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Fanfic / Pacific: World War II U.S. Navy Shipgirls

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America's fightingest ships, now in Moe Anthropomorphism form! (Specifically, this is the cover of the Japanese version of Volume 1.)note 

"It was like watching a black hole. Whatever fleet elements we sent in simply disappeared, never to return."
— Cmdr. Cole Davis describing the first Abyssal encounter, June 26, 1950

Pacific: World War II US Navy Shipgirlsnote  (aka Pacific: US Navy Fleet Collection or simply Pacific) is a KanColle fanwork by ''Morgane of the Mists'' and mainly illustrated by ''November/Jeanex''. What began as a small Play-by-Post Game and collection of fan artwork by a small handful of people is now an Alternate Universe Fic/ Expanded Universe to the main Kancolle game by adding ship girls from other countries, in this case mainly from the United States Navy. Or, at least, that's the basic premise. It is currently at two volumes, with the second volume still in the process of being fully released as of September 2015.

In addition to the main work, several supplementary materials have been announced or released. The first is Action Report, a Concept Art Gallery in book form which deals with things like additional backstory, lore of the Pacific universe, and the authors' interpretations of their characters, as well as concept art of the various ship girls. The second is Aeronautica, which features several types of aircraft such as the F6F Hellcat, F4U Corsair, and BTD Destroyer, in addition to featuring things such as the supply fairies for the American ships. As of December 2015, Aeronautica has been released in physical copy form, with Action Report, Volume 2 currently being released both physically and digitally.

The story begins during the start of The Korean War, where the Abyssals make their first move on humanity in the form of a single destroyer. When the United States Seventh Fleet at the time try to fight the threat (assuming it was something the Reds with Rockets were up to), they are subsequently wiped out in a Curb-Stomp Battle, with the handful of survivors of these encounters eventually losing all sanity. Just when all hope seems lost, the first ship girl, in the form of a Moe Anthropomorphism of the battleship USS Iowa, appears and saves the day by single-handedly defeating the lone Abyssal scout. From there, the US Navy decides to establish the Special Task and Evaluation Command (STEC), and more ship girls, starting with New Jersey, begin to appear and give humanity a glimmer of hope.

The first volume can be viewed in its entirety here. An English version has been released on April 1, 2016.

The partial second volume can be viewed here. Alternatively, you can download an e-copy for free at dropbox.

In addition, you can view more artwork at danbooru and the latest updates and discussions at this Himeuta thread. And now has a website here. Now joined by an English-Chinese forum which posts additional updates and info here, as well as a Twitter account. Finally, their YouTube channel can be found here.

Now has a character sheet which can be seen here.

Tropes for this work include:

