KanColle - Anime Speculation (based on game/history references)

[JokerD]

Well Midway is pretty much confirmed now that the Doolittle raid happened. That raid was the main reason Yamamoto wanted to take Midway, to prevent further attacks.
Is this a 12/13 episode anime? If so, we might just get a downer ending with Akagi and Kaga being sunk at the end...

[Kakurin]

Originally Posted by JokerD

Well Midway is pretty much confirmed now that the Doolittle raid happened. That raid was the main reason Yamamoto wanted to take Midway, to prevent further attacks.
Is this a 12/13 episode anime? If so, we might just get a downer ending with Akagi and Kaga being sunk at the end...

It's 12 episodes.

And no, Yamamoto didn't want to take Midway because of the Doolittle raid. The Doolittle raid had nothing to do with Yamamoto's decision. The only thing it did was lessen the opposition from the Naval GHQ and the IJA against Yamamoto's intention of going to Midway, which was considerable in Spring 1942. Yamamoto chose Midway as a spot where he thought he could lure in the American carriers to beat them in a battle. Midway was to be a means to the end - the elimination of the carriers - and not an end in itself.

[JokerD]

Originally Posted by Kakurin-san

It's 12 episodes.

And no, Yamamoto didn't want to take Midway because of the Doolittle raid. The Doolittle raid had nothing to do with Yamamoto's decision. The only thing it did was lessen the opposition from the Naval GHQ and the IJA against Yamamoto's intention of going to Midway, which was considerable in Spring 1942. Yamamoto chose Midway as a spot where he thought he could lure in the American carriers to beat them in a battle. Midway was to be a means to the end - the elimination of the carriers - and not an end in itself.

Is that so? I always thought that the decision to take Midway was because they wanted to expand the security parameter due to that raid. So that they can detect similar operations.

[Kakurin]

Originally Posted by JokerD

Is that so? I always thought that the decision to take Midway was because they wanted to expand the security parameter due to that raid. So that they can detect similar operations.

Yes. I have heard of this popular misconception before, but it is far from the truth. The failure of the Japanese to catch any American CVs at Pearl Harbor was always on the mind of Yamamoto. With them based out of Pearl Harbor he kept an eye on the Central Pacific the entire time. Yamamoto wanted to choose a location close to Hawaii that would force the Americans to sortie their carriers to contest the Japanese. He had his subordinates examine the notion of an invasion of Hawaii in December / January 1941-42 and by March he had settled on Midway. The idea was presented to the naval GHQ at a staff meeting from 2nd-5th April 1942, where it was heavily opposed. After some lengthy tug-of-war the plan for AL/MI was presented to the emperor by Admiral Nagano on 16th April 1942. That's two days before the Doolittle Raid. What the Doolittle Raid did was remove army opposition against MI and by 20th April the army approved the Midway plan and supplied combat troops for the operation.

[Marina2]

Wanna guess which ship is the starter ship in anime?

I think it is Inazuma for 2 reasons

1) no other starter ship before Fubuki came. ( not sure if I overlook someone)
2) Considering that she is in 1div - the main fleet (according to Ep.1), she probably have high level. Which mean she has been in that base for a long time.

[Ithekro]

The art of Fubuki's kai ni has red trim on her uniform as the destroyer had red during her service around the Solomons. However she did not have that paint job at Midway, several months earlier.

Historical note on operation MI in concerns of Fubuki and Akagi. Fubuki was assigned to escort the Main Body, that is the battleships Yamato, Nagato and Mutsu. Where Admiral Yamamoto was commanding the operation.

First Carrier Striking Group, where Akagi, Kaga, Hiryu and Soryu were, was escorted by 12 destroyers: Nowaki, Arashi, Hagikaze, Maikaze, Kazagumo, Yuugumo, Makigumo, Urakaze, Isokaze, Tanikaze, Hamakaze, and Akigumo. In addition the four carriers were escorted by battlecruiser Haruna, Kirishima, the heavy cruiser Tone, Chikuma, and the destroyers were lead by the light cruiser Nagara. (Akigumo was escorting five oilers that were with the fleet)

Having a remodeled Fubuki, with some actual AA and functional Dual Purpose guns escorting Akagi might change things. Japanese AA guns are generally considered dreadful in 1942 with them being able to handle low flying torpedo planes in small numbers, but not able to handle large numbers of high flying dive bombers. That and the best AA the fleet had at that time was really the Zero fighters on the carriers rather than the guns on any of the destroyers. The 10 cm guns on the remodeled Fubuki were a good DP gun. Not as renown as the American's 5 inch/38 cal guns, but better than the Japanese 12.7 cm guns.

[blitz1/2]

So, how are we going to have air cut in in this? Have Fubuki's anti detector glow for a bit and then watch her go FREEDOM! and bullet spam on enemy planes? xD

[panzerfan]

The 10cm guns were meant only for AAA though. They didn't have AP shells as I recall.

