WORLD OF KANMUSU

German submarine U-511 was a Type IXC U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II. The submarine was laid down on 21 February 1941 at the Deutsche Werft yard in Hamburg as yard number 307, launched on 22 September 1941 and commissioned on 8 December 1941 under the command of Kapitänleutnant Friedrich Steinhoff.

After training with the 4th U-boat Flotilla, from May 1942, U-511 was used for testing the possibility of launching Wurfkörper 42 30 cm (12 in) artillery rockets from U-boats. In cooperation with the commanding officer's brother Ernst Steinhoff of the Peenemünde Army Research Center, a rack of six rockets were mounted on deck, and were successfully launched while on the surface and while submerged up to a depth of 12 metres (39 ft). However, the rockets were not particularly accurate and the racks on the deck had a negative effect on the U-boat's underwater handling and performance, so the project was abandoned.^[1]

The U-boat was attached to the 10th U-boat Flotilla for front-line service on 1 September 1943. In that role she carried out four war patrols, two commanded by Kptlt. Steinhoff, and two by Kptlt. Fritz Schneewind, sinking five ships totalling 41,373 gross register tons (GRT) and damaging one of 8,773 GRT.

The U-boat was transferred to Japan on 16 September 1943 and served in the Imperial Japanese Navy as submarine Ro-500 until August 1945 when she surrendered to the Allies.

source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_submarine_U-511

CHARACTER:

Personality 

After U-511 has been remodeled into Ro-500, her personality and behavior change dramatically. This is also shown in the 4-koma Manga Fubuki Ganbarimasu!

Trivia

The real U-511 was transferred to Japan from Nazi Germany as part of a technology exchange assistance program and was renamed Ro-500 after the Japanese took command of her. The vessel survived the war and was surrendered to the Allies. She was scuttled on 30th April, 1946 at Gulf of Maizuru.

She is one of two ships in-game that was released with a second remodel in the same update, the other being Taigei.

She is also one of four ships who changes name on remodel, others being Taigei, Hibiki, and Littorio.

RO-500 is a second-class submarine as noted by the 'RO' prefix in her name, 'Ro' is the second letter in the Iroha from which the name prefixes for Japanese submarines derives. Normally a second-class submarine was considered one with a displacement between 500 and 1,000 tons, but RO-500 was designated as such despite being slightly larger than this limit.

On her Kai form, the small captions along her name reads "Satsuki 1-go" (Satsuki No.1). This was her temporary name after she departed from Germany and before being formally commissioned by the IJN.

The flower on her hair as Ro-500 is an azalea which is written in Japanese as 皐月 and is read as 'satsuki'.

Sunk as a target ship on 30th April,1946 at Wakasa Bay in the Fukui Prefecture

source: http://kancolle.wikia.com/wiki/U-511

Construction of the advanced Fubuki-class destroyers was authorized as part of the Imperial Japanese Navy's expansion program from fiscal 1923, intended to give Japan a qualitative edge with the world's most modern ships. The Fubuki class had performance that was a quantum leap over previous destroyer designs, so much so that they were designated Special Type destroyers (特型 Tokugata^?). The large size, powerful engines, high speed, large radius of action and unprecedented armament gave these destroyers the firepower similar to many light cruisers in other navies. The Akatsuki sub-class was an improved version of the Fubuki, externally almost identical, but incorporating changes to her propulsion system.

Hibiki, built at the Maizuru Naval Arsenal in Osaka was the third in the “Type III” improved series of Fubuki destroyers, incorporating a modified gun turret which could elevate her main battery of 12.7 cm/50 Type 3 naval guns to 75° as opposed to the original 40°, thus giving the gun a nominal ability as an anti-aircraft weapon. Hibiki was laid down on 21 February 1930, launched on 16 June 1932 and commissioned on 31 March 1933.