     Tropes A-M 

  • Contemplate Our Navels: The Northampton sisters' favorite way of killing time.
  • Cool Plane:
    • The aircraft carriers get them per the Kancolle standard. Hornet takes the cake here, by having the unique ability to launch B-25 Mitchells like her historical counterpart.
    • Aeronautica, another supplementary book for the series, features an entire carrier's worth of them.
  • Concept Art Gallery: Action Report, in particular the first volume, serves as this trope in book form. Additionally, there's the himeuta and hon-haka forums on occasion. Both feature early designs of the various ship girls and fairies.
  • Cosmic Horror Story: The more is revealed about the Abyssals, the more it looks like this universe is going down this path. Abyssals are otherworldly beings, alien in appearance and mindset, so wrong they drive normal humans insane from being nearby, so powerful that lone scouts cut through conventional navies with ease, and yet these are but a tiny part of a giant conquering war machine that has crushed who knows how many other worlds, including some with their own shipgirls, before.
  • Covert Group with Mundane Front: STEC. Officially, it's basically the US Navy's research division. The truth is that most of the public and even most of the military don't know what it actually is.
  • Crossover: OCEAN, a crossover between this fic, KanColle canon, and fellow fics Orions and Abyssal.
  • Curb-Stomp Battle: Happens to both the US Navy and the Abyssals in the Back Story.
    • For the US Navy, it was the first encounter with the Abyssal destroyer. Having no idea what its characteristics were, a huge portion of the 7th Fleet was wiped out as a result.
    • On the Abyssal side, it was Iowa's first appearance and subsequent battle with the aforementioned Abyssal destroyer scout.
  • Cute Monster Girl: This Abyssal◊ , as well as the supposed ringleader aka "Artois".
  • Darker and Edgier: To a degree. Compared to the original source material, this fic features elements such as Mind Rape in the backstory, and that's saying a lot already.
  • Dreadful Musician: While Mahan is The Smart Guy for the US Navy ship girls, that doesn't necessarily mean that she's good at playing the guitar◊.
  • Drill Sergeant Nasty: Dolphin, due to her historical counterpart spending a portion of the war as a training ship.
  • Eagleland: A very strong case of Type 1, due to the ship girls' heroic nature. The only one to play Type 2 straight would be Pennsylvania.
  • Early-Installment Weirdness: Some ship girls, most notably Louisiana and the Yorktown sisters, have certain design traits that seem out of place, such as the latter being archers. This is due to being some of the first American ship girls drawn.
  • Easy Logistics: Averted both the shipgirls and the Abyssals are mentioned to have ammunition limits.
  • Eldritch Abomination: The Abyssals as usual. Though Word of God states that, in this universe, they are not resentful spirits of fallen ships, but rather as alien beings from another realm.
  • Embarrassing Nickname: Phoenix has "Phoo-Bird".
  • The Engineer: Narwhal acts as one.
  • Erotic Eating: The way Hornet eats her lollipops.
  • Evil Is Bigger: Abyssals, or at least the ones shown so far, are not humanoid sized in this series: the person in the figure is 170 cm tall.◊ Averted with the Humanoid Abyssals.
  • Exactly What It Says on the Tin: It's a story mainly about ship girls from the United States Navy.
  • Eyepatch of Power: Chester has one over her right eye.
  • The Face: Enterprise.
  • Fairy Companion: Specialist fairies focus on a designated role, distinguishable by dress and will actively interact with each other, ship girls and STEC personnel.
  • Fashionable Asymmetry: Louisville's and O'Bannon's leggings.
  • Fiery Redhead: San Francisco.
  • Fish out of Temporal Water: Most ship girls are this, due to in part to their Past-Life Memories.
  • Flag Bikini: Narwhal's and Surcouf's attire.
  • Foil:
    • Some of the American ship girls are this to their Japanese counterparts. The best example here is Iowa, who owns a similar, albeit larger, blue Parasol of Prettiness in contrast to Yamato's own red one. This image◊ even shows the two squaring off.
    • Maury to Shimakaze. The former even comments on wanting to challenge to the latter in a race.
    • Northampton and Chester to Mikuma and Mogami, respectively. The former are the more reserved and graceful to the latter's tomboy and ditz.
    • Langley to Houshou, being the first carriers of their respective fleets.
    • Pennsylvania and Arizona to Nagato and Mutsu, due to their similar histories.
  • Fourth-Wall Mail Slot: The Mail Call section of the official website occasionally has the girls directly addressing the audience.
  • Friend to All Living Things: Shaw is known for taking care of both injured sailors and seabirds.
  • Gender-Blender Name: Just like its source material. Most notable example is Chester, named after a US city, as well as all of the Destroyers.
  • Genius Bruiser: Mahan, though she's more on the genius than the bruiser side.
  • Giant Space Flea from Nowhere: Both the Abyssals and ship girls are this, at least during their arrival in the 1950s. Played straight with Iowa, who pretty came out of nowhere and saved the US Seventh Fleet.
  • Girl Next Door: Nevada is described as such by "November".
