I wonder how many people who read this manga are going to look at Naka's character in a whole new light now.
...Yeah, probably not too many, all things considered. Still and all, you'd have to be a special kind of bastard indeed to make it through this and not feel anything for Naka. I don't even play the game and only barely follow the fandom, but there is now a Naka-shaped hole where my heart used to be and I feel no shame in admitting it. For a writer/artist to be able to do that with a character who's usually just comic relief or even a mere chew toy for gamer frustrations is quite a feat.
For full effect (for those that are not aware of the story of the 'Tin Can fleet'):
In Kancolle Terms: 1) Replace the Carriers with 4 Battleships (Yamato (flagship), Nagato, Kongo, and Haruna) 6 Heavy Cruisers (Choukai, Chikuma, Tone, Kumano, Suzuya, and Haguro) 2 Light Cruisers (Yahagi and Noshiro) And 11 destroyers (Yukikaze, Urakaze, Isokaze, Hamakaze, Fujinami, Okinami, Kishinami, Asashimo, Hayashimo, Akishimo, and Kiyoshimo [all but Yukikaze are not implemented])
2) Replace the I-class Destroyer with 3 Destroyers (Heermann, Hoel, and Johnson) 4 Destroyer Escorts [Frigates in today's terms] (John C. Butler, Raymond, Dennis, and Samuel B. Roberts [aka 'the Destroyer Escort that fought like a Battleship']) 6 Carrier Escorts [take a Light Carrier and cut it in half] (Saint Lo, White Plains, Kalinin Bay, Fanshaw Bay (Flagship), Kitkun Bay, Gambier Bay) all with very little ammo (~2 bars) Air Support by Taffies I and II (2 waves, and only 2 waves)
3) Realize that this tiny American force achieved a Tactical Victory... and chased off what amounted to half of the entire Japanese surface fleet while only losing 2 DDs (Hoel and Johnson), 1 DE (Samuel B. Roberts), and 1 CVE (1 more sunk after the battle to a Kamikaze strike).
4) For Crowning Moment of Awesome/Heartwarming: A) According to US Aviators (and confirmed by post-war records), when the Johnson sunk (the Johnson sunk last of the tin cans) IJN Battleships Kongo, Nagato, and Yamato fired a series of blank powder charges harmlessly into the air. In Naval Tradition, this is the single highest honor a ship can give an enemy ship during battle (think of it as a naval Three-volley Salute, except for your enemy. It's basically a ship mourning the loss of a worthy opponent. B) It was also reported that 'a Japanese destroyer' came alongside the wreckage and much of her crew came to deck and saluted the ship. From ship records obtained after the war... it was Yukikaze. C) Vice Admiral Kurita (commander of the Japanese fleet) insisted that he had come across a carrier fleet being guarded by 3 Heavy Cruisers and 4 Destroyers (and also an assortment of destroyers from 'those other groups' a ways away, which he entirely dismissed). When 'corrected' later by the Captain of the Kongo, he instead insisted that 'they were what he said they were in soul, regardless of the body they inhabited' (paraphrased). This was good enough for the Kongo and Nagato's captains (it is due to the Nagato that we know about this) and they let it rest. To this day the Japanese Navy (Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force) insists that the Taffy III was comprised of 6 Escort Carriers, 3 Heavy-Cruisers, and 3 Destroyers.
So,
Lunatic6 said:
So Naka is like Hoel here except she is not a destroyer.
is quite close.
Just consider that Naka, here, is more like Johnson (who had a clear shot at escape but turned back into the fray after she had already been half disintegrated by Yamato's 18.1 in cannon fire and still held on for another ~30 minutes). You'd just need several doses more of awesome, and that's saying something, since this Naka is already just that; awesome.
Just consider that Naka, here, is more like Johnson (who had a clear shot at escape but turned back into the fray after she had already been half disintegrated by Yamato's 18.1 in cannon fire and still held on for another ~30 minutes). You'd just need several doses more of awesome, and that's saying something, since this Naka is already just that; awesome.
