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Kantai Collection - Fanfic Idea and Recs

So, this is somewhat related to cv-8 being dragged to Rabaul for inspection. aka IJN capturing Hornet at Santa Cruz... Props to whoever initially did the Hornet snips that inspired this.. I can't be bothered to sift thru near 400 pages...

What if it was the opposite, what if Hornet snapped when her own Navy failed to scuttle her and failed at such a simple task?

The blonde spirit leaned upon her listing deck, watching her escorts retreating after trying, and failing, to scuttle her hull. "What the, finish the job you started, Cowards!" She glowered at the receding ships until they disappeared into the growing depths of the night. She noted some people coming aboard, but she felt exhausted....

---------------------

".....I see, well, let's take it then. Rig some tow lines...."

=====================================

The chief dockyard manager looked at the Admiral as his report was read. "So, you recommend repairing this carrier instead of, say, finishing the Taiho?" The Admiral asked.
"Hai, this ship has one of the strongest keels I've ever seen, compared....."

"....I see. Make the preparations then..."

"Yes sir."

"....And you will be going with as well."

"....Hai."

=======================================

"So, Taiho was frozen for this?" A junior Admiral remarked, looking up at the captured American carrier. A few dents from torpedoes, some obviously patched areas, but for the most part, the hull looked pretty good.

"Indeed so. Using Taiho's allotments should get this carrier, the Kouryuu, operational in two months."

------------------------

"Sir?"

"Keep the deck labeled as it is. CV-8."

"...Hai."

=========================================

Almond colored eyes opened to regard her surroundings with a bit of confusion. She looked up at her mainmast, squinting at the flag of the U-wait-Rising Sun?! Her head rose, compelling the blonde tresses to rise with the movement as she surveyed her new home port.

"Welcome home Kouryuu." The voice had the tall blonde spin around to behold a smaller carrier nearby, her memories slowly matching recognition profiles.

"Housho? What's going on?" She was Hornet wasn't she? Her deck had CV-8 painted on it still, but..... her structure.... had a yellow dragon on it. The spirit squinted at the new sigil as the Japanese carrier explained.

"You are Kouryuu, or Yellow Dragon now. Better than an insect no?"

Kouryuu slowly traced her new sigil, somehow, the artists had managed to incorporate the hornet into the dragon itself, which was impressive actually. The blonde smiled and nodded slightly. "Yes," She replied faintly, "a Dragon is better than an insect." The restored carrier looked around, "So why would you save me instead of sink me?"

Housho shrugged as best she could, "From what I've heard, the people at Rabaul decided to survey your hull before deciding either way. Your new chief engineer was the one who recommended you be saved after hearing thoughts from some of the people who boarded you initially....."

"I see... Well, this'll be interesting nonetheless." Kouryuu remembered how her former escorts had tried to scuttle her and failed, she looked up at the older carrier. "So when can I expect to sortie?"

=================================

So, yeah. Taiho was only 7 or so months from completion; freezing her wasn't too big of deal [at least, to me] in order to repair Hornet. I do note that fact that it likely wouldve taken longer due to the need to relabel things to Japanese.

The choice to keep the cv-8 on the deck is to troll Americans.

I watched a few videos before doing this... Drachinifel only seems to briefly go into Santa Cruz in the two Hornets video, and the Taiho video. He mentions in the latter video about how cool sounding most of the Japanese carrier/ship names are; Taiho meant Great Phoenix. And they had the Unryuu class as well, where the ryuu portion means Dragon. Which again, is cool.

Its difficult for me to decide which spelling of names I want to use, Hoshou or Housho... Yeah.

There's also possible freezing of the Unryuu class, or freezing of Shinano's conversion. Yes Japan's economy was in poor shape, but they had options if they had captured Hornet to use allocated resources from other ships to repair her.

Thoughts?
 
Spherical_Light said:
So, this is somewhat related to cv-8 being dragged to Rabaul for inspection. aka IJN capturing Hornet at Santa Cruz... Props to whoever initially did the Hornet snips that inspired this.. I can't be bothered to sift thru near 400 pages...

What if it was the opposite, what if Hornet snapped when her own Navy failed to scuttle her and failed at such a simple task?

