History Fanfic / TheGreatestGeneration

* MortonsFork: Whichever way Admiral Shimada chose, he would have been screwed since he didn't know [[spoiler:that Yvonne is Enterprise]]. Stay and fight? His ship girls get overwhelmed by the vastly superior Abyssal numbers and die in a SenselessSacrifice. Some of the civilians might - and that's a pretty big ''might'' - succeed in evacuating, but most would probably still get slaughtered by the Abyssals. The way to the home islands is left wide open. Retreat? His ship girls might survive, but the civilians would be done for. Either way, someone would be calling for his political crucifixion.

** Yvonne's motto of "Hit Hard, hit fast, hit often" is a double shout-out to [[WorldWarII Admiral William Halsey's famous quote]] and [[spoiler:[[Fanfic/PacificWorldWarIIUsNavyShipgirls Pacific's version of Enterprise, due to the fact that Yvonne is more or less this version.]]]]

* TheConspiracy: [[spoiler:The USN ''does'' have a ship girl division, and it's being kept secret. There are two reasons for this. The first is that the ship girl program was '''nowhere''' as successful as their counterparts in other nations, as the number of known USN shipgirls amount to single digits, and that's out of the hundreds, if not thousands of summoning attempts. The failed summons resulted in either nothing happening, or the summoning of fairies for a USN ship girl that never materialized. The USN is thus publicly denying the existence of the program just to save face, while keeping the actual existence of the program, and all the ship girls they've summoned, a secret. The second reason why the cover-up is taking place is due to the implication that the Abyssal fleet (or at least, the ones shown so far) is comprised of the vengeful spirits of American ship girls. Worst, it could be the reason why most of the summoning attempts were failing in the first place.]]

* WrongGenreSavvy: Similar to [[Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann Rossiu]], Admiral Shimada's mistake was not believing that Yvonne's MillionToOneChance hope of [[spoiler:the Abyssals Failing enough Spot Checks to let Yamato sneak up on them]] would actually come to pass.

* MortonsFork: Whichever way Admiral Shimada chose, he would have been screwed since he didn't know [[spoiler:that Yvonne is Enterprise]]. Stay and fight? His ship girls get overwhelmed by the vastly superior Abyssal numbers and die in a SenselessSacrifice. Some of the civilians might - and that's a pretty big ''might'' - succeed in evacuating, but most would probably still get slaughtered by the Abyssals. The way to the home islands is left wide open. Retreat? His ship girls might survive, but the civilians would be done for and he would get politically crucified.

** Yamato and Yvonne didn't expect [[spoiler:Abyssals to disguise their aircraft to look like ship girl propeller planes.]]

* EmptyQuiver: A number Of US Navy warships carrying nuclear weapons were sunk by Abyssals, and the Navy is ''very'' concerned about the possibility of its nukes being stolen by Abyssals or human factions. [[spoiler: Thresher is on assignment to survey the wrecks and ascertain the status of the nuclear weapons]].

* JerkassHasAPoint: The way Admiral Shimada delivered his assertion left much to be desired, but no reasonable person can deny that sending five kanmusu against [[spoiler:ten Abyssal ''carrier strike groups'']] is the definition of SuicideMission and TooDumbToLive, a SenselessSacrifice that would barely inconvenience the attacker, much less distract them from the refugees. After all, the general track record of surface combatants without air cover against air power is less than stellar. Just ask Repulse and Prince of Wales about how they sunk. Or Yamato about a little thing called Ten-Go.

* FailedASpotCheck: In chapter 6 [[spoiler:the six Abyssal carrier strike groups somehow fail to notice Yamato sneaking up on them. Perhaps a ploy by the ringleader present to lure her in.]]

* JerkassHasAPoint: The way Admiral Shimada delivered his assertion left much to be desired, but no reasonable person can deny that sending five kanmusu against [[spoiler:six Abyssal ''carrier strike groups'']] is the definition of SuicideMission and TooDumbToLive, a SenselessSacrifice that would barely inconvenience the attacker, much less distract them from the refugees. After all, the general track record of surface combatants without air cover against air power is less than stellar. Just ask Repulse and Prince of Wales about how they sunk. Or Yamato about a little thing called Ten-Go.

