpedoes and comes with a torpedo reload booster.
246	!Hayate
247	Tier X special Japanese destroyer. A destroyer design that was equipped with dual-purpose 127 mm Type 1/5 guns designed for the needs of the Japanese Navy during World War II.
248	* BribingYourWayToVictory: She costs 2 ''million'' free experience. If you converted all the experience for doubloons, she would cost ''80,000'' doubloons. Downplayed, since a good player can accumulate enough free experience by playing enough, and even payers have to convert this experience from ''somewhere''.
249	* JackOfAllStats: She is a midpoint between Shimakaze and Hayate, having less torpedoes than Shima, but bigger guns than the Hayate.
250	[[/folder]]
251	[[folder:Japanese Premium Cruisers]]
252	!Katori
253	* AntiAir: While her actual AA guns are a joke, she's the lowest tier ship to get access to the Catapult Fighter consumable.
254	* JokeCharacter: She's as slow as the South Carolina (a ''battleship'', and a first-generation dreadnought at that), has armor that would make a destroyer blush, and only has 4 main battery guns.
255	** LethalJokeCharacter: However, she also has the longest range of any tier 3 cruiser, and gets access to Main Armaments Mod 0, which reduces dispersion by 40%, turning her into a lethal sniper.
256	* StarterEquipment: Prior to the ''Hashidate'''s introduction, she served as the starter ship for the [=IJN=]. She's since been re-introduced as a Tier 3 premium with her full armament.
257	!Yuubari
258	* AntiAir: The lowest tier cruiser with the Defensive Fire consumable.
259	* PointDefenseless: However, after the CV rework where all Defensive fire was nerfed, she became much weaker against aircraft.
260	!Iwaki Alpha
261	* BribingYourWayToVictory: Is the lowest tier Cruiser to get a smoke screen, has decent torpedoes, and has the same good guns as the ''Katori'' but is much faster. Is generally a very strong ship, with her only real flaw being a citadel the entire height of the ship. It's probably a good thing she's only available to Alpha testers.
262	* MilitaryMashupMachine: Combines the best aspects of Destroyers and Light cruisers.
263	!Yahagi
264	Japanese promo premium Tier V cruiser. One of the Agano-class light cruisers – the new generation of ships designed to replace cruisers built in the 1920s. She was relatively small, quick, and sported powerful torpedo armament. She also managed to survive nearly to the end of the war, only to be sunk during Operation Ten-Go, ''Yamato'''s last sortie.
265	* CripplingOverspecialization: She has terrible armor even by light cruiser standards, and has only 6 152mm guns with mediocre reload. What she gets in return is 6 12km torpedoes, with a best possible 9.6km concealment, allowing for stealth torpedo attacks. However she gets ''terrible'' torpedo firing arcs, requiring to show a flat broadside to fire them. Worse, the small low tier maps she often finds herself on rarely have enough open space to actually make use of her maximum torpedo range.
266	* LethalJokeCharacter: While she suffers in many respects, her torpedoes do a massive amount of damage for a tier 5 ship, so if you do land hits with them your enemies will take heavy damage, if not outright be sunk.
267	* MilitaryMashupMachine: She's a light cruiser that plays more like a destroyer due to her engine boost and extremely long range torpedoes.
268	!Atago
269	* HealThyself: Is flat out better than its tech tree counterpart, due to getting Repair Party. With the exception of the British light cruiser line, which gets them starting from Tier 3, the tier 7 Italian premium ''Duca degli Abruzzi'' and the German premium cruisers ''Admiral Graf Spee'' and ''Prinz Eugen'', this consumable isn't available on any other cruiser below tier '''9'''.
270	* HiddenWeapons: Unlike the other Japanese cruisers, her four quad torpedo tubes are located amidships rather than in the rear, and two of them are forward facing. This can be a big surprise to the opponent while brawling at close range and can be easy to forget since she otherwise looks very similar to the other Japanese cruisers (save for her unique paint which the player can opt not to use), in particular the Myoko.
271	* NecessaryDrawback: She has lower rate of fire for the main guns, despite essentially using the same guns as the other Japanese heavy cruisers. In addition, her turret placement still resembles Myoko's rather than Mogami's which makes her No 3 turret sometimes hard to fire.