The blonde spirit leaned upon her listing deck, watching her escorts retreating after trying, and failing, to scuttle her hull. "What the, finish the job you started, Cowards!" She glowered at the receding ships until they disappeared into the growing depths of the night. She noted some people coming aboard, but she felt exhausted....

---------------------

".....I see, well, let's take it then. Rig some tow lines...."

=====================================

The chief dockyard manager looked at the Admiral as his report was read. "So, you recommend repairing this carrier instead of, say, finishing the Taiho?" The Admiral asked.
"Hai, this ship has one of the strongest keels I've ever seen, compared....."

"....I see. Make the preparations then..."

"Yes sir."

"....And you will be going with as well."

"....Hai."

=======================================

"So, Taiho was frozen for this?" A junior Admiral remarked, looking up at the captured American carrier. A few dents from torpedoes, some obviously patched areas, but for the most part, the hull looked pretty good.

"Indeed so. Using Taiho's allotments should get this carrier, the Kouryuu, operational in two months."

------------------------

"Sir?"

"Keep the deck labeled as it is. CV-8."

"...Hai."

=========================================

Almond colored eyes opened to regard her surroundings with a bit of confusion. She looked up at her mainmast, squinting at the flag of the U-wait-Rising Sun?! Her head rose, compelling the blonde tresses to rise with the movement as she surveyed her new home port.

"Welcome home Kouryuu." The voice had the tall blonde spin around to behold a smaller carrier nearby, her memories slowly matching recognition profiles.

"Housho? What's going on?" She was Hornet wasn't she? Her deck had CV-8 painted on it still, but..... her structure.... had a yellow dragon on it. The spirit squinted at the new sigil as the Japanese carrier explained.

"You are Kouryuu, or Yellow Dragon now. Better than an insect no?"

Kouryuu slowly traced her new sigil, somehow, the artists had managed to incorporate the hornet into the dragon itself, which was impressive actually. The blonde smiled and nodded slightly. "Yes," She replied faintly, "a Dragon is better than an insect." The restored carrier looked around, "So why would you save me instead of sink me?"

Housho shrugged as best she could, "From what I've heard, the people at Rabaul decided to survey your hull before deciding either way. Your new chief engineer was the one who recommended you be saved after hearing thoughts from some of the people who boarded you initially....."

"I see... Well, this'll be interesting nonetheless." Kouryuu remembered how her former escorts had tried to scuttle her and failed, she looked up at the older carrier. "So when can I expect to sortie?"

=================================

So, yeah. Taiho was only 7 or so months from completion; freezing her wasn't too big of deal [at least, to me] in order to repair Hornet. I do note that fact that it likely wouldve taken longer due to the need to relabel things to Japanese.

The choice to keep the cv-8 on the deck is to troll Americans.

I watched a few videos before doing this... Drachinifel only seems to briefly go into Santa Cruz in the two Hornets video, and the Taiho video. He mentions in the latter video about how cool sounding most of the Japanese carrier/ship names are; Taiho meant Great Phoenix. And they had the Unryuu class as well, where the ryuu portion means Dragon. Which again, is cool.

Its difficult for me to decide which spelling of names I want to use, Hoshou or Housho... Yeah.

There's also possible freezing of the Unryuu class, or freezing of Shinano's conversion. Yes Japan's economy was in poor shape, but they had options if they had captured Hornet to use allocated resources from other ships to repair her.

Thoughts?
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Probably not. Hornet was in remarkably bad shape when she was found. It would have required far too many resources to get her in anything resembling working order again and she would have been far less useful than a new carrier.
 
Apropos of nothing, Black Surge Night is a thing.

From what I gather, it's basically Blue Oath* but they skipped the edgy Shikikan against the world plot, going straight to the robote girl AI uprising turning into a fullblown worldwide problem. A problem that you now have to deal with.

And gameplay cribbing from Azur Lane. I think.

Dunno if it's gonna pan out or not. But at least the "evil forms" of the botegirls can be used as Abyssal Ship designs.

Hell, some of those could even pass as Siren units.

*Or was that Abyss Front? All the dead on arrival botegirl games are blurring together lately.
 
