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The County-class

Com Mons: The blue rarity ships of this class are very common in both Heavy and to a lesser degree, special construction pools, and with how most event pools are based on one of the two, expect to see them often.
Glass Cannon: Generally tends to be how the Kent and London subclasses play - they're Heavy Cruisers with light armor, so they not only take a crapload of damage from most shots, their evasion is bottom-barrel for the most part (barring lv110-120). Most of them make up for it by having skills that allow them to do stupid amounts of damage for their rarity (with post-retrofit Suffolk really taking the crown), but London suffers from this harder than others due to her skillset (until her refit where she becomes tankier and much more damaging). The light armor is part of a Historical In-Joke on the ships' age/treaty obeying, particularly compared to other nations.
Moveset Clone: Ultimately subverted. The Rare County-class trio of Kent, Suffolk, and Shropshire have almost identical stats^* and skills (Suffolk pre-retrofit has only Double Gun like Shropshire does, while Kent distinguishes herself with Assault Order instead). But since Suffolk has a retrofit that gives her a third skill, it basically means that Shropshire's left in the dust as a pre-retrofit Suffolk moveset clone, and Kent's still relatively unique.

Kent-subclass

Meido: Their motif appears to be waitress or hostess club-themed maids, though on retrofit, Suffolk's outfit becomes more that of a real maid's. They are, however, still part of the Royal Maids, being present during Sirius' quest line while the rest of the maids are teaching Sirius, cleaning under Sheffield's supervision in Sheffield's quest line, and being shown as part of them in Queen's Orders. Strangely enough, Minato Aqua's special line, which triggers with all other RN maids, doesn't include Kent in the requirement.

Kent (68)

Voiced by: Hisako Kanemoto (Japanese), Jessica Cavanagh (English)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kent_al.png

ID: No. 121

Rarity: Rare

Artist: Kaede Yumesaki

"Hey! Commander, I'm Kent! How have you been lately? Whether good or bad, since Kent is here it's going to be all right!"

Com Mons: "HEY SHIKIKAN" will haunt your limited build gacha rolls. This is a result of most limited gachas being based on either the heavy or special pools, both of which contain heavy cruisers and have relatively few rare (blue-rarity) ships, so when you roll a blue, there are pretty good odds that it's Kent, Suffolk, Norfolk, or Shropshire.
Hidden Depths: She's actually a competent if spirited secretary, able to fix buttons (due to Suffolk having issues with hers), and does her "Contestant Kent" thing in part to raise everyone's spirits.
Historical In-Joke: The fact the actual HMS Kent transported a Tiger to a zoo is referenced in both a line and in her character quest (where she has a rather realistic stuffed one).
Passionate Sports Girl: She often refers to herself as "Contestant Kent" and most of her lines have something to do with athletics.
Vapor Wear: Does not seem to wear anything under her shirt. It's a nod to her thin armoring scheme.

Suffolk (55)

Voiced by: Akari Uehara (Japanese), Sarah Roach (English)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/suffolk_al.png

^{Suffolk (Retrofit)}

ID: No. 122

Rarity: Rare

Artist: Kaede Yumesaki

"Where am I...? Ahh, excuse me! Do you kno... Oh! You're the commander? This is great! I'm Suffolk, I finally found you!"

Animal Motifs: The sheep.
Animation Bump: One of the few ships that has multiple expressions when not in chibi form, and she has a fair number as well. She's notable as she has this before it became commonplace in newer ships, and even gets shown off in the intro.
Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: She often gets distracted watching the sky.
Fanservice Pack: Her retrofit at least emphasizes her curves a great deal more if not increase them.
Glass Cannon: The queen of it among her sisters. All three of her skills are focused on offense and her retrofit further skyrockets her offense for her rarity, but her decent HP is offset by only light armor and classically low heavy cruiser evasion.
More Dakka: Her "Double Gun" skill adds another salvo when triggered. It's a skill commonly found on Eagle Union heavy cruisers.
The Slacker: Sirius' sub story has her revealing some tendency of slacking, offering lessons on slacking and avoiding work to Sirius.Further shown in her brief apperance in the Operation Siren storyline, where the only reason she's fighting hard is so she can go back to slacking in the port.