272	* StealthExpert: With the proper fit, she has a detection range of 9km. This is fantastic for a cruiser, and gives her a 1km stealth torpedo window.
273	!Azuma
274	Tier IX Premium Japanese Cruiser
275	Azuma is one of two ships in the game based on the B-65 cruiser concept, a reply to to America's Alaska design.
276	* MasterOfNone: The biggest complaint about ''Azuma'' is that she combines the weaknesses of a battleship and cruiser with very few of the strengths. Her citadel is quite vulnerable and she has thin extremity plating like a cruiser but unlike previously introduced "large cruisers" ''Azuma'' does not get radar, and most choose between AA and Hydro making her weak against [=DDs=] and or aircraft carriers.
277	!Kitakami
278	Tier X special Japanese Cruiser
279	* GlassCannon: She 28500 HP, comparable to some destroyers, and ''40'' 610mm torpedo tubes.
280	* {{Nerf}}: She was reassigned to Tier X without really changing anything about her, including her abysmal HP pool.
281	* MacrossMissileMassacre: With that amount of torpedo tubes, this is pretty much her purpose.
282	[[/folder]]
283	[[folder:Japanese Premium Battleships]]
284	!Mikasa
285	Tier II Premium Japanese Battleship
286	Flagship of Togo Heihachiro during the ''UsefulNotes/RussoJapaneseWar''. She is the only tier 2 battleship in the game, as well as the only pre-dreadnought battleship in the game. The RealLife ''Mikasa'' is also the only surviving example of a pre-dreadnought anywhere in the world; she's been preserved as a museum in Yokosuka.
287	* CloseRangeCombatant: With her inaccurate main battery guns and good secondaries, she relies on getting up close and personal to deal damage. This would normally not be a problem, but [[MightyGlacier she is really slow]].
288	* DamageSpongeBoss: Has as much HP as an upgraded South Carolina - a tier 3 ''battleship''.
289	* PointDefenseless: Inverted. Her secondaries are arguably better than her inaccurate main battery guns.
290	!Ishizuchi
291	Tier IV Premium Japanese Battleship. It was once given out to all players for free as a 2018 New Year gift.
292	One of the draft designs for a battlecruiser of the Imperial Japanese Navy that subsequently materialized as the Kongō class. The ''Ishizuchi'' (石鎚, named after Mount Ishizuchi) is based off of Vickers Design 472 which is the originally accepted design for the Kongo-class of battlecruisers. After the rejection of B-39, B-40, and B-41 designs, Sir George Thurston redesigned the draft in 1911 in order to create Design 472 (known to the Japanese as B-46). This design was accepted and was laid down on January 11, 1911 in Barrow-in-Furness, Britain. The original design called for ten 305mm/45 guns mounted in five twin turrets, however, after being urged by Commander Kato Hirohasu and witnessing gun trials, the Japanese Navy made the decision on November 29, 1911 to alter the design to fit eight of the new 360mm/45 gun in four double turrets. These alterations were completed successfully and the ship was launched on May 18, 1912, and was christened ''Kongō''.
293	* FragileSpeedster: Like ''Kongō'', she trades armor for speed being a battlecruiser. She can reach 27 knots and has a pretty hefty broadside.
294	* KillItWithFire: The lackluster AP performance leads some people to use this ship as an HE firestarter, which works surprisingly well for a battleship. her faster reloads and good fire chance can burn down opponents quickly. HE at this tier is also effective against cruisers, and most of them have such low armor that HE will do penetration damage to them anyway.
295	* ThemeNaming: While this ship design turned into ''Kongō'' in real-life, the name "Ishizuchi" was given to the design by Wargaming in accordance with the Imperial Japanese tradition of naming heavy cruisers (and by extension battlecruisers) after mountains.
296	!Mutsu
297	Tier VI Premium Japanese Battleship. ''Mutsu'' is basically a down-tiered, World War 1-configured Nagato-class battleship- rather appropriately, as ''Mutsu'' is Nagato's sister ship. Quite unusually, she boasts two single tube torpedo launches on each side. With a reload of twenty seconds, these are the only torpedo tubes that reload faster than the ships guns. ''Mutsu'' was partially funded by public subscription and barely saved from the Washington Naval Treaty but saw no action prior to exploding in harbor for unclear reasons- the investigation blamed the explosion on sabotage of no. 3 turret by a disgruntled and supposedly suicidal crewman. Thankfully, ''Mutsu'' in-game is no more prone to randomly exploding than any other ship.
