Awesome / High School Fleet

• Pretty much any time the Harekaze engages another ship. Outside of the first episode, they're invariably David Versus Goliath engagements.
  • Managing to outmaneuver Graff Spee and disable it long enough to escape during their first engagement
  • Later their plan to disable the ship altogether with a hit to a precise weakpoint, then launching a boarding action to rescue the crew
    • Machi's waterpistol skills in that boarding are a sight to behold.
  • Shooting a salvo of Musashi's shells out of the air
  • Tricking Hiei into running aground as the tide was going out.
  • With its rudder out, using its parachute to spin itself around and slam right into the side of the Musashi.
    • And Harekaze's boarding party was assembled and ready to rock seconds after said slam, even before Mike or Mashiro could actually shout the order to board.
• Not revealed until a later flashback, Moeka's response to the takeover the Musashi. Showing that she earned her spot as captain on the school's most prestigious ship, she and several uninfected members of the crew manage to barricade themselves inside the bridge with enough supplies to hold out for rescue.
• Minami managing to identify the source of the mutinies and developing a cure for the Hate Plague
• Isoroku comes across as little more than a lazy Team Pet most of the time. Put a rodent spreading the Hate Plague in front of him though and he manifests a Slasher Smile while in pursuit.
• Machiko Noma has almost no lines not related to her job of lookout, which mostly involves calling out whatever's on the horizon. Despite this she has a notable fanclub on the ship, who think she's easily the coolest member of the crew. We finally see why during the storming of the Graff Spee, where she spits out a Badass Boast before using Gun Kata to wipe out about a dozen crew at once. Several of those she takes down are later shown to have joined said fan club.
• Mixing awesome with heartwarming, the following exchange in light signals morse code:
  Musashi: "Keep your distance from our ship. It's too dangerous. We still have a large supply of main battery shells."

  (Harekaze engages fifth battle speed towards Musashi)
  Harekaze: "We are coming to rescue your ship. I repeat, we are coming to rescue your ship".

  (heroic music goes full blast; fade to ED)
• The Cavalry coming in the nick of time twice in a row: In episode 11, the outmaneuvered Blue Mermaids fleet somehow manages to reach the Musashi before she can shell Tokyo when it seemed only the Harekaze would been able to intercept, saving her from having to fight the much larger ship alone. Later, Musashi leaves the whole fleet dead in the water and Harekaze has to engage alone anyway in episode 12, an impossible task at which fails, only managing to slow Musashi and buy five precious minutes to the endangered civilians... when suddendly every combatworthy ship of their school (students and instructor) plus the Spee arrive in old-fashioned line of battle, their support allowing Harekaze to continue the fight.
  • And, on the Spee's bridge, Thea Kreuzer puts the Badass in Badass Long Coat.
• The entire anti-piracy operation is one, for both the Blue Mermaids and the High School Fleet.
  • First, there's the Blue Mermaids' stealth incursion to the plant to rescue the hostages, which are held by pirates. They entered the plant using Diver Propulsion Vehicles and then began to non-lethally take out the pirates with tasers. As the Blue Mermaid's effectiveness wasn't elaborated on the main series, this shows how Blue Mermaids became the ones entrusted on the sea's safety.
  • After the hostages are safe, Mafuyu Munetani came to clean up the rest. How did she do that, you ask? She did, by herself, by taking on several pirates, which are wielding assault rifles, mind you, and proceed to beat them senseless with her fists and kicks.
  • Next, is the High School Fleet's attack on the sea fort. How did they manage to destroy the sea fort, with outer shells capable of withstanding strikes of the BFG of both the Yamato and the Musashi? By having the corvette Harekaze to enter the gaping hole on it's side in order to destroy it from the inside.
  • Top marks must be given for the crew of the Harekaze. As there is no enough space for the 36 inch torpedo to reach it's designated target, how did they destroy the sea fort? By jury-rigging a remote controlled guidance system for the torpedo using Minami's board.
  • Finally, who helped the Harekaze got out of the sea fort, which was crumbling after the aforementioned torpedo's strike? Mashiro Munetani, who drove a skipper by herself, crashing it on the blockage in order to clear the path. The OP blasting on full volume in the entire scene is just the icing on the cake.