* WeHaveReserves: The Abyssals have always had seemingly endless numbers to throw at mankind. Best demonstrated in chapter 6, where [[spoiler:the Abyssal Ringleader uses six ''carrier strike groups'' as bait to lure Yamato out.]]

* BreakTheCutie: The [=DesDiv=] Six girls do this ''to themselves'', [[spoiler: by researching Imperial Japanese war crimes]] in Chapter 7.

* KingIncognito: [[spoiler:All the known American shipgirls thus far are all covertly working in various US Navy departments. Enterprise (Yvonne) works in Office of Naval Intelligence, South Dakota (Dakota) works in Advanced Naval Weapon R&D Divison (aka the US Shipgirl division), O'Bannon works in Naval Construction Force on logistics, San Diego is helping with Kitty Hawk reactivation, then got roped into do singing work as morale boost, and Thresher is working on trying to locate all the missing nuclear weapons]].

* KingIncognito: [[spoiler:All the known American shipgirls thus far are all covertly working in various US Navy departments. Enterprise (Yvonne) works in Office of Naval Intelligence, South Dakota (Dakota) works in Advanced Naval Weapon R&D Divison (aka the US Shipgirl division), O'Bannon works in Naval Construction Force, and San Diego is helping with Kitty Hawk reactivation, particularly with AA armament.]].

** In chapter 9, it's noted that the severe losses the US took have changed the geopolitical situation.

** There's also the fact that compared to US Navy ships, IJN ships had ineffective and inferior antiaircraft guns, mounts, and outfits; for example, ''Enterprise'' in her final configuration carried more effective AA guns than all of ''Fubuki'', ''Akatsuki'' and ''Shiratsuyu''-class destroyers. ''Combined.'' [[note]]While the Japanese Type-3 127mm gun was theoretically a dual-purpose gun, in practice it was ineffective in the AA role due to a host of issues. The American 5" DP gun was significantly more successful as a weapon.[[/note]] American ships could regularly fight off and weather air attacks that would have overwhelmed British and Japanese ships, and Yvonne's not realising the difference may have coloured her perceptions.

** There's also the fact that compared to US Navy ships, IJN ships had ineffective and inferior antiaircraft guns, mounts, and outfits; for example, ''Enterprise'' in her final configuration carried more effective AA guns than all of ''Fubuki'', ''Akatsuki'' and ''Shiratsuyu''-class destroyers. ''Combined.'' [[note]]While the Japanese Type-3 127mm gun was theoretically a dual-purpose gun, in practice it was ineffective in the AA role due to a host of issues. The American 5" DP gun was significantly more successful as a weapon.[[/note]] American ships could regularly fight off and weather air attacks that would have overwhelmed British and Japanese ships.

* TheConspiracy: [[spoiler:The USN ''does'' have a ship girl division, and it's being kept secret. There are two reasons for this. The first is that the ship girl program was '''nowhere''' as successful as their counterparts in other nations, as the number of known USN shipgirls amount to single digits, and that's out of the hundreds, if not thousands of summoning attempts. The failed summons resulted in either nothing happening, or the summoning of fairies for a USN ship girl that never materialized. The USN is thus publicly writing the program off and calling it a complete failure just to save face, while keeping the continued existence of the program, and all the ship girls they've summoned, a secret. The second reason why the cover-up is taking place is due to the implication that the Abyssal fleet (or at least, the ones shown so far) is comprised of the vengeful spirits of American ship girls. Worst, it could be the reason why most of the summoning attempts were failing in the first place.]]

* NotSoDifferent: There are increasing parallels between Yvonne and Yamato regarding their frustrations and their roles. [[spoiler:Yvonne eventually realizes her situation is hardly that different from Yamato's: a legendary ship, both symbol to their nation's Navy and their nations unto themselves, unable to fight as they were meant to due to their circumstances.]]