London-subclass

London (69)

Voiced by: Naomi Mukaiyama (Japanese), Caitlin Glass (English), Desireé González (Latin American Spanish)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/london_al.png

^{London (Retrofit)}

ID: No. 119

Rarity: Elite

Artist: Shi-Chen

"First ship of the London class, London. Member of the First Cruising Fleet, while also having took part in battles of North Atlantic and Pacific missions. If there's a mission, rest assured and let me handle it!"

Achilles' Heel:
- Her armor. Her skill design means she wants to be a supportive unit and is mostly there to buff the firepower of her fellows. However, unlike many other ships with similar aura effects... she remains a Heavy Cruiser with light armor. This means that not only does she take a ton of damage when hit with anything that isn't an AP shell, but her evasion is largely crap. And unlike her sisters, pre-refit she doesn't have Glass Cannon gameplay to make up for it. As a result, she's inferior to someone like, say, Leipzig (who has a similar aura skill that needs a bit more investment to be really worthwhile, but also possesses three times London's evasion while having equivalent HP). Once you refit her, she does gain enough HP to not suffer from this quite so badly (and gains enough offense to justify Glass Cannon status).
Art Evolution: Her refit shows how the artist has come.
"Blind Idiot" Translation: As of launch, the English version of the game officially translates her as a member of the "First Cruising Fleet", rather than the actual historical name of the unit, "1st Cruiser Squadron".
Breakout Character: Her somewhat unexpected retrofit made her much more popular among fan community.^note As a result, when the Crosswave support unit DLC was announced... guess who was right there in retrofit form◊, alongside basically a who's-who of some of the most popular ships in the entire game?
Fanservice Pack: Her refit has her being more fashionable with her curves more clearly emphasized and her wedding dress takes it even further, emphasizing her bust, showing her generous cleavage and has her posed to draw attention to her long, shapely legs.
Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: The responsible sibling to Shropshire, but not so much according to Sussex, whom she's the foolish sibling to.
Historical In-Joke: One of her secretary lines has her ask the Commander if they know where Amethyst is, stating that she can't find her anywhere. This is a reference to the Yangtze Incident, during which HMS Amethyst was attacked by PLA forces and ran aground. HMS London was involved in a failed attempt to rescue the Amethyst^note
Hotter and Sexier: Her refit art has more emphasis on her curves and is generally more stylish.
Nice Girl: Noted for being kind, sometimes too much (in Sussex's opinion).
Square Race, Round Class: Post refit she's able to trade out her torpedoes for a secondary destroyer gun (as seen with most Eagle Union cruisers among a few others), but the big thing is it retains the torpedoes equip slot's 160% efficiency rating. This is notable as most other frontline ships with such secondaries only have efficiencies of 50-60%. This results in a very noticeable boost in her DPS. The main tradeoff is that she doesn't get Main Gun Battery+1 like other gunboats... which simply has the effect of avoiding making her completely overpowered. Her 160% secondaries ensure she can keep pace with even the best Eagle gunboats.
Support Party Member: She buffs the firepower of the front line. Notable is that she can buff all the vanguard ships regardless of their class, which makes her rather easy to slot in to a lot of setups.

Sussex (96)

Voiced by: Hikaru Aono

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sussex_al.png

ID: No. 337

Rarity: Rare

Artist: ALLENES

"Are you the Commander? Hmph, I'll be up front with the ugly words first, I'm not easily swayed like my big sister. I, Sussex, am very strict!"

Big Sister Worship: While she may criticize London's kindness, she does look up to her and seeks to make things easier for her.
Cool Board: In her swimsuit skin, her rigging is a surfboard.
Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: The responsible sibling to Shropshire, and, to a lesser degree, towards London.
Nice Girl: Downplayed. While she is strict at times, she only does it because she wants to help others improve or to reduce the stress on her big sister. She's never overly critical or unfair, she's completely willing to compliment the commander on a job well done without any hesitation, she takes the blame if the fleet she's in is defeated, and she cares about the well being of the fleet.
Tsundere: Has a few undertones of this in her secretary and introduction lines, and with her blonde hair, she fits the classic look too, especially in her two skins, though this is subverted in her love lines, where she mostly focuses on London.