On 5 April 1947, Hibiki was turned over to the Soviet Union at Nahodka as a prize of war, and placed in service with the Soviet Navy under the name Verniy (Russian: Верный "Faithful"  Pron.), after being rearmed with Soviet-made weapons (six 130 mm guns, seven 25 mm guns, four to six 12.7 mm machine guns, and six 533 mm torpedo tubes). She was placed in service with the Soviet Pacific Fleet based at Vladivostok on 7 July 1947. She was renamed again on 5 July 1948 as Dekabrist (Russian: Декабрист "Decembrist"). She stood at the piers almost a year, waiting for rearming, before being retired from active service and used as a floating barracks ship, until retirement from service on 20 February 1953 and transferred to the OMS resourcing fund. Eventually, she was used as target-practice somewhere in the 1970s, where she was finally sunk.

The wreck of Hibiki lies close to Karamsin island and can be explored with diving gear. Local diving tours in Russia for exploring the wreckage can be arranged as well.

source : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_destroyer_Hibiki_(1932)

CHARACTER:

Appearance:

Wears a similar serafuku to the rest of her class with an anchor emblem on the chest.

She and Akatsuki wear navy hats that also bear an anchor emblem.

She has bleached hair that is slightly disheveled, in a similar manner to her sisters.

Another trait shared with her sisters is the matching colour of her eyes and hair.

Second Remodel:

Interestingly, her attire and armaments don't change significantly between her first and second remodels, despite historical stripping and rearmament of the latter with Soviet-made weapons.

The most distinctive change in her second remodel is her change of hat; the red-coloured star and hammer-and-sickle (hard to discern) are direct references to the Naval Flag of the Soviet Union.

A pair of Soviet 533mm quadruple torpedo tubes replaces her two Japanese 61cm triple torpedo mounts.

Personality:

Characterized in the anime by her vacant attitude and expression.

A calm and stoic Russophile who tends to include Russian words in her speech. As Верный, she speaks more Russian.

TRIVIA:

Hibiki means "echo", Верный means "faithful" and her final name, Декабрист is a tribute to the Decembrist revolt.

Hibiki was first carried by the twenty-first ship of the first Kamikaze class in 1906. Her name is now used as a part of Ocean surveillance ship known as Hibiki class.

Верный was first carried by a submarine class in the old USSR.

Can speak in Russian. Ура!!! (night battle) (pronounced oo-ra [Ura]; the Russian equivalent to Oo-Rah/Hua).

Occasionally says "до свидания" (do svidaniya) [Good Bye] at the menu screen.

Received her Kai Ni (Верный) on 11/09/2013.

Shunsaku Kudō was transferred to Hibiki after his humanitarian rescue of enemy personnel while captain of Ikazuchi.

She was retired from service on February 20 1953 and sunk as a target by the Soviet Naval Aviation team sometime in the 1970's at Karamzina Island near Vladivostok. After being discovered in 2012, her wreckage is now a popular diving site. Seasonal diving tours to her wreckage are available. 

source: http://kancolle.wikia.com/wiki/Hibiki

USS Iowa (BB-61) is the lead ship of her class of battleship and the fourth in the United States Navy to be named after the state of Iowa. Owing to the cancellation of the Montana-class battleships, Iowa is the last lead ship of any class of United States battleships and was the only ship of her class to have served in the Atlantic Ocean during World War II.

During World War II, she carried President Franklin D. Roosevelt across the Atlantic to Mers El Kébir, Algeria, en route to a crucial 1943 meeting in Tehran with Prime Minister Winston Churchill of Britain and Josef Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union. She has a bathtub—an amenity installed for Roosevelt, along with an elevator to shuttle him between decks.^[1] When transferred to the Pacific Fleet in 1944, Iowa shelled beachheads at Kwajalein and Eniwetok in advance of Allied amphibious landings and screened aircraft carriers operating in the Marshall Islands. She also served as the Third Fleet flagship, flying Adm. William F. Halsey's flag at the Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay. During the Korean War, Iowa was involved in raids on the North Korean coast, after which she was decommissioned into the United States Navy reserve fleets, better known as the "mothball fleet." She was reactivated in 1984 as part of the 600-ship Navy plan and operated in both the Atlantic and Pacific Fleets to counter the recently expanded Soviet Navy. In April 1989, an explosion of undetermined origin wrecked her No. 2 gun turret, killing 47 sailors.