Spherical_Light said:
So, this is somewhat related to cv-8 being dragged to Rabaul for inspection. aka IJN capturing Hornet at Santa Cruz... Props to whoever initially did the Hornet snips that inspired this.. I can't be bothered to sift thru near 400 pages...

What if it was the opposite, what if Hornet snapped when her own Navy failed to scuttle her and failed at such a simple task?

The blonde spirit leaned upon her listing deck, watching her escorts retreating after trying, and failing, to scuttle her hull. "What the, finish the job you started, Cowards!" She glowered at the receding ships until they disappeared into the growing depths of the night. She noted some people coming aboard, but she felt exhausted....

---------------------

".....I see, well, let's take it then. Rig some tow lines...."

=====================================

The chief dockyard manager looked at the Admiral as his report was read. "So, you recommend repairing this carrier instead of, say, finishing the Taiho?" The Admiral asked.
"Hai, this ship has one of the strongest keels I've ever seen, compared....."

"....I see. Make the preparations then..."

"Yes sir."

"....And you will be going with as well."

"....Hai."

=======================================

"So, Taiho was frozen for this?" A junior Admiral remarked, looking up at the captured American carrier. A few dents from torpedoes, some obviously patched areas, but for the most part, the hull looked pretty good.

"Indeed so. Using Taiho's allotments should get this carrier, the Kouryuu, operational in two months."

------------------------

"Sir?"

"Keep the deck labeled as it is. CV-8."

"...Hai."

=========================================

Almond colored eyes opened to regard her surroundings with a bit of confusion. She looked up at her mainmast, squinting at the flag of the U-wait-Rising Sun?! Her head rose, compelling the blonde tresses to rise with the movement as she surveyed her new home port.

"Welcome home Kouryuu." The voice had the tall blonde spin around to behold a smaller carrier nearby, her memories slowly matching recognition profiles.

"Housho? What's going on?" She was Hornet wasn't she? Her deck had CV-8 painted on it still, but..... her structure.... had a yellow dragon on it. The spirit squinted at the new sigil as the Japanese carrier explained.

"You are Kouryuu, or Yellow Dragon now. Better than an insect no?"

Kouryuu slowly traced her new sigil, somehow, the artists had managed to incorporate the hornet into the dragon itself, which was impressive actually. The blonde smiled and nodded slightly. "Yes," She replied faintly, "a Dragon is better than an insect." The restored carrier looked around, "So why would you save me instead of sink me?"

Housho shrugged as best she could, "From what I've heard, the people at Rabaul decided to survey your hull before deciding either way. Your new chief engineer was the one who recommended you be saved after hearing thoughts from some of the people who boarded you initially....."

"I see... Well, this'll be interesting nonetheless." Kouryuu remembered how her former escorts had tried to scuttle her and failed, she looked up at the older carrier. "So when can I expect to sortie?"

=================================

So, yeah. Taiho was only 7 or so months from completion; freezing her wasn't too big of deal [at least, to me] in order to repair Hornet. I do note that fact that it likely wouldve taken longer due to the need to relabel things to Japanese.

The choice to keep the cv-8 on the deck is to troll Americans.

I watched a few videos before doing this... Drachinifel only seems to briefly go into Santa Cruz in the two Hornets video, and the Taiho video. He mentions in the latter video about how cool sounding most of the Japanese carrier/ship names are; Taiho meant Great Phoenix. And they had the Unryuu class as well, where the ryuu portion means Dragon. Which again, is cool.

Its difficult for me to decide which spelling of names I want to use, Hoshou or Housho... Yeah.

There's also possible freezing of the Unryuu class, or freezing of Shinano's conversion. Yes Japan's economy was in poor shape, but they had options if they had captured Hornet to use allocated resources from other ships to repair her.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

It would depend I think on how realistic you wanted the background of the story to be. Since presumably most, if not all, of the story would take place post-wwii during the Abyssal war, if you just wanted a bitter Hornet who considers herself Japanese it would be fine to have the above as a backstory provided your ok with it being unrealistic.

