So I was looking through one of my favourite artists from Japan (kannnu) and seeing his work on his original ships expand. He drew the WWI British ships, Orion and her sister ships, Monarch, Conqueror, and Thunderer. I was impressed when I first saw the art book when I was in Japan and bought it. Only recently have I started to browse pixiv.net and followed his work.
Soon came the news that Kancolle would release a British ship in their event and I was… HOLY SHIT! Well, the ship in question is the Queen Elizabeth class Battleship, Warspite. I really love Warspite and Kancolle did well to respect the ship, although she certainly lacks 2 points about Warspite. One is that Warspite’s name sake and motto points to her hating war and fighting. The second is that her nickname is the ‘Grand Old Lady’. She doesn’t look or act in such a manner, but she is still a gorgeous ship in the game.
Anyway, during the time when it was announced that Warspite would appear (at that time we did not know which British ship it was, but knew it was British), I was already drawing several British Naval ships. Also due to final report stress. What I ended up drawing was the King George V class battleships used in WWII by the British. Meant to be the newest fleet of Battleships (together with Nelson class and Renown class) and bolster the Royal Navy’s power. The British still had WWI ships, such as the Queen Elizabeth Class (including Warspite) and the Mighty Hood. But Hood’s story is tragic and the Prince of Wales ship (2nd ship of the King George V class) also suffered a sad fate. And so I decided to draw them to the best of my abilities, and with paper cause I suck at using the tablet (I’m also broke, so can’t buy a good drawing display. I need to see what I’m drawing, not using a tablet).
I have already uploaded these sketches to my pixiv account under あすもす. Why did I even choose that name?? Nevermind. But since I uploaded it in Japanese, I guess this is where I will place the English tanslations?
HMS Hood/ aka Mighty Hood
Obviously Hood is meant to appear strong and powerful. I imagined her to be similar to Yamato, and their stories also line up in a way. Both ships were considered the pride of their respective navies, and the enemies of both nations would seek to sink them. Hood would be sunk by Bismark and Prince Eugen, so I guess she would hold some animosity towards them.
However following her last Captain, Hood is meant to be a kind and social person, who cares for her fellow ships and constantly looks out for them. She isn’t proud of her nickname, feeling that it is merely the unwanted attention that the higher-ups gave her.
She is constantly worried about Prince of Wales, seeing as how Prince of Wales was her escort on her last voyage. Unlike the other ships I drew, Hood’s weapons are from WWI, and only her side hull received reinforcing, which was a fatal flaw in her defences. In WWI, ships were meant to fire into each other’s side, that was the tactic. However as range of the guns increases in the lull of the war, so does the angle in which the round is fired. Thus in WWII, the tactic was changed to get guns to fire at an angle and bombard the deck of the ship. Hood was not protected in that manner.
King George V class Battleship, HMS King George V
King George V class Battleship, King George V. Obviously I’ve taken a whole lot of inspirations from Kannnu and his drawings of Orion class ships. The King George V class were meant to be the newest line of ship for the Royal Navy, meant to replace the aging WWI ships. If it weren’t for WWII, the Queen Elizabeth class would be completely replaced by these ships.
Hood’s uniform is the normal Royal Navy uniform for officers. Their No. 3? Or No. 2? I can’t remember. No.3. Should be the No.3. But King George V class is seen as wearing the royalty version of the No. 2. This is mainly stemming from the fact that she is named after King George V, and the 2nd and 3rd ships of her class are also named after royals (Although Prince of Wales and Duke of York are titles conferred onto the first and second sons of the current King respectively). Unlike other ships, the King George V class ships were given new BL 14 inch MK VII naval guns. Developed in the late 1930s, these were the most powerful guns the British had by the outbreak of the war. It was stated by crew members to be unreliable, but the fact that it took part in so many battles and the cause of sinking so many enemy ships, it is arguably the best gun the British fielded.
As for King George V herself, I imagined her to be an older sister figure who looks out for her younger sisters, but is not too reliable. This stems from the fact that although she had participated in many battles, and was responsible for causing the heaviest damage to Bismark together with HMS Rodney (that eventually led to the Bismark to sink), she was constantly being sent in for repairs. Still, she is the lead ship of her class, and carries her duties as such. Just don’t hope for her to defeat everything.