* MortonsFork: Whichever way Admiral Shimada chose, he would have been screwed since he didn't know [[spoiler:that Yvonne is Enterprise]]. Stay and fight? His ship girls get overwhelmed by the vastly superior Abyssal numbers and die in a SenselessSacrifice. Some of the civilians might succeed in evacuating, but most would probably still get slaughtered by the Abyssals. The way to the home islands is left wide open. Retreat? His ship girls might survive, but the civilians would be done for and he would get politically crucified.

* TheMenFirst: Deconstructed with Admiral Shimada. Putting the welfare and lives of your men first and refusing to throw their lives away for nothing sounds noble at first glance, but doing so does not occur in a vacuum and has consequences. He prioritised the lives of his ship girls and had them retreat over ordering them into a SenselessSacrifice of a battle they had no chance of winning. Unfortunately, because said sacrifice would in theory have bought time for the civilians to evacuate, he ended up disgraced and hated both InUniverse and out.

** There's also the fact that compared to US Navy ships, IJN ships had ineffective and inferior antiaircraft guns, mounts, and outfits; for example, ''Enterprise'' in her final configuration carried more effective AA guns than all of ''Fubuki'', ''Akatsuki'' and ''Shiratsuyu''-class destroyers. ''Combined.'' [[note]]While the Japanese Type-3 127mm gun was theoretically a dual-purpose gun, in practice it was ineffective in the AA role due to a host of issues. The American 5" DP gun was significantly more successful as a weapon.[[/note]]

** Chapter 8 introduces the USS ''Independence'', [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Independence_(LCS-2) lead ship]] of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independence-class_littoral_combat_ship her class]] of littoral combat ships. [[spoiler:She was heavily modified to serve as a support ship for the US Navy's ship girl fleet.]]
* CrossOver: With ''Fanfic/PacificWorldWarIIUsNavyShipgirls'': [[spoiler: Enterprise (disguised as 'Yvonne Swanson'), and O'Bannon as of the latest chapters.]]

* TheReveal: Chapter 6 has one in the form of [[spoiler: Yvonne's true identity being none other than that of USS ''Enterprise'' CV-6, aka "The Grey Ghost".]] And since cat's out of the bag after that, the interlude after chapter 7 casually reveals [[spoiler:2 more US shipgirls: USSs ''San Diego'' and ''O'Bannon'']].

* TheConspiracy: [[spoiler:The USN ''does'' have a ship girl division, and it's being kept secret. There are two reasons for this. The first is that the ship girl program was '''nowhere''' as successful as their counterparts in other nations, as the number of known USN shipgirls amount to single digits, and that's out of the hundreds, if not thousands of summoning attempts. The failed summons resulted in either nothing happening, or the summoning of fairies for a USN ship girl that never materialized. The USN is thus publicly writing the program off and calling it a complete failure just to save face, while keeping the continued existence of the program, and all the ship girls they've summoned, a secret. The second reason why the cover-up is taking place is due to the implication that the Abyssal fleet (or at least, the ones shown so far) is comprised of the vengeful spirits of American ship girls. Worse, it could be the reason why most of the summoning attempts were failing in the first place.]]

* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: In a span of one day, after having a military-issue laptop hacked by Yubari, the [=DesDiv=] Six girls proceed to look up on the topics (with the help of Tenryuu) of[[spoiler: The Rape of Nanking, The Holocaust, and 'making love'.]]

* TheConspiracy: [[spoiler:The USN ''does'' have a ship girl division, and it's being kept secret. There are two reasons for this. The first is the implication that the Abyssal fleet (or at least, the ones shown so far) is comprised of the vengeful spirits of American ship girls. The second is that the ship girl program was '''nowhere''' as successful as their counterparts in other nations. [[note]]The number of known USN shipgirls amount to single digits, and that's out of the hundreds, if not thousands of summoning attempts. The failures resulted in either nothing happening, or the summoning of fairies for a USN ship girl that never materialized. The USN is thus publicly writing the program off and calling it a complete failure just to save face, while keeping the continued existence of the program, and all the ship girls they've summoned, a secret.[[/note]] ]]