Realisticly, as was said previously by the other poster, they probably couldn't repair Hornet, and even if they did it'd be a logistical nightmare. They would lack plans and spare parts, all the guns would need to be replaced as they wouldn't have ammunition for the existing ones, and other stuff one wouldn't expect cropping up from the differences in doctrine and such. (A real life example of this would be the Italian battleship Guilo Cesare in Soviet service as Novorrisk. The Russians had issues with her kitchen facilities as they were designed with Italian rations in mind, pasta specifically.) And if they did finish repairs on her they'd then have a decent friendly fire risk on their hands.

Best outcome I can think of in this situation (for Japan) is: The IJN brings Hornet back to Japan and does a through examination of her, measuring her capabilities and testing whatever weapons and equipment survived that battle. Then using knowledge gained from this to improve the designs of Taihou and the Unryuus. Perhaps some service manuals on damage control survive and the IJN uses it to improve their damage control, and Taihou survives. Hornet would probably end up either scrapped or sunk as a target. So you could have her bitter and angry as a kanmusu, as she'd been burned by both sided in her view.

Hōshō is spelled in English as either Hōshō or Houshou.
 
y'know, how much thought has everyone put into Abyssal vehicles? I mean, if your setting lets the Abyssals have infantry.
like tanks, halftracks, stuff like that. they do need to be able to keep and hold territory after all.
personally I'd take a good bit of inspiration from Zombie Army 4, have their halftracks and tanks and the like look like unholy fusions of flesh and metal, just, y'know, a lot less beat to shit.
of course (to me) that'd be if you're having the Abyssals be nothing more than pure evil antagonists and not much else.
Although that would be an interesting concept, have, say, some Abyssals who are at least somewhat cool with humanity using shit like that, and the general reaction of human forces.
hm, food for thought.
 
Engineer455 said:
y'know, how much thought has everyone put into Abyssal vehicles? I mean, if your setting lets the Abyssals have infantry.
like tanks, halftracks, stuff like that. they do need to be able to keep and hold territory after all.
personally I'd take a good bit of inspiration from Zombie Army 4, have their halftracks and tanks and the like look like unholy fusions of flesh and metal, just, y'know, a lot less beat to shit.
of course (to me) that'd be if you're having the Abyssals be nothing more than pure evil antagonists and not much else.
Although that would be an interesting concept, have, say, some Abyssals who are at least somewhat cool with humanity using shit like that, and the general reaction of human forces.
hm, food for thought.
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Some land Abyssals I've made for my fic: here.
 
@MC200
I see thank you. I've shelved the idea for the moment....

I've reading a number of azur lane / kc stories lately. Quite a few interesting concepts out there. There's some I wish were expanded upon even further than they were, like A Matter of Honor . There are others, like Sailor's Promise , which is quite unfinished and has a great concept behind it. And one by Curiositatis called Stars and Bloodied Stripes where the process of ship girl creation is a rather controversial thing, at least for one ship which I feel brings an interesting flavor to the concept of kanmusu.

I've toyed with the idea of an ISOT using Wisconsin as subject going through a rather used variant of a "time storm" back to 1910s or so. Still working that out. Also an idea where Massachusetts is awakened off of Africa and meets Jean Bart, awkward/hostile possibilities there...

Also, using an idea from The Tillmanverse thread on SB where Ground forces are limited instead of ships, and why that isn't thought of on more threads or alt timelines is a weird thing as I feel it would be more interesting to have a time where variations of ground force limitations are used more often.

My latest batch of ideas involves azur lane type stuff with cubes being introduced in the 1910s or so using a combo of the above ideas; be it some part cubes/mineral/female mix... Its funny how many ideas we get and yet its also crazy how life tends to short circuit those ideas usually in the midst of their realization in terms of written content.

Part of the problem with creating a less bloody ww2 story is that the Japanese system was still stuck in a warrior mode going into the 20th century. Where instead of treating Tsushima like it should've been handled, you get fixated on certain aspects and forget the larger scope of the picture, failing to take stock of the fact that it mostly was the result of factors beyond mortal control. Weather, naval command choices of direction to go, etc. Writing events is a difficult process to do, weather conditions are more of a writer's choice thing vs reality, as is location, sea state, etc. I've been writing for most of my life, and I find it difficult even now to write things that flow smoothly. Sometimes I wonder if I should simply not write, but that leads to skill atrophication... So I write my ideas, mostly for myself, but here to garner feedback... Sorry for the subject essay.
 
