So Graf is angry that Admiral is trying to get fired. I'm assuming she thinks he's perfect for the job.
Next strip is going to be the You Are Better Than You Think You Are lecture (which may possibly be disguised as The Reason You Suck).
As for the thesis, I'm going to guess that it's something along the lines of how this base's shipgirls need a commanding officer who cares whether they live or die, and if he's swept out, he's much more likely to be replaced by someone who will treat the girls as cannon-fodder. (If I understand timelines, this is long before the other-Kashima/other-Katori incident, but Graf may still be aware that Idomiral treating kanmusu as people is an anomaly among the flag officer corps.)
If we're tagging the shipgirl who died in the flashback as Fubuki here, we should do so at post #4325732 too, right?
I'm not sure there's enough to say either way, and definitely moreso here where we only see the arm. The first strip, it's definitely a Fubuki-class, but not sure if it's clear enough to know if it's Fubuki herself or not.
You can find all appearances of him with the unsinkable_sam tag. And yes, that cat was real.
But I... I just couldn't bring myself to send such young girls into the fields of battle so easily.The point where Nagato's lot will no longer be able to manage it by themselves is fast approaching.A lot things happened after that, ending up in me being voluntold into the position of Admiral through the harassment of a former direct superior.You're going to tell me the reason as to why you're not involved in fleet management, just as I asked before.You actually remember the bargaining point from all the way from the start...?So?As to what you're going to do for me...So... he's afraid of shipgirls getting injured or sunk as a result of his orders?Even though you got into some heavy stuff there!Our battle results improved, and somehow I had been given all the credit for that as their superior officer.After all that, I headed to HQ, with the hope of them allowing me to resign as an Admiral.Nor did I have the wherewithal to see those girls as either military personnel or weapons.But with more and more idiosyncratic shipgirls being posted, the problems on the base skyrocketed.Yeah... I just don't have what it takes to be a commanding officer, y'know...?Certainly seems like one aspect to it.And thus your hands-off policies giving the shipgirls free rein - that's due to your feelings of guilt over leaving the command of the fleet to them...It's a roundabout method and it does cause trouble for Nagato and the others, but...Afterwards... I'm sure that the right man for the job, one who can command shipgirls personally, will take my place, And at such time, I will have my position of Admiral stripped from me.No matter how good the battle results, the day where your supervisory responsibilities will be questioned is surely closing in.It'd be for the best.It became increasingly obvious that they would never let me leave the Admiralty!!You wanted to what!?Whilst I was withdrawn from the Naval Base, Nagato performed magnificently as the interim Admiral!!But!!And now whenever I give any of you commands...I was terrified, but I had no choice in the matter...I can't help but remember what happened to that girl.YOU...!UTTER DUMMKOPF!!!That's right.Combined Fleet's Flagship's Charisma...It was from before I came to the base.Before my very eyes, I saw a shipgirl die.