Shropshire (73)

Voiced by: Ibuki Kido

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/shropshire_al.png

ID: No. 120

Rarity: Rare

Artist: Shi-Chen

"London class' youngest, Shropshire, reporting for duty~ I've been told that I am air-headed and gullible, so I'll be giving you some problems~ Well then, my time awaits~"

Attention Whore: Her biography somewhat implies this, mentioning how giving her a little bit of attention will earn big points with her, but several of her quotes avert this, telling the commander that they should pay attention to a returning commission team, or that they should praise the others as well.
Cute Clumsy Girl: Invokes this to make herself look cuter, and even comments on the idea.
The Fake Cutie: All but admits that much "cute" behaviour is something she purposefully puts on.
Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: The foolish to both of her sisters, being more focused on flirting and pretending to be an airhead than working hard or helping the commander.
Shout-Out: Her quote for when she uses a skill is "Ganbara Knight", which is a Yugioh card
The Tease: She flirts quite openly with the Commander, and in almost every single line she has, but is quite upset in her "Special Touch" quote.

Norfolk-subclass

Norfolk (78)

Voiced by: Hiromi Sakuma (Japanese), Rachel Thompson (English), Marysol Lobo (Latin American Spanish)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/norfolk_al.png

ID: No. 123

Rarity: Rare

Artist: Yumesaki Kaede

"H-hello, Commander... I'm... Norfolk... Um... Uh... It's a pleasure to meet you..."

Historical In-Joke: Her clothing seems to be more suited for cold weather, with a hood and a caplet, referencing the fact that she primarily saw service in the North Atlantic, in the North Sea, and near the Arctic.
In the Hood: Her red hood is one of the most obvious things about her.
Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: Her Forward Armor skill releases a shield that blocks a certain number of hits before it wears off.
Shrinking Violet: Above quote sums it up well. Why exactly she's depicted as this is unknown, considering the ship actually did a fair number of important things, including directly engaging and scoring hits on the battleship Scharnhorst (and receiving hits in return), acting as a flagship on two different occasions, providing escort for the difficult Arctic convoys, and transporting the Norwegian Royal Family back to Norway after their five-years in exile. And, let us not forget her most notable exploit: her contribution to the pursuit and sinking of Bismarck.
Stone Wall: Unlike her Glass Cannon siblings, she's this trope with medium armor and a single unique defensive skill besides the generic All Out Assault. Notably, she has the absolute lowest Firepower and relevant Torpedo stat of all heavy cruisers, regardless of rarity (even Prinz Eugen), but the 7th-highest HP stat (3rd-highest in her rarity) of all heavy cruisers.

Dorsetshire (40)

Voiced by: Manami Numakura

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dorsetshire_al.png

ID: No. 124

Rarity: Elite

Artist: Yumesaki Kaede

"Hello, I'm Norfolk's little sister, Dorsetshire~! I look more mature than my sister? Surely you jest! She's my role model!"

Big Little Sister: She is the youngest of the County-class siblings, but looking at her, it does not seem to be the case, especially compared to Norfolk. Lampshaded by her introduction quote.
Big Sister Worship: She adores Norfolk and always speaks highly of her, calling her a role model. While it does seem odd due to how the game depicts Norfolk, those who know the history of HMS Norfolk know that she has a fair number of achievements to her name (detailed above).
Collection Sidequest: She's unlocked as a playable ship only after 20 total stars have been obtained from the other 5 County-class cruisers (London, Shropshire, Kent, Suffolk, Norfolk) ^note — a free copy is then given as a reward, and future copies can be obtained from the build menu to help with limit-breaking.
Critical Hit Class: Her Journey's End skill increases the critical hit rate and critical damage of her torpedoes.
Mighty Glacier: While she has the second-lowest Firepower of all heavy cruisers (barely above her sister Norfolk), she has a critical hit and damage buff for Torpedoes and the tie-highest Torpedo stat and fifth-highest HP stat among heavy cruisers, with medium armor to boot. Besides the practical difference in her Glass Cannon siblings' specialization in Firepower instead of Torpedoes, Dorsetshire is a worthy reward and thematic combination of Norfolk's tankiness and her sisters' damage.

The York-class

Chained by Fashion: They get anchor chains on retrofit.
Fashionable Asymmetry: They wear one white and one black stocking and legging except in York's pre-retrofit form (where she wears two black stockings). Post-retrofit, they notably mirror each other — Exeter wears white on her right leg, black on her left, while York does the opposite.
Ms. Fanservice: Downplayed compare to other examples, but both sisters (particularly their refits) are designed to be rather eye-catching with their outfits which are both exotic and call attention to their curves.
Royals Who Actually Do Something: Exeter is the one who references it more often, but both are members of the Royal Family.