298	* {{BFG}}: The only ship to mount 16 inch guns at her tier. Notably even when bottom tier, no one supersedes the caliber of her guns.
299	* CursedWithAwesome: Her guns have crappy penetration for their caliber much like the British or the ''Ashitaka''. However since Mutsu's guns are so big for their tier, it's capable of overmatching bow armor of ''all'' ships in her tier.
300	* LightningBruiser: Downplayed; her armor is rather obsolete compared to her peers, but is still more than enough to keep non-battleships at bay and still passable against other battleships. At her tier, she is only matched by ''Dunkerque'' in raw speed.
301	* MacrossMissileMassacre: In a bizarre way. She only boasts two torpedo launchers to a side but they reload extremely quickly which can easily surprise people. In fact she can put fish in the water faster that most destroyers of her tier. The effectiveness of this is limited by her pathetic arc though.
302	* PointDefenseless: Her AA would be considered bad on a tier 4 ship, never mind tier 6.
303	!Ashitaka
304	Ashitaka is essentially the now removed A hull of Amagi down-tiered to tier seven.
305	* GlassCannon: She boasts ten sixteen inch guns, dethroning the Nelson as the the most firepower among battleships in seventh tier. However, thin armor and laughably bad AA means the ''Ashitaka'' cannot tank damage.
306	* PointDefenseless: AA is almost nonexistent for her tier and she absolutely must be escorted by cruisers for AA protection.
307	* ScunthorpeProblem: Her name is rendered A***aka on clients with the profanity filter running. See below.
308	!Kii
309	Tier VIII Premium Japanese Battleship. A proper battleship design of the ''Amagi''-class, named after Kii province in Ancient Japan. She in-game functions as an ''Amagi'' with reduced sigma (i.e worse accuracy), significantly better AA defense (unusual amongst IJN battleships), and torpedo tubes
310	* AntiAir: Her biggest difference over ''Amagi'' is her incredible AA defenses. In fact, the ''Kii'' is perhaps the only IJN battleship with decent AA (for tier)
311	* GlassCannon: Not as bad ''Ashitaka'' but she is vulnerable to citadel hits because she loses some of ''Amagi'''s vertical citadel armor. Oddly, ''Kii'' was purpose built as a battleship.
312	* {{Irony}}: ''Kii'' uses the armor scheme she was built with, her modernization focusing AA guns and improving speed. Because of this, ''Kii'' is more of a battlecruiser compared to the in game Amagi, despite being designed as a BB.
313	* MasterOfNone: One of the biggest complaints about ''Kii'' is that her strengths and weaknesses clash horribly. ''Kii'' has torpedoes and (post buff) a workable secondary system combined with reduced sigma (I.e. worse accuracy ) suggesting that ''Kii'' should be a brawler. But poor horizontal protection prevents her from acting a brawler and she still has Japanese accuracy falloff and which means her guns will be generally outclassed at close range by dedicated brawlers. The fact that there are better "JackOfAllStats" premium tier 8 battleships doesn't help matters much.
314	* PointDefenseless: Noticeably inverted, as she is considered the only Japanese battleship with good AA defenses. Furthermore, she has torpedo tubes, and while her torpedoes do not pack the punishing punch of the ''Tirpitz'', getting too close to ''Kii'' is often times a major mistake.
315	!Musashi
316	Tier IX Premium Japanese Battleship. The sister ship to the ''Yamato'', in her pre-AA retrofit form. Previously available for Free XP, she was pulled due to basically being ''Yamato'' at Tier IX (which meant an easier matchmaking spread than ''Yamato'').
317	* AchillesHeel: ''Musashi'' is an unassailable fortress unless being assaulted by aircraft or having her flank exposed (making her vulnerable to citadels and torpedo strikes). This is, of course, true to RealLife.