[Kakurin]

Yeah, giving Fubuki the high-angled 10cm gun should change things for the better for the kanmusus. Historically the destroyers at Midway were more or less useless in anti-air role since they only had 25mm guns to rely on with their 12.7cm optimised for surface combat and hence neither fast enough, nor with the needed elevation to shoot down aircraft. The carriers mostly had to rely on their own anti-air guns and hence the Japanese anti-air guns only shot down two of 146 lost US aircraft at Midway. So expect Fubuki to be raining down barrages of fire against the Abyssal planes to save the day the next two episodes.

[chaosprophet]

Originally Posted by blitz1/2

So, how are we going to have air cut in in this? Have Fubuki's anti detector glow for a bit and then watch her go FREEDOM! and bullet spam on enemy planes? xD

I'm expecting the air director to do it's job helping her hit them. She can probably feel it like how the girls feel their radars. And the hot many in a row and quickly, more so than any other ship.

[Ithekro]

That might have been due to the practial nature of the times more than purpose. The Allies didn't get to inspect the things until after the war. Whatever other shell type might have been made could have been expended or producton halted.

Or it may have been intended only as for AAA, but repurposed as a DP gun for the new destroyers, as they might be forced to fight on the surface, with the cruiser had larger guns for that and a carrier has escorts for that.

Otherwise Fubuki won't be shooting anymore Abyssal ships in the face.

[JokerD]

Digging up an old episode, I can't help but think that the 2 battleships that Fubuki, Shimakaza and the Kongou sisters faced in episode 4 was the British ships HMS Prince of Wales and Repulse (Force Z) The location fits, southern, resource area, Malaya with tin and rubber, Brunei with oil and 2 cap ships. However those 2 ships were sank by airpower, not in a ship to ship battle...

[Kakurin]

Abyssal ships most likely do not represent Allied ships. Besides, "Southern Resource Area" is a term that refers to the entirety of Southeast Asia. The most important part of which were the Dutch East Indies (modern day Indonesia) with its plentiful oil fields.

[AC-Phoenix]

Originally Posted by Sheba

I'd suggest you to rephrase your line a bit. You make it sound like it's an undisputable fact that Abyssals are US Navy.

Yeah I know :/
Rephrased it a bit.

Originally Posted by basinz123

I really hope that the Abyssals are are not the US navy so that my dream to see Enterprise-san can be a reality someday....

Well we'll get a new foreign battleship for the event, so lets wait and see which country it is from. If it is an allied ship others might follow.

[AC-Phoenix]

Originally Posted by arkhangelsk

Let's face it. If there is a new ship, it is going to be German. Probably Tirpitz, but they might play around with Scharnhorst or Graf Spee (gives more room to be creative with the stats).

I think the game would lose its popularity and close shop before the first American ship is inserted.

Actually there is a good chance its going to be NOT a German ship - see the discussion in the game thread a while ago.
They already announced that they intend to add other foreign ships than German ones too, a while ago.

[arkhangelsk]

Originally Posted by AC-Phoenix

Actually there is a good chance its going to be NOT a German ship - see the discussion in the game thread a while ago.
They already announced that they intend to add other foreign ships than German ones too, a while ago.

Oh, OK I see the posts (not all, 245 pages of posts is too much) ... but my bet for the next ship is still German. Japan has a certain affinity for Nazi German stuff for one reason or another (StuG IIIs are 3-go Totsugeki Hou, almost as if StuG is Japanese, while the similar Italian Semovente is in katakana, like it is ultimately not family).

I just don't see them putting in Italian, French or British until they at least got a few more Germans out of the way. Maybe the "Fall 2015" event they'd do a last minute push, but...

As for the Americans, I still say the game will die first.
===
As an alternative, an amusing one would be if they deliberately dodged the major powers and went to smaller powers like oh, the Dutch. That will allow them to look magnimous and avoid the immediate problems of balancing.

[AC-Phoenix]

Originally Posted by arkhangelsk

Oh, OK I see the posts (not all, 245 pages of posts is too much) ... but my bet for the next ship is still German. Japan has a certain affinity for Nazi German stuff for one reason or another (StuG IIIs are 3-go Totsugeki Hou, almost as if StuG is Japanese, while the similar Italian Semovente is in katakana, like it is ultimately not family).

I just don't see them putting in Italian, French or British until they at least got a few more Germans out of the way. Maybe the "Fall 2015" event they'd do a last minute push, but...

As for the Americans, I still say the game will die first.
===
As an alternative, an amusing one would be if they deliberately dodged the major powers and went to smaller powers like oh, the Dutch. That will allow them to look magnimous and avoid the immediate problems of balancing.

