Atago (愛宕?) was one of four Takao-class heavy cruisers, designed to be an improvement over the previous Myōkō-class design. These ships were fast, powerful, and heavily armed. The Takao-class ships were approved under the 1927 fiscal year budget as part of the Imperial Japanese Navy's strategy of the Decisive Battle, and would form the backbone of a multipurpose long range strike force. Atago was built by the Kure Naval shipyards near Hiroshima, and - like all heavy cruisers - was named after a mountain: in this case Mount Atago, located outside Kyoto.