318	* BattleStar: Bizarrely, she has a unique buff to the reload of catapult aircraft and a 100% buff to duration of catapult fighters. If direction center for catapult aircraft is taken, her fighters actually make up a significant amount of her AA defense, making her as close to this trope as is seen in this game.
319	* {{BFG}}: Tied with ''Yamato'' for having the second biggest in the game thanks to being sister-ships of the same class, far eclipsing her peers at tier IX and even Tier X.
320	* BribingYourWayToVictory: Being ''Yamato's'' sister ship, ''Musashi'' is effectively a Tier X ship with Tier IX matchmaking. Specifically she has ''Yamato's'' 18 inch main batteries, a Tier X Battleship's HitPoints, the same armor protection as ''Yamato'' including the best torpedo bulge armor in the game and the same speed and maneuverability. In return, ''Musashi'''s only sacrifices are weaker AA and secondary armament, and a slightly lower Sigma-value on her main battery[[note]]The hidden stat that calculates the average spread of shells within the dispersion circle of the gun[[/note]]. Like ''Missouri'' and ''Nelson'', she is also locked behind a Free XP cost (750,000 Free XP, same as ''Missouri'') and 1 credit cost, or about 170,000 Coal from the Arsenal. While this makes ''Musashi'' ''technically'' free, as both are Free in-game resources, the process can be sped up by players with sufficient premium Doubloons and excess Ship or Elite Commander XP.
321	* TheDreaded: You really don't want a ''Musashi'' on the enemy team.
322	** Became even ''more'' dreaded after a certain Yuro invented the 899 division (a tier 8 carrier, usually ''Graf Zeppelin'' due to her planes' speed, and two tier 9 battleships, preferably ''Musashi''s due to their range and improved spotters). Now, whenever a carrier sees a ''Musashi'' on the other team, it will cower in fear of being sniped from across the map in the first few minutes of the game.
323	* PointDefenseless: One of the differences between her and ''Yamato'' is that she loses almost half of ''Yamato'''s secondary array and a great deal of ''Yamato'''s already questionable AA.
324	* LightningBruiser: While the slowest in her tier she still moves pretty quickly despite having the most armor and HP.[[note]]She is actually tankier than ''Yamato'' thanks to having a narrower superstructure thanks to her un-upgraded AA and having an armored funnel[[/note]] Unlike ''Yamato'', she will very frequently encounter battleships ''much'' slower than her like ''Nelson'' and ''Colorado''.
325	!Shikishima (formerly Yashima)
326	Tier X special Japanese Battleship. A theoretical "super" Yamato, wielding six massive [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill ''510mm/45 caliber'' guns.]]
327	* AwesomeButImpractical: Due to having the biggest guns in the game, unless your aim is ''dead-on'' (and RNGsus is nice), you're going to be scoring a lot of overpenetration in this thing (simply because most cruisers don't have enough armor to arm the fuse, period).
328	* {{BFG}}: As a Super-Yamato Class, it usurps the original as having the biggest guns in the game; 510mm/20.1 inch twins in 3 turrets, taking the ''Yamato'''s legendary penning up a notch.
329	* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill: 510mm (''20.1 inch'') guns never existed in real life, with the largest being the 460mm/50 caliber cannons ''Yamato'' was equipped with. Guns ''even bigger than that'' are just overkill.
330	** Had the A-150 "Super Yamato" design ever been built, the original proposal was indeed for 51 cm guns. ''9 of them''. They dialed it back down when they crunched the numbers and found the ship necessary to yield such an insane arsenal was too big (~90,000 tons) and thus too heavy to fit the other requirements (such as a speed of 30 knots) and scaling back the design to fit the criteria necessitated only using double turrets.