Spherical_Light said:
Part of the problem with creating a less bloody ww2 story is that the Japanese system was still stuck in a warrior mode going into the 20th century. Where instead of treating Tsushima like it should've been handled, you get fixated on certain aspects and forget the larger scope of the picture, failing to take stock of the fact that it mostly was the result of factors beyond mortal control. Weather, naval command choices of direction to go, etc. Writing events is a difficult process to do, weather conditions are more of a writer's choice thing vs reality, as is location, sea state, etc. I've been writing for most of my life, and I find it difficult even now to write things that flow smoothly. Sometimes I wonder if I should simply not write, but that leads to skill atrophication... So I write my ideas, mostly for myself, but here to garner feedback... Sorry for the subject essay.
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While that is true, the IJ only got really nutso militaristic after the Taishō Era ended and Shōwa came in. I've seen a few people suggest exploring the drama and horror of ships that were built in WW1 or before having to watch as their nation went off the deep end, but nothing's ever come of it. Perhaps that could be the angle to take, though I'm not sure if a Japan that doesn't go full paint-huffing would even throw itself into the Pacific War.
 
Yeah, Z for Zulu is a great one. Quite amusing in some ways...

And yet, my latest idea stems from a battlecruiser...

An unexpected sound forced the twitch of an eyelid; gradually, a harsh near-ever-present sound of air came to my awareness. Slowly, the optical and area visual sensors came online.

"Okay, so where am I?" A look around confirmed nearly nothing, except for me being on the water, and against what seemed to be a wall of white and a blowing curtain of fluctuating white, Briefly, I closed my eyes and tried to acclimate to myself.

I should mention that up till a few days ago, I had been male, so suddenly finding myself skinnier [positive] and taller [also positive] was a nice thing. The most obvious change, "…No BoJangles…. Ugh." I slid down to what effectively was crouching position on the water and opened my eyes again to take visual stock of things.

From what it looked like, my rigging structure had four turrets, large looking ones too. I liked down toward what would normally qualify as below the waterline area, some sort of leggings or hosiery ensemble in black. My legs were topped off by a light blue skirt which matched the blue/grey top I wore on my hull.

My eyes caught a pennant number; CC-5.

----------------------------------

On the bridge of the ship, the captain gazed out at the seemingly endless monoscape of shades of white. The environment was quite cold, he hardly remembered this sort of cold before. His head tilted as he realized that he could recall anything from before an hour or so previous, a sharp cry from a lookout brought him out of internal thought mode and he looked over.

"A whole line of black spots nearby sir-"

"Oh hell, penguins."

Everyone froze and looked around, the captain, extended a finger and poked the railing of the ship. "Show yourself!"

"Hey! That was my eye! Watch it!"

"Wait, are you the ship?"

"You're my crew, aren't you?"

------------------------------------

The thoughts focused inward as the answer came back, "Yes."

"So uh, penguins only mean one thing Chex, we are near one of the Poles."

Left unsaid was the matter of nailing down the time period of my existence, at the same time however, it was also a good idea to move out. "Quarter speed." I mumble as I keep crouching on the water, seeing no reason to spook the birds yet with my presence. I waited till the bird procession was only 100 yards from me before I activated my radar full power.

--------------------------------------

The crew stared at the huge numbers of birds on the nearby ice shelf, and under the direction of the XO, began preparations for using the launch to gather the meat.

"A lot of birds died to bring us this meat."

The captain eyed the bulkhead and frowned, not getting the joke, choosing instead to watch the food gathering procedure.

"Tough crowd."

The captain simply watched the launches gather up the food and bring it aboard. After a while he lay his hand on the railing slightly, "This would go faster if you were to gather the birds up-"

"-How?"

"Well...."

--------------------------

That was not a fun experience, chowing down on flightless birds for.....ugh, I don't want to explain too much. Although towards the end of the feeding frenzy, a couple sea lions appeared and those also became dinner.

Moving on, after I'd eaten everything organic I could see around the area, I decided to sail toward where the birds had been coming from, so much white, nearly as bright as day. Made it easier to pick out terrain or ice features, the ice made it interestingly treacherous to cross as a shipgirl.