The Iowa was decommissioned for the last time in the year 1990, and was initially stricken from the Naval Vessel Register in 1995. She was reinstated from 1999 to 2006 to comply with federal laws that required retention and maintenance of two Iowa-class battleships. In 2011 USS Iowa was donated to the Los Angeles–based non-profit Pacific Battleship Center and was permanently moved to Berth 87 at the Port of Los Angeles in 2012, where she was opened to the public as the USS Iowa Museum.

source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Iowa_(BB-61)

CHARACTER:

Appearance:

Iowa has long blonde hair, with star-shaped pupils. She wears an outfit reminiscent of women featured on World War II American Navy pin-up posters and a pair of American flag-patterned leggings. The coloration of her costume also closely resembles the paint scheme of the real Iowa's deck.

Personality:

Iowa is portrayed as a playful American girl who uses a bilingual pattern of speech, similar to Kongou, albeit with much heavier inclusion of English words and expressions. The bilingual pattern of speech is seen by Japanese community as resembling the Lou language use by Lou Oshiba.

Takes great pride in being an American battleship and is not at all shy about demonstrating her firepower, as evident in her quotes.

She's shown being good natured towards other Japanese ships with a friendly rivalry with Yamato, though she appears to be unaware that "Hotel" isn't a flattering nickname for the latter.

TRIVIA:

Iowa is the first US Navy ship introduced in Kantai Collection, initially appearing in the PS Vita game KanColle Kai before the PC version. She was introduced in the original PC browser game in the Spring 2016 Event as a reward for clearing E-7, the final map of that event.

Her introduction was preceded by the appearance of the 16inch Triple Gun Mount Mk.7 in the December 2015 Ranking Rewards.

The Iowa-class ships were the last battleships built and commissioned by the United States as it became clear that the future of naval power projection lay within aircraft carriers and submarines instead of big gun ships. Despite this, the USS Iowa herself participated in the Korean War, and in various naval exercises in the following decades.

Compared to other ships who were either sunk, scuttled, shipwrecked, or sold for scrap, Iowa is the first personification of a currently intact and floating ship in the game. Her historical counterpart was dismissed from active service in 1990 and is currently docked in the Port of Los Angeles as a museum ship.

During Operation Hailstone on February 19th, 1944, USS Iowa (BB-61) along with her sister ship USS New Jersey (BB-62) fired upon and sank the Japanese training cruiser Katori. In some fan materials, this manifests as Katori being fearful or vengeful towards her, though attempts at vengeance end up failing, often with humorous results.

The design on the belt buckle of Iowa's normal art, and on the obi (sash) of her New Year's art, is the insignia for US Navy Officers signifying that a person is a senior or flag officer. The insignia is typically worn as a gold emblem in front of an officer's cap.

source: http://kancolle.wikia.com/wiki/Iowa

USS Saratoga (CV-3) was a Lexington-class aircraft carrier built for the United States Navy during the 1920s. Originally designed as a battlecruiser, she was converted into one of the Navy's first aircraft carriers during construction to comply with the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922. The ship entered service in 1928 and was assigned to the Pacific Fleet for her entire career. Saratoga and her sister ship, Lexington, were used to develop and refine carrier tactics in a series of annual exercises before World War II. On more than one occasion these included successful surprise attacks on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. She was one of three prewar US fleet aircraft carriers, along with Enterprise and Ranger, to serve throughout World War II.

Shortly after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Saratoga was the centerpiece of the unsuccessful American effort to relieve Wake Island and was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine a few weeks later. After lengthy repairs, the ship supported forces participating in the Guadalcanal Campaign and her aircraft sank the light carrier Ryūjō during the Battle of the Eastern Solomons in August 1942. She was again torpedoed the following month and returned to the Solomon Islands area after repairs were completed.

In 1943, Saratoga supported Allied forces involved in the New Georgia Campaign and invasion of Bougainville in the northern Solomon Islands and her aircraft twice attacked the Japanese base at Rabaul in November. Early in 1944, her aircraft provided air support during the Gilbert and Marshall Islands Campaign before she was transferred to the Indian Ocean for several months to support the British Eastern Fleet as it attacked targets in Java and Sumatra. After a brief refit in mid-1944, the ship became a training ship for the rest of the year.