331	[[/folder]]
332	[[folder:Japanese Premium Carriers]]
333	!Kaga
334	Tier VIII Premium Japanese (formerly tier VII) premium carrier and one of he few premium aircraft carriers in the game.\
335
336	Intended to be one of the two ''Tosa''-class battleships, ''Kaga'' (named after the ancient Kaga province of Japan) was selected mid-construction for conversion to an aircraft carrier following the Washington Naval Treaty [[note]] The Great Kanto Earthquake damaged the then-under-conversion battlecruiser ''Amagi'' so badly she was deemed beyond repair and scrapped, and since ''Akagi'' was already underway for conversion, the Japanese needed one more converted-to-CV-battleship to comply with the allowances of the treaty. ''Kaga'' was chosen for this task.[[/note]]. ''Kaga'' participated in the Shanghai incident in 1932, and a year later she was rebuilt to refine her exhaust system, adapt her flight deck to heavier modern aircraft, and increase her top speed. She saw plenty of action afterwards, including the Second Sino-Japanese war of the late 1930s, and was one of the six aircraft carriers involved in the attack on Pearl Harbor. Afterwards, she helped attack Rabaul, was involved in bombing Darwin in Australia, and helped the Japanese invasion of Dutch East Indies. She hit a reef in February 1942 and had to return for repairs and as a result missed the Indian Ocean Raid.
337
338	''Kaga'' was crippled at the Battle of Midway after being hit by dive bombers from ''Enterprise'' and was ultimately scuttled by the ''Kagero''-class destroyer ''Hagikaze''. Debris from her wreck was located in 1999 at a depth of 5200 meters, 560km northwest of Midway Island. The wreck itself was located twenty years later; it sits upright on the ocean floor at a depth of 5400 meters.
339
340	In the game, Kaga is characterized by having large squadrons of weak planes, due to her planes being tier VI instead of VII. Unlike other Japanese carriers, her dive bombers drop high explosive bombs instead of armor piercing.
341	* TheBattlestar: Heavily [[DownplayedTrope downplayed]] despite ''Kaga'' in real life being a prominent example. ''Kaga'' boasts an impressive array of 200mm guns [[note]]a hair shy of the 8inch (203mm) guns standard on most heavy cruisers[[/note]] on both sides. However due to carrier mechanics, they are treated as secondaries and due to secondary gun mechanics they only ever fire AP and are limited to the same range as her other guns. This means they are only functionally useful against full broadside cruisers and battleships that are in point blank range of you.
342	** Update 0.7.11 removed all the much hated AP secondaries in the game. Now Kaga's 200mm guns are far more effective, but still don't quite have the range or performance to make trying to utilize them effectively.
343	* {{BFG}} Currently mounts bigger guns than any carrier in the game. Not that they are really useful in any way.
344	** The CV rework made CV secondaries much more accurate, though ''Kaga'''s aren't quite at the memetic levels of ''Graf Zeppelin'''s.
345	* {{Determinator}}: Kaga mounts very large squadrons and even counting that a proportionally very high number of planes on deck. Even without "cold dropping" [[note]]Dumping ordnance into the sea or islands to reduce squadron size and risk less planes.[[/note]] it can use any one of its attack wings three times even if no planes make it back. ''With'' proper cold dropping she can constantly harass ships with the same type of plane the whole game. If you are a DD a competent ''Kaga'' player can simply fire rockets at you until the match ends or one of you dies.
346	* KillItWithFire: She utilizes high explosive dive bombers, unlike other Japanese carriers after the rework. Her massive quantity of bombs dropped makes for some good fire starting.
347	* QualityVsQuantity: Falls firmly on the side of quantity. She can put more planes in the sky than any other tier 8, and in massive squadrons, but the trade-off is that they are all tier six planes.
348	* WeHaveReserves: She has such a large number of reserve planes that there is little fear of running out of them. Something of a necessity since her fighter planes are of lower tier than that of the other carriers.
349	** She still invokes this after the CV rework. ''Kaga'' has an unusually deep well of aircraft in reserve, but slightly inferior planes. To put it perspective, non premium CVs can only make one full strength run and one two third strength run after if all planes are shot down. ''Kaga'' can attack three times with any type of aircraft even if there are no survivors in the previous run. It gets even more ridiculous if 'cold dropping' to reduce squadrons in size to avoid losses as is common around this tier. ''Kaga'' can make ''seven'' consecutive flights[[note]]Technically six but there is simply no way to kill them fast enough that a seventh isn't replenished.[[/note]] with her attackers if they are all half strength flights. This endurance can make experienced ''Kaga'' players a menace even when bottom tier as there is no way to get the carrier to stop pestering its targets short of sinking her.
350	* ZergRush: Her torpedo bomber squadrons have more planes than the other Japanese carriers, even though those are the same planes used by the other carriers.