York (90)

Voiced by: Nozomi Yamane

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/york_al.png

^{York (Retrofit)}

ID: No. 125

Rarity: Elite

Artist: Mkiiiiii

"If you were able to find me then you are also a user of the Force, no? I'm York, the magic-wielding York-class heavy cruiser. Let us fight against Fortune together."

Chuunibyou:
- This is the main reason behind her various mannerisms and naming of otherwise normal skills (her skill being a very slight modification of her sister's skill... which is just a stardard Full Firepower offensive skill). Subverted by the fact that she does seemingly have the ability to use "magic", as does her sister.
- In her school skin, she now sports an eyepatch (in the shape of a blue rose, no less), makes dramatic hand gestures, is in a Sailor Fuku of darkness (which also strategically shows some tummy), and in her dialogue, she has a Tendency to turn Words into Proper Nouns with Capitalization so as to make them Important Terms in her Self-Narrative^note. And she also, uh, is shown telekinetically manipulating her rigging in individual pieces (and this isn't just the splash art, she does this in her dorm and deployment animations), which nobody else has been shown as able to do yet.
- Her swimsuit is also very showy in a way that a teenager who knows they're attractive would want to show off, it uses gratuitous roses and rose petals, also has gratuitous ribbon that functionally does nothing but looks cool, and she's wearing finger-nail polish of darkness!
Eyepatch of Power: Wears one in her school skin, as part of her chuuni persona.
Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: The foolish one to Exeter's responsible one. She's a chuuni to such a degree that she puts Jamaica to shame, never seems to break character (or, more accurately, that's probably not a "character"), and it can actually be hard to tell what each of her secretary alerts refer to at first.
Glass Cannon: While she doesn't have it as bad as Wichita and post-retrofit Suffolk, she has an offensive ability rather than a defensive one despite having medium armor. And her rather low luck stat will hinder attempts to tank.
Historical In-Joke: Her biography mentions that one day she hopes to conquer the Nightmare of Suda Bay. HMS York was wrecked by Italian explosive motorboats^noteyes, those are a thing in Suda Bay, Crete.
Large Ham: She tends to be overly dramatic.
Shout-Out: Her design and voice lines make her out to be like a Jedi Knight (down to referencing the Force) and maybe Owain. She even does the Owain pose on retrofit.
You Don't Look Like You:
- As is standard, York and Exeter both recieved new spash art for their retrofits, but while Mkiiiiii & Windforcelan still do the art (primarily Mk in York's case), these were done in a different style in order to bring the two girls' appearances more in-line with each other. In York's case the difference is so drastic that many players didn't recognize her at first, looking noticeably taller and more mature from her pre-retrofit art. (Now, the redesign is in line with a proposed, and somewhat NSFW, loading screen that Mk drew just prior to the game's original Chinese launch but was never taken up, showing that Mk was revising the girls' design not long after first submitting them; a couple of later art pieces (available on Mk's twitter) show that Mk greatly preferred the redesign, and so went with it even if the sudden transition was a bit jarring.)
- York's Truth Seeker◊ skin from a little later in 2019 does try, a bit, to square the two perspectives: she's got hair that's straighter and a bit more in line with her original design (though is now an even darker chestnut), and her proportions are a bit more in line with her original depiction without being quite so "noodly", while her face (her eyes in particular) and skin tone are straight from her retrofit depiction.
- Her swimsuit skin can also be rather shocking in this regard to people who only know her through her initial art; however, it is much more in keeping with all of Mkiiiiii's post-launch York art (though unlike Truth Seeker, it leans much more toward her retrofit appearance) and while her bust might seem "ample", it is in fact in keeping with her measurements in both her retrofit and Truth Seeker!
- The biggest example, though, would be when artists other than Mk draw her: this loading screen◊ from around the time of "Scherzo" caused a lot of confusion since the taller girl is meant to be York, but she's got almost black hair, her bust is wrong, she's got hair ribbons she never uses elsewhere, and she's seemingly taller than Haruna (which, in her original art especially and in Mk's other art, wouldn't quite be right). The only indications that it's York are the green eyes, the messy twintails and the asymmetry on her gloves, since everyone is in non-standard outfits, to boot. This actually led to some confusion on release of the screen since some thought it was an entirely new shipgirl being teased, since everyone else was recognizable at a glance!