In early 1945, Saratoga participated in the Battle of Iwo Jima as a dedicated night fighter carrier. Several days into the battle, she was badly damaged by kamikaze hits and was forced to return to the United States for repairs. While under repair, the ship, now increasingly obsolete, was permanently modified as a training carrier with some of her hangar deck converted into classrooms. Saratoga remained in this role for the rest of the war and was then used to ferry troops back to the United States after the Japanese surrender in August. In mid-1946, the ship was a target for nuclear weapon tests during Operation Crossroads. She survived the first test with little damage, but was sunk by the second test.

source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Saratoga_(CV-3)

CHARACTER:

Appearance:

Unlike the majority of other carriers in-game that use bows or magic, Saratoga uses a firearm integrated into her flight deck to launch planes. The weapon used is based off the Thompson submachine gun, one of the most iconic firearms of the 1920's, and most often referred to by monikers like the "Tommy Gun" and "Chicago Typewriter". More specifically, the weapon is based off the M1928 US Navy version of the Thompson. Saratoga also carries two different magazines for the weapon, the standard straight 20-round magazine, and the "L" type drum magazines which can be seen carried on the inside of her skirt.

Personality:

"Sister" Sara is portrayed as having an "onee-san" personality, with a relatively elegant manner of speech, and speaking with a motherly tone regarding her aircraft, and is especially genial towards other ships, with in-game lines referencing friendly relations especially to Akagi, Kaga, and Iowa. Following in Warspite's mold, her in-game lines use significantly better English than Iowa, though used less heavily in her speech.

TRIVIA:

USS Saratoga (CV-3) was the second of the Lexington-class ships, which were originally designed as battlecruisers until the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 necessitated their conversion into aircraft carriers. Nicknamed "Sister Sara" or "Sara Maru" by her crews, she served with distinction during the Second World War, being present in many major engagements including the Guadalcanal campaign, the New Georgia campaign, and the Battle of Iwo Jima, along with seeing combat in the Indian Ocean.

On the other hand, Saratoga suffered several instances of damage via enemy action throughout her career that resulted in her being indisposed for certain major carrier operations, including the Battle of the Coral Sea, the Battle of Midway, and the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands. This is reflected ingame her in lower luck stat compared to other WW2 survivors like Yukikaze.

Converted into a training ship in 1945 following battle damage from Iwo Jima and used as a repatriation vessel at the end of the war. She would later be used as one of the ships present in the Operation Crossroads nuclear tests of 1946 at Bikini Atoll, where she sank after the Test Baker nuclear detonation.

The letter E on Saratoga's funnel is a Battle Effectiveness Award granted to US Navy ships that demonstrate an exceptional state of combat readiness and in Saratoga's case, was awarded the Excellence in Engineering award during exercises in 1938.

Sunk the light carrier Ryuujou with her aircraft during the Battle of the Eastern Solomons on 24 August, 1942.

Saratoga was one of only three pre-war carriers of the United States Navy that survived World War Two, the other two being USS Enterprise and USS Ranger.

The downgrade in Saratoga's attack range on remodel stems from the differences in firepower brought about by her refit; when originally built, Saratoga was equipped with four 8"/55 caliber gun turrets similar to those used by heavy cruisers of the time, due to the perceived importance of aircraft carriers having organic anti-ship weapons in the event of surface action. As the importance of anti-aircraft defenses rose along with the decreasing likelihood of carriers engaging in direct ship-to-ship combat, Saratoga was refitted in 1942 to have her 8-inch guns replaced with smaller dual-purpose 5"/38 caliber guns with anti-aircraft capability. These changes are visually present on Saratoga's rigging in-game, along with corresponding changes to her stats.

She was originally approximately 25% complete as a battlecruiser before being converted into an aircraft carrier, thus explaining her high durability since she retained her main belt armor.

Saratoga's standard pose of pushing her skirt down as it's blown upward by wind is most likely inspired by a famous and iconic pose by superstar Marilyn Monroe, taken from the movie "The Seven Year Itch".