351	[[/folder]]
352	!Other
353	[[folder:Removed Japanese Ships]]
354	!Zuiho
355	Japanese tier 5 carrier.\
356
357	''Zuiho'' ("Fortunate Phoenix") was a light aircraft carrier originally laid down and built in 1935 as the submarine tender ''Takasaki'' in, but her construction was stopped midway and she was converted into an aicraft carrier- ''Zuiho''- in 1936. She was commisioned in 1940, and played a major role in the Japanese campaign on Gualdalcanal in 1942, participating in the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands (in which she took major damage) and even covering the Japanese evacuation in 1943, after being repaired. Zuiho served as a ferry carrier and training ship in between combat operations, her aircraft disembarking several times to Japanese land-based airfields in the Southwest Pacific for use there. ''Zuiho'' finally met her end in 1944 during the Battle of the Leyte Gulf, when aircraft from the American carrier ''USS Independence'' hit her with bombs and torpedoes.
358
359	* PutOnABus: Removed following the 8.0 CV rework, with no plans to return.
360	!Hiryu
361	Japanese tier 7 carrier, and has a unique appearance with her port-side island instead of the more common starboard-side island. The first of the fleet carriers in the Japanese tech tree.\
362
363	''Hiryu'' ("Flying Dragon") was the sole carrier of her class built from a modified ''Soryu'' design, laid down in 1936 and completed three years later. She supported the invasion of French-held Vietnam (then Indochina) in 1940, and was one of the six aircraft carriers that attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 [[note]] one of her [=B5N=] torpedo bombers, carrying an 800kg bomb modified from a ''Nagato''-class battleship 410mm cannon shell, scored the fatal blow on the ''Arizona''. The bomb punched through her deck armor and exploded in or near her forward magazine, splitting the unfortunate battleship in half and killing 1.177 crew, including Admiral Isaac Kidd, who was onboard the dreadnought that day[[/note]]. Afterwards, her aircraft saw action at the Battle of Wake Island (just one day after Pearl Harbor), the Japanese invasion of the Dutch East Indies, the Indian Ocean Raid, and even bombed Darwin, Australia. After a brief refit, she was involved in the Battle of Midway, where despite surviving the airstrike that took out the other three Japanese carriers in the battle [[note]] ''Kaga'', ''Soryu'' and ''Akagi'' [[/note]], [[HonorBeforeReason her captain's decision to close range and press the attack instead of retreating to safety]] put the unfortunate carrier in range long enough for aircraft from ''Yorktown'' and ''Enterprise'' to locate and finish the job, sending the ''Hiryu'' along with many experienced Japanese ship crewmen and aviators to the seabed.
364
365	* PutOnABus: Removed following the 8.0 CV rework, with no plans to return.
366	!Taiho
367	Japanese tier 9 aircraft carrier.\
368
369	''Taiho'' ("Great Phoenix") was a super-advanced aircraft carrier of the IJN and the sole ship of her class, laid down in 1941 and commissioned in 1944. She was a departure from normal Japanese aircraft carrier design doctrine; she was the first Japanese carrier to feature an armored flight deck, and was given extra armor around her belt and magazines in order to enable her to not only survive multiple bomb, torpedo or shell hits, but also continue fighting effectively afterwards. Sadly, her first combat operation in the Philippine Sea turned out to be her last; during the battle, she was hit by a torpedo from the USS ''Albacore'' that cracked her forward avgas tanks, which began vaporising [[MadeOfExplodium and turning the ship into a timebomb]]. Poor damage control caused the DeadlyGas to spread to other parts of the ship, and several hours after the torpedo hit, ''Taiho'' blew up and settled in the water, clearly [[YouAreAlreadyDead doomed]]. Soon after the captain left, ''Taiho'' exploded again, and this explosion was enough to seal her fate and send her to the bottom of the sea, taking down with her 1650 men out of a complement of 2150.
370	* PutOnABus: Removed following the 8.0 CV rework, with no plans to return.
371	* LightningBruiser: Taiho sported an armored flight deck while being able to move a respectable 33.5 knots. She also had a rather deadly air wing.

Context Characters / WorldOfWarshipsJapan