[Sasebo vol 13] Warspite Observation Diary

Sasebno Naval District Anthology, Volume 13, Chapter 7
Title: Warspite Observation Diary
Author: Nakajima Rei (http://www.pixiv.net/member.php?id=1505915)
Original Dump: http://desuarchive.org/a/thread/150732787/#150737114

※ All data was verified by the editors. Supervisor: Kodaka Masatoshi

Page 66
Panel 1
Hoppou: I'm the Northern Princess.
Warspite: OH Little Lady!

Panel 2
Warspite: Are you a foreign warship as well?
I'm His Majesty's Ship Warspite. Pleasure to meet you.
SFX: Sparkle, sparkle
Hoppou: Some kind of princess has arrived.	* This is a rather awkward line to translate, considering Hoppou's name is typically translated as "princess" as well.

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Page 67
Panel 1
Hoppou: Zuikaku! Hey, Zuikaku!
Who is she? A princess!?
(She's so pretty!)
SFX: Flap, flap
Warspite: (How do you do?)
Hiei: Hieii!
Zuikaku: Fufu♪ You're off, but not by much♪
(Tsk, tsk, tsk)

Panel 2
Zuikaku: That lady, Warspite, is a "queen".
Second of the Queen Elizabeth-class battleships, to be precise!

Panel 3
Hoppou: A queen!!
[Hoppou's Imagination]
SFX: Dazed♥

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Page 68
Panel 1
Zuikaku: Her ship form seems to be dignified and powerful as well!
It's like you can really sense a queen's dignity♪
Hoppou: Queen looks strong!
Warspite: It's the nameship, Queen Elizabeth, that's the queen really.

Panel 2
Zuikaku: Heh, that so? Wanna tell us more?
It can't be helped, since your rival from Britain seems to have taken an interest. Isn't that right, Kongou-san?
Kongou: OH!? I'm not t-that interested!
(S-She's not my rival, dess!)
SFX: Shock
[Behind Cover]
[Glasses]

Panel 3
HMS Warspite
Standard Displacement: 31,315 t
Length: 196.2 m
Beam: 31.7 m
Power: 80,000 shp
Max Speed: 23.5 knots
Armament (After Remodel):
4 × twin 15-inch (381 mm) guns
8 × single 6-inch (152 mm) guns
4 × twin QF 4 in (102 mm) AA guns
4 × octuple QF 2-pdr (40mm) pom-pom AA guns
4 × quadruple Vickers 0.5 in (12.7 mm) AA machineguns
etc.
* Interestingly, the Japanese and English wikipedia articles differ slightly with both each other and this chapter on the numbers

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Page 69
Panel 1
Kongou: Oh... Oh dear.
Very well, how about we British-born ships explain together,
Miss "Scarred but Unsinkable Battleship" Warspite?
SFX: Remove
Ominous

Panel 2
Warspite: Very honored to see you, Miss Kongou. Thanks.	* In brutal, brutal Engrish.
SFX: Ominous
Hoppou: Unsinkable!? Is she strong because she's super tough!?

Panel 3
Kongou: She's not called "Unsinkable" for nothing.
Her combat debut was at the famous Battle of Jutland.
She ate 15 hits from the enemy onslaught without sinking...
Map: Jutland Peninsula, with Denmark, Sweden, Germany, and Poland.
Britain's 151 ships versus Germany's 99 ships. The largest naval battle of WWI.
At the time of WWI, she could be said to have been the world's strongest battleship.
Hoppou: Sounds pretty tough!!

Panel 4
Kongou: Since she took damage, she was ordered back to Britain for repairs.
But on the way, she was attacked by a submarine.
The torpedoes missed, and she made her way back to Britain!
SFX: Ker-blam
Warspite: (Kyaa!)
Zuikaku: Seems like she has bad luck. Good thing she's tough...

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Page 70
Panel 1
Kongou: It seems she circled in front of the enemy fleet during that battle, drawing enemy fire, dess.
Hmph... what bravery, dess...
Hoppou: Cool!
Warspite: Ah, er, there was a reason behind that...
(Let's not get into it...)

Panel 2
Kongou: Next is the Second Naval Battle of Narvik!
In a battle with German destroyers that had crossed through the fjords into Norway and launched an invasion of Narvik,
Map: Again, Britain versus Germany
Ofotfjord, Narvik
Hoppou: Narrow.

Panel 3
Kongou: Warspite and her destroyer comrades wiped out the enemy!
Box: Britain, 1 Battleship, 9 Destroyers
Damaged: 3 Destroyers
Germany: 8 Destroyers
All Ships Lost
Hoppou: Wiped out!? You sure are strong!!

Panel 4
Kongou: She achieved a lot in the Mediterranean as well. While providing support for the Allied invasion of Italy,
she took two hits from Germany's new guided bombs, the Fritz X, without sinking!
Warspite: That was a bit painful.
(Kya!)
SFX: Bam
Box: Her damage control was apparently good as well.
Roma: (Fritz X...)
Zara: (The Battle of Cape Matapan...)
Hoppou: You sure are tough!!