Ship girl, blast it. Why? Considering some fleeting memories of history from my past life. I might have an idea of the class I am, but the particulars are more difficult to comprehend.

--------------------------------

Captain's Log; Day 2

It's the second day since we `came around' so to speak, we finally reached open water. This has allowed the ship to strech her legs, albeit in a limited fashion due to the roughness of the seas in what appears to be Wintertime. The skies overhead are something else though.

I've asked radar to remain passive, but watching for contacts. In the meantime, the radio room is scanning for frequencies to listen on; primarily to determine the state of the world that we `woke up' in. I-Huh, ok, interesting...

Radioroom came upon a faint signal in the shortwave band.

End Log.

--------------------------------------------

Note:
Just trying to figure out what time frame to put this at. I'm pretty sure Australia didn't go independent until post ww2. So the radio may be effectively called BBC Australia possibly?

Suggestions are welcome. Thanks.
 
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Jonen C said:
South specifically.

(You know the rule: Arctic = Bears, Antarctic = Anti-Bears, which (apparently!) means Penguins.)
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It's not hard rule regarding penguins, because Arctic also had their own penguins. It's just that Antarctic had no bears, and unsurprisingly bears beat everything else, ground-bound, in Arctic.
 
RBomber said:
, because Arctic also had their own penguins
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[citations needed]. Arctic has loons (edit: Meant puffins (lunnefåglar in Swedish)), but no penguins.

Additionally, it's not like Penguins are exclusive to the Antarctic: they range as far north as Galapagos.
 
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Spherical_Light said:
Suggestions are welcome. Thanks.
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"Shipgirl was a guy before" feels cliche because it's all too common. I get why it happens with an SI but otherwise doesn't seem to add much to the story - and can detract from it - when "the character was a guy before" isn't a plot point.

Minor nitpick: CC-5 indicates Lexington-class. Had they been completed as battlecruisers the main battery would have been 8x16" in 4 twin turrets. The 10x14" design also had 4 turrets (2x2, 2x3) with the triples in the elevated superfiring position (like the Pensacola-class heavy cruisers).
 
Yeah, I would say Z for Zulu looks at the first half of the 20th century in some aspects rather than attempting to push a more peaceful version entirely. It was more of a historical review theme.

Anyway, why CC-5? This should explain things... kinda at the middle of the page though. Yeah, I'm basically just doing similar to a few others in simply making her appear in a completed form.

Do I care about historical accuracy? Both yes and no, I want to tell a story using a baseline somewhat grounded in history but that seems to quickly become a swamp in some aspects. Yet at the same time, considering my break from "normal" story telling procedures over what amounts to a decade. Its tedious. I like to write, but getting the flow is difficult as is maintaining said flow. If I set a finishing point, I tend to push toward that endpoint too fast; but if I don't set an endpoint, the story gets a bit lost, so I'm kind of annoyed.

Basically, this idea came a bit from "A Lion in Winter" in that there haven't that many polar starts. Yet, a polar start can, if one does it right, effectively mask the when aspect. As for the gender thing, well, certainly can't please everybody, and it IS overdone, I'll admit that, but what I aim for is the method of how I tend to present it all to the reader.

As for CC-5, what I was thinking mainly was what would an upgraded/refit version of her be like if the Lexingtons had remained battlecruisers? When would they have been refitted, about 1940 or so? What would they have added in that refit? Double to triple turrets or replacing the 2 doubles for full triple turret setup? Certainly AA? etc....

Thanks for the comments.
 
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A 1940-ish major refit would likely involve much of the following:
- Overhaul or replace the propulsion machinery.
- Rebuild and modernize the superstructure (this is above the machinery spaces so a lot of it has to come off anyways to do major work on the machinery) while making allowances for radar if it can't be installed now.
- Remove the casemate secondaries and replace them with 5"/38 DP twin turrets. The longer battlecruiser hull means she might have space for more than the ten turrets BB's got.
- replace the pitiful 20s AA guns with 20mm Oerlikons and 40mm Bofors.
- Upgrade the aviation facilities (or add them).
- Increase the elevation of the main battery for longer range. Going from twins to triples is not feasable.
 
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