I compared her to Hoel since Hoel was the first ship to sunk, miss a shot, bravely challenged Kongou with the rest of the heavy cruisers, didn't get a chance to escape, and enduring a total 40 hits before sinking.
By the way, Johnston was the first destroyer that charged the enemy and blow off Kumano's bow, while Samuel B. Roberts, fired 325 rounds in 35 minutes, scored the most number of enemy hits, and heavy damaging two heavy cruisers before she went down.
Let us say that they really did do ridiculous stuff back then.
I concede to your point. I was just saying that she's more like Johnson because that was a 'Medal of Honor' worthy performance... and this was a Medal of Honor worthy performance.
Also, the Roberts didn't score the most hits, she had the highest hit ratio of the Americans (which is amazing considering she didn't have a fire control computer)... before the Kongou found her and pounded her guns. The most hits goes to Heermann, with over 400 confirmed hits (this partially due to flanking the enemies more concerned with the other 3, before the Kongou caught on and pounded the Heermann's bridge), who also survived to be called 'the Hellbound ship' for hunting the enemy with extreme ferocity even though there was very little enemy left. The Hoel actually did manage to hit quite a few times, turning the Kongou's bridge into swiss cheese before being pounded by Kongou which knocked out most electrical control of the ship... and this was before their duel. The Johnson on the other hand, was pounded by every single one of the IJN Battleships at the same time and was the only ship confirmed by both sides of the war to have absorbed numerous 18.1in shells from the Yamato (the sides differ however as to the amount, with the Japanese claiming 2 and the Americans claiming upwards of 6) and refusing to sink. Eventually, the Kongou got fed up with it and scored hits that disabled the Johnson's last gun. Yukikaze came along and finished her off at point blank range (for a ship, that's about 100-200yards).
Noticing a pattern here? Ironically, from all indication, the Japanese ship that really should have been called the 'sniper of the seas' (although still not as amazing as the Iowa, late war) was the Kongou. Apparently, roughly 87% of her shots were within 50 or so yards of their targets (which were pea sized, compared to what she was intended to aim at [battleships]), at over 10 miles, and over half of them hit... that's ridiculously good when using only optics and facing the sun...
4) For Crowning Moment of Awesome/Heartwarming: A) According to US Aviators (and confirmed by post-war records), when the Johnson sunk (the Johnson sunk last of the tin cans) IJN Battleships Kongo, Nagato, and Yamato fired a series of blank powder charges harmlessly into the air. In Naval Tradition, this is the single highest honor a ship can give an enemy ship during battle (think of it as a naval Three-volley Salute, except for your enemy. It's basically a ship mourning the loss of a worthy opponent. B) It was also reported that 'a Japanese destroyer' came alongside the wreckage and much of her crew came to deck and saluted the ship. From ship records obtained after the war... it was Yukikaze. C) Vice Admiral Kurita (commander of the Japanese fleet) insisted that he had come across a carrier fleet being guarded by 3 Heavy Cruisers and 4 Destroyers (and also an assortment of destroyers from 'those other groups' a ways away, which he entirely dismissed). When 'corrected' later by the Captain of the Kongo, he instead insisted that 'they were what he said they were in soul, regardless of the body they inhabited' (paraphrased). This was good enough for the Kongo and Nagato's captains (it is due to the Nagato that we know about this) and they let it rest. To this day the Japanese Navy (Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force) insists that the Taffy III was comprised of 6 Escort Carriers, 3 Heavy-Cruisers, and 3 Destroyers.
[...]
Do you have the sources for this section? Those are the moments in war that are worth to be remembered.
Do you have the sources for this section? Those are the moments in war that are worth to be remembered.