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Page 71
Panel 1
Kongou: Before her repairs were finished, she provided support for the invasion of Normandy!
Box: Wherever there is battle, there is Warspite.
Warspite: Do your best~!
Soldiers: Hooah!
Kongou: Afterward, she made it to the end of the war without sinking!
Zuikaku: Incredible! She really is a distinguished and unsinkable ship!

Panel 2
Warspite: I could have fought some of you in the Indian Ocean as well.
SFX: Ominous
Boxes: Warspite had a chance of fighting all four Kongou-class sisters during the Indian Ocean raid.
1st Air Fleet, BatDiv 3 [Hiei~!]
India and Ceylon
British Eastern Fleet Flagship
In the end, the fellow battleships never met in combat. Japan's air strikes sank five British ships...
One of the ships that launched the air strikes ->
Zuikaku: Come to think of it...
Kongou: The Indian Ocean raid, huh...
Back then, we went all-out fighting ships from my birthplace, Britain!

Panel 2
Zuikaku: L-Look, you two!! You're comrades now, right!?
Kongou: (That's right, dess.)
Warspite: (Indeed.)
[Grin]
Zuikaku: Anyway, what a service record!
Huh? Wait a minute.

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Page 72
Panel 1
Zuikaku: The Battle of Jutland was 1916, I think, so Warspite-san is...
SFX: Spin
Shock
Boxes: Commissioned March 8, 1914
Nickname - Old Lady
Even Older.
Zuikaku: Wha...!?
(You too, Kongou-san!?)

Panel 2
Kongou: We've got service records, so be more respectful, dess!
(I'm not mad or anything, but...)
Zuikaku/Hoppou: Sorry.
Warspite: We are old-timers, but at the time we were built there was a lot of praise for our designs.
The Queen Elizabeth-class has been called "the pioneers of fast battleships"♪
Boxes: Battleship -> Heavily armored but slow -> At the time of Warspite, typically 20-21 knots. -> Capable of 24 knots!
Kongou was a battlecruiser.
Kongou: F-fast! B-but I was faster, dess!

Panel 3
Warspite: True, by WWII we were old and didn't match up favorably with the new ships...
But I still take pride in myself.
Kongou: !
[Ba-dump]
Box: Kongou faced similar circumstances.

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Page 73
Panel 1
Warspite: Pride that I spent my life fighting to protect
what deserved protection.
SFX: Waves
Box: Warspite is the most decorated vessel in the Royal Navy and a popular symbol among the British people.

Panel 2
SFX: Throb♥
Hoppou: A warrior queen!

Panel 3
Kongou: That spirit! You got me, dess!
You'll make a splendid comrade! We at the naval district look forward to fighting alongside you, dess!
SFX: Shake, shake
Warspite: (Same here.)

---

Page 74
Panel 1
Bismarck: Indeed. We look forward to it as well, Frau Warspite.

Panel 2
Warspite: Bismarck-san!? How long have you been here!?
Bismarck: You're as haughty as ever, Frau.

Panel 3
SFX: Ominous
Warspite: No, no, not as much as you are♪
However, as we are now comrades, I'll be in your care♪
[Grin]

Panel 4
SFX: Ominous
Bismarck: [Twitch]
That's right. Kongou, Zuikaku, were you aware?

Panel 5
Bismarck: This spirited queen took an interest in drinking rum in the midst of battle.
SFX: Ta-daaaaaaah
Warspite (Drunk): Gahahaha
Hiccup♪
[Slap, slap]
Box: Traditionally, during battle, the Royal Navy takes rum with their meals. (Not this much, though).	* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rum_ration
These girls could not drink during battle.
Zuikaku: Wha!?
Warspite: Eh!? It's just a tradition...! (Is it different elsewhere!?)
(I don't drink that much anyway!)

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Page 75
Panel 1
Bismarck: On top of that, despite being a battleship, she went on a rampage in a cramped fjord!
Even though she could hardly be called a destroyer, she fought savagely and completely unlike a battleship!
Boxes: Battleships are typically kept out of harm's way due to their high cost.
That said, maritime countries with a bigger safety margin have their own tactics.
An imaginary savage Warspite-san
This person was also deployed savagely ->
Warspite: S-Savagely!?
If you're so disappointed, how about you look at your own fighting style! (You ancestral savages!)	* Presumably referring to Anglo-Saxon heritage? Or perhaps ye olde Cherusci
SFX: Ominous
Zuikaku: Who the hell's this pirate!?
Bismarck: How long were you commanded from that open bridge for?	* Enclosed during the pre-WWII remodel
Warspite: Knights set an example by leading from the front! And visual confirmation is important!
Hoppou: Bring back... the cool version...

Panel 2
Narration: Moving on, at the Battle of Jutland, Warspite's rudder failed.
She had no choice but to turn before the enemy. It was a harrowing time.
Warspite: Waaah! Wahhh!
(I can't run straight!)
Boxes: "Warspite's Death March"
Apparently, one of her fellow ships thought she was acting as a decoy and was moved.	* Armored cruiser Warrior, heavily damaged earlier in the battle
This malfunction almost became a habit and continued to occur throughout her career.	* During Operation Husky, for example.
Narration: Warspite-san might be a bit of a clumsy girl.
END