Anime/Hai-Furi, The High School Fleet

But the point of departure for Haifuri is set to be after the Russian-Japanese war of 1905, so...

This might all be a plot aimed against the Munetani family

So now we have a girl that explicitly likes another girl, in addition to all the subtext

No heavier than air flight, so presumably no carriers. Though now that I think of it I'd like to see a zeppelin carrier

That girl that really likes Shiro is called Kuro. Subtlety!

The thing with the Musashi could be a trap, but the visuals are framed very ominously. If it is, Moka probably doesn't know about it

Or has a gun pointed to her head offscreen.

It's pretty much a given that they'll be fighting the Musashi, whatever the case. It's one of the two biggest, baddest warships in history. No way they wouldn't go for that sort of ultimate David versus Goliath match.

Ms. Noma, that's not a big enough white flag. You're gonna need a white flag as big as a sail (think Yuudachi in her Kai Ni form).

Oh, so that's how the blonde (a German exchange student, to boot) in a black uniform shows up. (Though sadly, we don't get her name in this episode, and it's better to learn her name while watching whenever possible.) Also, "We interrupt this anime of cute girls in warships to bring you Zipang. *ding*

For a second there, I thought the Graf Spee was a sister ship to the Prinz Eugen until I did some Wikipedia reading. It's not. Also, shouldn't that be "pocket battleship" instead of "small battleship"?

A distress call from the Musashi? I sense a trap. Remember how the Surprise lured in the Acheron by pretending it was an unarmed whaler? My guess is that the Musashi is pretending to have some sort of trouble just to get the Harekaze within range of its guns. Of course, knowing that her best friend Moeka is in danger, it's only logical for Akeno to rush in and help.

And lastly, there's a bit of Fridge Logic if powered flight wasn't invented in this universe. The Sarushima (a modified Independence-class littoral combat ship) has a helipad on its rear. And helicopters are obviously a form of powered flight. So if powered flight wasn't invented in this alternate universe, wouldn't it be pointless for the Sarushima to have a helipad? It'd be better to stuff another main gun, a torpedo battery, or a depth charge launcher on the aft instead.

edited 16th Apr '16 11:37:31 PM by IncognitoNinja

There's no powered flight, but Koko mentioned the possibility of dirigibles or blimps, and we saw a high-tech looking balloon structure in Mashiro's flashback.

Hmmm... So the Sarushima's hangar could be used to house hot-air balloons (either manned with a basket or unmanned with an underslung camera for observation) with a tether? OK, that's plausible, and the extra space in the rear should help with launching and recovery.

And here I thought ships from an alternate universe would be designed differently (especially one where powered flight is nonexistent), but I guess they're balancing the Worldbuilding with a bit of Rule of Cool.

It would be quite prophetic if all of Kouko's imagined scenarios came true. Although...it looks like the runaway was the captain of the Spee. Mutinies everywhere! Even Moeka's in a fix! ...Or is she?

Even if some of them came true, it would certainly make for one of the most horrifying instances of Ms. Imagination Was Right. If the writers actually did go that route, that would make Mashiro's bad luck sink even lower. In fact, I'm calling it right now!

When do they say there's no powered flight anyway?

I mean there was that discussion about making ships fly, but nothing about planes and helicopters not existing.

edited 17th Apr '16 4:33:41 AM by Deadbeatloser22

Mashiro dismisses even the idea of powered flight entirely.

Also the implication that neither World War One or Two happening is HUGE, as much of what we take for granted in Aerospace could be traced back to military spending before, after, and in between those two wars.

edited 17th Apr '16 4:47:07 AM by MyssaRei

"I wonder if you can make a flying ship without hydrogen or helium?"

"Only in your imagination."

Doesn't sound like a dismissal of the concept of heavier-than-air flight to me.

Keep in mind that we've never actually made a battleship fly either. We've had amphibious planes and the like, but nothing like that.

edited 17th Apr '16 5:02:53 AM by Deadbeatloser22

That line would not have been worded like that (or even included) if they weren't trying to establish that this universe doesn't have heavier-than-air flight

Not to mention that hydrogen is compounded into an (over)abundance of things either by natural or artificial means, so Mashiro's Little Miss Snarker response is technically true.

It still seems like a reach to me.

You can make a flying (even if extremely inefficient) vessel without relying on H or He: hot air.

That said, complete lack of anything resembling planes / helicopters means that the point of deviation lies even further in the past than 1905 - Wright brothers flew their plane in 1903 IRL. And the designs that could take off existed (but weren't actually built) at least two years prior to that.

At this point, we'll have to see, but there's enough evidence to point that, yeah, no planes in Hai Furi verse.

Even the ship configurations seem to support this — notice anything odd with both the Yamato and Musashi? Not only do they not have the AA-suite they were given post Pearl Harbor in our world, they don't even have the plane catapults that were placed to their aft. Neither, I might add, does the Graf Spee.

EDIT: I'm pretty much reaching the point where I'm not sure what more I can contribute, as anything really specific to the performance of the ships HAS to be expounded by an actual historical ship enthusiast (which I'm not).

edited 17th Apr '16 5:56:46 AM by MyssaRei

Crosschecking.

edited 17th Apr '16 5:58:11 AM by Deadbeatloser22

Deutchland-class diagram, wikipedia◊.

In-show diagram Kouko was referring to◊.

The lack of the catapult is VERY noticeable. Especially when said catapult is located BEHIND the citadel section of the ship, smack drab in the middle.

Battleship Musashi 1942 config◊.

Battleship Musashi, in-show◊.

Here too. The plane catapults are very noticeable — even Arpeggio Of Blue Steel showed them. And yet here we don't see them at all in the tail area of the Musashi.

And finally, the Yamato.◊ Like the Musashi, it's missing the two rotating cranes at the tail end, which were use to launch its scout planes. This is a detail that even Space Battleship Yamato had, and yet it's nowhere to be seen here.

edited 17th Apr '16 6:20:52 AM by MyssaRei

Ok the recent episode is kinda strange.

How the heck that instructor ignored their apology and it ended as an excuse for saying that the girls of the Harekaze mutinied? Now what will be the girl's fates?

edited 17th Apr '16 6:32:48 AM by TricksterPoi

It's because, for some reason, said instructor is conveniently in a coma. That in itself is already suspicious.

But we do see she was fully aware of the situation. The more problem, there is no else other than her.

The problem with pointing to "but this thing installed in a WWII refit is missing" is that the show seems to be establishing that WWII did not happen in its universe (hence why the Musashi and Graf Spee are still afloat and the Spee is carrying Reichsmarine rather than Kreigsmarine or Bundesmarine colours).

I assure you, the catapults stayed where they were during refits. The diagrams we have of the real ships show that.

But the fact of the matter is the diagrams in-universe, never mind the CGI models in the show still do not show any catapults. Or do you want me to encircle where they're supposed to be just to make it clear?

edited 17th Apr '16 7:00:21 AM by MyssaRei

Either way, I am not treating this as fact until the show openly says so.

And now a thought occurred to me:

Modern ships — Independence-class included — forgo large-caliber cannons and heavy armor because those are of little use against and aren't as efficient as aerial and missile attacks. Thus, Sarushima's design makes little sense in-universe.

Furthermore, since planes/helicopters don't exist, missiles shouldn't either. Yet, when we are shown the aftermath of torpedo attack against Sarushima, the vertical launchers can be clearly seen between the cannon and the superstructure.

edited 17th Apr '16 7:24:09 AM by NHunter