King George V class Battleship, HMS Prince of Wales
The HMS Prince of Wales, second ship of her class after King George V. Her braided tail has a ribbon tied to it at the end, it is the same ribbon that Hood has to tie up her hair. I took it as how Prince of Wales could not let go of the memory of Hood and chose to keep a part of her with her. Perhaps as a reminder of her failure?
I was changing her mouth’s expression too many times and now the smudges look like a mustache. Not intentional.
The Prince of Wales has a sad story, starting from Hood. She sailed with Hood and spotted Bismark and Prince Eugen. The four ships started to exchange fire, but then the Hood took a bad hit and started to sink. Prince of Wales attempted to stay on longer to fight, but took on damage herself and was forced to flee. As with the rest of the Royal Navy, the Prince of Wales was eager to get back into action and exact revenge for Hood, thereby rushing through her own repairs that left one gun inoperable. Unfortunately Prince of Wales was unable to exact her revenge on Bismark, as her older sister took that duty. King George V and Rodney dealt enough damage to Bismark that the German ship was no longer able to fight or move, and all that was left was for it to sink.
Prince of Wales was then moved to the Pacific to deter the Japanese, together with Repulse, where she faced off with the Japanese. Forced away from more open waters by submarines, Prince of Wales and Repulse were then bombarded by the Imperial Japanese Army’s bombers (not Navy, Japanese Army had their own planes), until the two of them sank.
As a character, I imagined her to be head strong and rather stubborn. A tsundere, she at first appears to distance herself from Hood, but during the course of time she spent with Hood, she grew closer and more open. Hood’s sinking traumatised her and her desperation to get revenge for Hood was stolen from her by her sister. After that she was sent to the Pacific, where she met her end.
King George V class Battleship, HMS Duke of York
HMS Duke of York, 3rd ship of the King George V class of ships. The most amazing feat of the Duke of York is that fact that whilst fighting a German battleship, she took on direct hits to her deck, and yet she was still able to move at full speed and the Captain survived. In fact, after taking on that hit, she turned all of her guns and sunk that German battleship.
As such, I had designed her character to be playful and slightly sadistic. She is able to take things easily as she is able to breeze through difficulties without much effort. She mocks her opponents and when the enemy actually manages to land a hit on her, she goes full on sadist rage.
King George V class Battleship, HMS Anson
Truth be told, there isn’t anything particular about Anson that was written down in my research. She fought the Italians and also accepted the surrender of the Japanese in Hong Kong. I guess for that I drew her as the more serious of the sisters.
A no-nonsense person, she is constantly making sure her sisters don’t get into any trouble (in particular Duke). In-charge of administrative stuff, she is the one that ensures all of the equipment for her sisters are properly maintained and supplied.
King George V class Battleship, HMS Howe
Howe’s feats did not come from her fighting the Germans and Italians. Sure, she has a long list of battles in which she fought, but the one thing that stood out apparently, was her long range bombardments. Apparently in the pacific, her long range shots decimated all anti-aircraft installations in Iwo Jima and other Japanese held islands.
As such, I designed her character to be young, earnest, and extremely hard-working. She is also a genius, but does not see herself as such as she is always comparing herself with her older sisters.
As she is always looking up to her sisters, Duke has somehow managed to influence her character a little, so Howe is a little playful, but she isn’t sadistic. Okay, maybe a little. But not on the same level as Duke.
HMS Queen Elizabeth
This is my sketch for the HMS Queen Elizabeth. I hadn’t factored in what the guns would look like, but her uniform is following the more modern Naval uniform for women. She has a pearl tied around her forehead, similar to how Queen Elizabeth had a pearl as part of her head dress. Kancolle had drawn Warspite to wear a frilly dress with a crown, probably in favour for styling her in the actual Queen Elizabeth I’s dress style. I guess it makes sense.
HMS Warspite
This is my version of Warspite. I took on the name and motto into account when drawing her. A stern and imposing lady. I don’t want to draw her as a granny, but to live up her name as ‘Grand Old Lady’, her hairstyle is made as such. Not to say that it is an old lady’s style, but somehow when I was looking through hairstyles, I was thinking ‘this is the best fit’.
She hates war and fighting, and at the end of her life, when she was to be sent to be scrapped, she was caught on some rocks. Her crew took this as a sign as saying she doesn’t want to be leave. Therefore stubborn.
Imagination's fart 