Italians were, up until a certain point, part of the Axis powers, so one of their ships getting added isn't that far stretched.
Prince of Wales might be a possibility too as the dates where she was launched and completed are relatively close.

And as I stated in the game thread already: We know that the abyssals are a global problem so having a foreign country's entire Navy in Japan would be strange.

You can argue it out for Germany since they are in the EU, though if you want to be creative.

I personally hope they'll add an allied ship, that would finally shut all those 'axis game'- comments up.

[scififan]

Originally Posted by AC-Phoenix

Italians were, up until a certain point, part of the Axis powers, so one of their ships getting added isn't that far stretched.
Prince of Wales might be a possibility too as the dates where she was launched and completed are relatively close.

And as I stated in the game thread already: We know that the abyssals are a global problem so having a foreign country's entire Navy in Japan would be strange.

You can argue it out for Germany since they are in the EU, though if you want to be creative.

I personally hope they'll add an allied ship, that would finally shut all those 'axis game'- comments up.

You make it sounds more like Axis games afterall. You are aware IJN risked their Kongou class cruisers to trash Henderson Airfield. IJN even armed their sailors. In case Kongou was sunk, their sailors will land and join JPN army. Kongou took down one airfield, but they didn't realize there was another airfield. During another battles, IJN learned their opponents can quickly patch the airfield by using bulldozers. Besides, Italian navy stayed in their ports most of time. During their night battle with British navy, Italian cruisers were wipeout. Due to British navy's radar, Italian navy was totally defenseless. So, Italian were more into special force operation on the sea.

Even with the primitive radar system, IJN still defeated Britain's Far East Fleet. So, they didn't see Britain as the major threat. British navy didn't see IJN as major threat either. British navy's prime force are in North Sea. Price of Wales was a symbolic parade of their presence. To sink Bismarck, Britain sent out all its top ships. One of them is their Flag Ship, George. The risk of losing George would shake the pride of British navy(as sunk of Yamato to IJN). Maybe not for Yamato druing her final mission, IJN only ordered for one way fuel. IJN figured out nothing could get worse.

Why they made Kan Colle? I think typical Japanese historical fans have better impression on Japanese navy and army. The food in Japanese navy was better than their army counterpart. On Yamato, they have ice cream making machine, soda making machine, air conditioner and chef from the best restaurants.

You are welcome to correct me if you have the different naval historical facts.

[Ithekro]

At this point they have added two Italian battleships (Littorio (later Italia) and Roma). Italia engaged the British a number of times in the Mediterranian Sea. Roma didn't see much action other than being a target for Allied and eventually German bombers. She was sunk by a German radio controled bomb (Fritz X) while defecting to the Allies.

There other completed sister ship Vittorio Veneto was the one that saw a lot of combat.

The fourth of the class, Impero, was not completed. Captured by the Germans after Italy surrendered, it was used as a target ship by both sides and scrapped following the war.

Vittorio Veneto and Italia survived the war. Becoming war prizes, one each went to the Americans and British who had them scrapped in Italy following the war.

[AC-Phoenix]

Originally Posted by scififan

You make it sounds more like Axis games afterall. You are aware IJN risked their Kongou class cruisers to trash Henderson Airfield. IJN even armed their sailors. In case Kongou was sunk, their sailors will land and join JPN army. Kongou took down one airfield, but they didn't realize there was another airfield. During another battles, IJN learned their opponents can quickly patch the airfield by using bulldozers. Besides, Italian navy stayed in their ports most of time. During their night battle with British navy, Italian cruisers were wipeout. Due to British navy's radar, Italian navy was totally defenseless. So, Italian were more into special force operation on the sea.

Even with the primitive radar system, IJN still defeated Britain's Far East Fleet. So, they didn't see Britain as the major threat. British navy didn't see IJN as major threat either. British navy's prime force are in North Sea. Price of Wales was a symbolic parade of their presence. To sink Bismarck, Britain sent out all its top ships. One of them is their Flag Ship, George. The risk of losing George would shake the pride of British navy(as sunk of Yamato to IJN). Maybe not for Yamato druing her final mission, IJN only ordered for one way fuel. IJN figured out nothing could get worse.

Why they made Kan Colle? I think typical Japanese historical fans have better impression on Japanese navy and army. The food in Japanese navy was better than their army counterpart. On Yamato, they have ice cream making machine, soda making machine, air conditioner and chef from the best restaurants.

You are welcome to correct me if you have the different naval historical facts.

I have no idea what you want to tell me with anything past the first sentence.
My point was that it isn't too alien to add italian ships to the game, and that by doing that they'd play it rather safe considering how the Italians wee both amongst the Allies as well as the Axis powers.
The other point was that another ship that could have been added was prince of wales since there the event was close to her launch date.

Whether she was actually there doesn't really matter in that regard because Bismarck was nowhere near the pacific either.