Much of my sources are After Action Reports, Documentaries, and Interviews with the Survivors, all of which are public information. Unfortunately, the AAR and transcripts were loose leaf documents collected by my Military Historian (and Veteran) Father... meaning that I'm not sure how to obtain them directly (I've never had to try). However, I believe that Taffy III's can be obtained from the memorial website (again, I've never tried)
(A) was obtained in this fashion, from an interview with one of the flyboys from Taffy I who was engaging the Center Fleet at the time. Post-war record was from the Nagato.
(B) is common knowledge. It's a known fact that the survivors reported seeing at least the captain of a IJN destroyer saluting the Johnson. [source] Yukikaze was the only destroyer close enough at the time, so it would seem (according to her own post-war records).
(C) is partially common knowledge. It's well known that the ferocity of the counter attack persuaded Kurita that he was dealing with the entire Task Force, much more than just a bunch of Jeep Carriers. This much is attestable by his retreat. It's also known that the Center Fleet claimed to have sunk '2 Cruisers and some destroyers', this... I can not recall my (own) source, but I am aware wikipedia lists it as well (they don't mean that much however). However, revealing his thoughts on the Tin Can fleet directly is a little harder. You have only two sources to go from, and in the eyes of the public they're a little... incredulous.
Firstly, you have the Nagato's Captain's Log. While it's known that the Nagato was taken by the US as a war trophy (and for the last few months of her life flew the American ensign), very few people realize that the US came into possession of her Captain's Log. In fact, we still have it. It's being kept with many other navy historical paraphernalia at the USN Naval Museum and Archives (although, it could technically be in the Smithsonian, what how the underground of DC resembles an ant nest and all), along with everything else that we obtained from the Empire of Japan. In the Captain's log it mentioned the aforementioned event of the Kongo's Captain 'correcting' Kurita. [expand=Condensed digression from topic]The collection included things ranging from Blueprints for the Super Shimakaze (obsolete by the end of the war, unfortunately... unless you listen to my colleagues, who are desperately trying to build them as replacements for the Burkes.), the Logs for the Haruna (obtained from the wreckage of the Haruna after she was refloated; they're far too waterlogged to be legible however), the Logs for the Nagato (obtained by the crew of the Iowa after boarding), the Logs of the Yukikaze (obtained from Taiwan as part of a Defense Agreement), paraphernalia related to the Yamato-class (as recovered from the Kure Naval Arsenal), and several swords (speaking with the guard, apparently no one remembers how those got there). The only reason that I know any of this is that the collection is kept very close to our archives on our own Battleships. Due to the business I was in at the time, my 'boss' (if you could call him that) was needing to access the designs for "Battleship-Plan 1937-Design C-Variant 8" (aka the 'Super Montana') and needed some time (several hours, actually) to go over it. The guards, knowing who I was with, let me look around the collection while waiting (escorted, of course), since the information in the room was far less secret than the information that I was actually there to see... in fact, it's not even classified (they would not, however, let me touch the Battleship information). They had the entire logs translated into English (or rather, the logs that were readable. As said, Haruna's were illegible).
[/expand]
Secondly, you have it from Kurita's own mouth. He lived until 1977 after all, although he didn't speak much of the war until the '70s and even then, it was only rarely. However, in my father's archive was a recording of an interview with Kurita where he explained the Battle off Samar from his point of view. He repeated this notion there.
I understand, incredulous sources for the later part. But, it was enough for me.
As for the JMSDF, well... I just got lazy and asked an active member (old pen pal of mine) what the official Japanese Navy's opinion was, had him do the research. So I can't help you there, sorry.
Interesting reading on the subject of the Tin Can fleet can be found here for free.
One word: awesome. I wished I could have chatted with my deceased grandfather (who according to my father, took a bayonet to the leg in Manchuria) and learned all sort of things that are not provided in the textbooks.
Maybe it was just convenient for Naka to be the comedic relief. However, after receiving her Kai Ni, she's as good a performer (unintended pun) as the more precious ships.