The coloration of her initial costume is based on the USN Measure 1 camouflage scheme that she wore pre-1942, with her vertical surfaces in Light Gray, while her wooden flight deck was left unpainted. Her Kai costume reflects the Measure 21 scheme that she wore from late-1942, with the flight deck and hull darkened with Deck Blue.

source: http://kancolle.wikia.com/wiki/Saratoga

Zuikaku (Japanese: 瑞鶴 "Auspicious Crane") was a Shōkaku-class aircraft carrier of the Imperial Japanese Navy. Her complement of aircraft took part in the attack on Pearl Harbor that formally brought the United States into the Pacific War, and she fought in several of the most important naval battles of the war, before being sunk during the Battle of Leyte Gulf.

One of six carriers to participate in the Pearl Harbor attack, Zuikaku was the last of the six to be sunk in the war (four in the Battle of Midway and Shōkaku in the Battle of the Philippine Sea).

In 1944, she was based at Singapore. In June, she was assigned to Operation A-Go, an attempt to repulse the Allied invasion of the Mariana Islands. On 19 June, in the Battle of the Philippine Sea, Taihō and Shōkaku were both sunk by American submarines, leaving Zuikaku, the only survivor of Carrier Division One, to recover the Division's few remaining aircraft. On 20 June, a bomb hit started a fire in the hangar, but Zuikaku's experienced damage control teams managed to get it under control, and she was able to escape under her own power. After this battle, Zuikaku was the only survivor of the six fleet carriers that had launched the attack on Pearl Harbor

source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_aircraft_carrier_Zuikaku

CHARACTER :

Appearance

Zuikaku wears a shortened miko uniform with arm bracers and thigh boots with propellers protruding from them. Like most archer carriers, she wields a bow, and wears a muneate. Her muneate has the katakana ス (su), which when voiced becomes ズ (zu), the first kana of Zuikaku's name, refering to her identification mark in real life.

Zuikaku has long grey (or green or black) hair in twintails. Her flight deck is attached to her left arm.

Upgrade

Unlike Shoukaku, her clothes changes color after remodeling. Her skirt becomes brown; her top is now a bluish grey; her muneate, flight deck, arm bracers and quiver on her back gain a geometric camouflage pattern. Said camouflage pattern is based off the real life ship's camouflage scheme following her 1944 remodel.

Personality

Seiyuu: Iori Nomizu (野水伊織)

Brash, proud and overly confident at times.

Sometimes referred to as a "Turkey" by western fans, due to one of her battle lines.

In the anime, called "Flight Deck Chest" by Ooi.

source : http://kancolle.wikia.com/wiki/Zuikaku

From July–October 1944, Atago was flagship of Vice Admiral Takeo Kurita's First Mobile Striking Force, which comprised the major remaining surface force of the Imperial Japanese Navy. The force consisted of seven battleships, eleven heavy cruisers, two light cruisers, and 19 destroyers, and was based at Lingga Roads near Singapore. The force sortied on 22 October in what would be the last major naval engagement of the war, the Battle of Leyte Gulf. Atago served as flagship for what the Allies termed the “Center Force”, and was a part of Sentai-4, along with Chōkai, Takao and Maya. The next day two submarines that had been shadowing the force attacked in the Palawan Passage. Atago was one of the ships hit. Four torpedoes fired from the submarine USS Darter struck the Atago, setting her ablaze. She capsized at 05:53 in about 1,800 m (5,900 ft) of water at 09°28′N 117°17′ECoordinates: 09°28′N 117°17′E.

Of Atago’s crewmen, there were 529 survivors, including Vice Admiral Kurita, but 360 were killed. CoS Rear Admiral Tomiji Koyanagi and Atago’s skipper Rear Admiral Araki and 355 crewman were rescued by the destroyer Kishinami; 171 others were rescued by the destroyer Asashimo. She was removed from the navy list on 20 December.

source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_cruiser_Atago

Appearance :

Atago wears a similar outfit to Takao, but with a few differences. Atago wears a blue vest-like garment which is open similar to a jacket, pantyhose and a blue sailor's hat. She has blond hair, green eyes and large breasts.

Personality :

Atago speaks rather informally and is depicted as a foil to Takao. She is much more energetic than the other ships in her class, and seems to have a special relationship with Takao.

Like many other ships, Atago has a catchphrase; hers being "ぱんぱかぱーん!" (Pan paka pan!), an expression similar to the English "ta-da!".

TRIVIA:

source: http://kancolle.wikia.com/wiki/Atago