Exeter (68)

Voiced by: Ai Kakuma

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/exeter_al.png

^{Exeter (Retrofit)}

ID: No. 126

Rarity: Elite

Artist: Mkiiiiii

"I'm Exeter, the second ship of the York-class heavy cruisers. I swear on the name of the Royal Navy, that I'll be an asset to your cause!"

Balance Buff: As mentioned below, the "Giant Hunter" skill was reworked to be more usable.
Big Little Sister: Is very mature looking, especially compared to her sister, who could be mistaken for being as young as or younger than some destroyers. She also acts far more mature than her older sister. Downplayed with their retrofit designs bringing their looks more in line with each other, though Exeter is still more mentally mature.
Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: The responsible one to York's foolish. She's focussed, hard-working, has a strong sense of duty, down-to-earth, and quite sensible (to the point that she asks the commander if she should change her outfit, as her skirt's too long and keeps getting wet while at sea).
Historical In-Joke: Several of her lines mention that she's a member of the Royal Family. The city of Exeter was firmly in Royalist hands for most of the English Civil War, and was one of the last Royalist cities to fall into Parliamentarian hands.
Status Buff: Her Defensive Order skill temporarily increases the entire fleet's defense. And after The Dec 22nd update, her post refit "Giant Hunter" skill increases her Evasion and Torpedo stats.
Taking You with Me: Defied. During the second stage of the "Pursuit of Graf Spee" event, she gets critically injured and intends to ram the Graf Spee to finish them both off, but Ajax (who is commanding the operation) orders her to return to base to get repaired instead.
Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: With Ajax during the "Pursuit of Graf Spee" event as they hunt the titular ship.

The Cheshire-class

Cheshire

Voiced by: Shizuka Ishigami

ID: Plan 013

Rarity: Priority

Artist:

"Meeeoooow! I haven't slept like that in forever! Hrm? Are you the one who woke me from my sleep? Woohoo, that makes you my owner! "Why?" Because I've totally fallen for you, duh!"

Anti-Air: She's an Anti-air Heavy Cruiser, but she averts the usual downsides to ships focused in such as she's as much a threat to surface ships as she is to planes.
Cat Girl: Akashi's rival in this regard (only missing the "nya" Verbal Tic), Cheshire looks and acts very catlike in general. It is a reference to the Cheshire Cat. Her barrage even has paws in it and her English script was originally filled with catish puns not present anywhere else.
The Ditz: It's clear from her lines that she's not the brightest sort. It may be a nod to her reputation in World of Warships as a "stupid ship".
Love at First Sight: From her intro line, she takes a shine very fast to the commander. She has no problems with special touches beyond being surprised in her base skin.
Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: Cat Maid Heavy Cruiser with both traits in ample showing- basically what you might get if Yamashiro and Suffolk did a fusion dance.

The Drake-class

Drake

Voiced by: Asami Imai

ID: Plan 014

Rarity: Decisive

Artist:

"So you're the Commander? Seems you've got some backbone. I'm the Royal Navy heavy cruiser, Drake, and I'll be joining your fleet. Just making sure, you will deploy me, right?"

Archaic Weapon for an Advanced Age: Brandishes a flintlock pistol, which was long obsolete even at the time of World War II, let alone in Azur Lane's Schizo Tech setting.
Armor-Piercing Attack: Her Flintlock Burst skill bypasses the rotating shields many enemy elites and bosses deploy.
Impossible Hourglass Figure: Her "The Golden Hind's Respite" skin puts significant emphasis on her...well, Golden Hind. So much so that it is one of the very few skins in the game whose Special Touch location is not on the shipgirl's breasts, but her butt.
Life Drain: Heals herself for a portion of the damage dealt by her Flintlock Burst.
Named After Somebody Famous: She is named after Francis Drake. Meanwhile, her swimsuit The Golden Hind's Respite is named after Francis Drake's ship, The Golden Hind.
Stance System: When she is the lead vanguard ship, she immediately gains a large bonus to her Firepower, Evasion, and Reload. When she isn't the lead, she can still gain the same buffs, but she has to build it up over time via sinking enemy ships.

Characters / Azur Lane Royal Navy Heavy Cruisers

Kent-subclass

Kent (68)

Voiced by: Hisako Kanemoto (Japanese), Jessica Cavanagh (English)

Suffolk (55)

Voiced by: Akari Uehara (Japanese), Sarah Roach (English)

London-subclass

London (69)

Voiced by: Naomi Mukaiyama (Japanese), Caitlin Glass (English), Desireé González (Latin American Spanish)