  • Girlish Pigtails:
    • Nevada's hairstyle, which fits her small figure.
    • Houston's hairstyle.
    • Tashkent's is a mix of this and Braids of Action.
    • Hornet has two smaller ones that resemble an insect's antennae.
  • Glamorous Wartime Singer: Tennessee is one.
  • Going Native: Much like U-511, U-2513 ends up in a foreign navy, in this case under the American one, and adapts pretty quickly at that.
  • Going Commando: Helena, St. Louis, and Wisconsin are clearly wearing nothing under their dresses.
  • Government Agency of Fiction: Special Task and Evaluation Command (STEC), the current page image for the trope, is the agency responsible for handling the US ship girls, which operates under the auspices of the US Navy.
  • Go Mad from the Revelation: This was the eventual fate of those who survived their encounter with the Abyssals. That was, until New Jersey came along.
  • Granola Girl: San Francisco is believed to be this by her peers, but it's subverted on account that she actually isn't.
  • Gratuitous Latin: The British fleetgirl program uses the Royal Navy's motto: "Si vis pacem, para bellum" - "If you want peace, prepare for war".
  • Guilt-Free Extermination War: The abyssals have no qualms about the genocide of humanity and the shipgirls correspondingly have no concerns of their own about killing them right back. In fact, any abyssal that might start having doubts quickly gets subject to He Knows Too Much.
  • The Gunslinger: Nevada and Houston.
  • Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Enterprise and Maury play this trope completely straight.
  • Headbutting Heroes: Played with. While the USN ship girls and IJN kanmusu are, as a whole, cooperating with one another due to the Abyssal threat, it's the individual ship girls and kanmusu (ex. Enterprise and Zuikaku) who keep headbutting with one another.
  • Hero of Another Story: The IJN kanmusu, British fleet girls, and Soviet fleetgirl program, who are Out of Focus but have several mentions in passing.
  • Hidden Buxom: Iowa's cup size is labelled as "classified", hinting that they're actually bigger than what's being presented to us. And quite possibly bigger than say... Yamato, at that.
  • Historical Domain Character: Harry S. Truman is set to appear in an upcoming 4-koma, alongside Iowa.
  • Home Base: STEC headquarters is Naval Base Avalon, a mobile floating fortress. it is in fact run by a mixture of magic and technology and can produce mist that cloaks it from abyssals.
  • Hope Bringer:
    • Iowa and New Jersey in the Back Story.
    • Enterprise is basically this for the rest of the USN ships.
  • Hot-Blooded: Houston is a downplayed example.
  • House Fey: "Standard" Fairies. They are uncommunicative, mostly ignore humans in favor of their specific tasks. They go about refiing materials, and repairing any equipment on base, even the admirals at times, building stuff, and gathering food while not milling about or napping.
  • Humanoid Abomination: There is at least one human-looking abyssal◊. Her armor and weapons are grown organically from her body and can be hidden as well. Her mentality is not likely to be much more human.
  • I Have Many Names: Enterprise has "The Big E", "Lucky E", and "The Grey Ghost".
  • Idiot Hair:
    • Mahan and Shaw have it, though interestingly the former's isn't always depicted in artwork.
    • Edsall.
    • Sculpin.
  • Improbable Weapon User: O'Bannon and her trusty potatoes. She throws said potatoes like hand grenades at her enemies.
  • Island Base: One called Avalon is the main base of operations for the American ship girls.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold:
    • Pennsylvania has shades of this. While initially looking like your typical Alpha Bitch, she actually has a pretty nice side to her, provided you can tolerate her behavior long enough.
    • O'Bannon only likes to play jokes on people who deserve it, and is a really nice person by heart.
  • Juggling Loaded Guns: Chester does this in her 4-koma with Maury's shield, resulting in Arizona getting hit by the torpedoes loaded in it◊.
  • Kill It with Fire: Phoenix's Signature Weapon is an M2 Flamethrower.
  • Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: Maury's shield, which is clearly based on Steve Rogers' shield, to the point that Chester recites the Captain America theme while throwing it like a toy.◊
  • The Masquerade: This article makes it clear that the powers that have shipgirls are still playing things close to the chest as far as publicity about the abyssal threat is concerned.
  • The Medic: Shaw does this with improvised methods.
  • Meido: The Colorado class is clearly modeled after this archetype.
  • Mid-Season Upgrade: Enterprise's remodeled version counts, being based on her post-1943 configuration. Before and after.
  • Mildly Military: Zig-zagged. While STEC itself was founded by the US Navy, not to mention its human members all being part of the US military, its the ship girls themselves that aren't so keen with military regulations.
  • Military Superhero: Rather than go for the traditional Mecha Musume depiction, Pacific depicts them more as a cross between this trope and Super-Soldier done in a surprisingly realistic manner.
  • Mind Rape: Abyssals produce an aura of terror, with the Nightmare class ones have a far more advanced version that produces illusions and visions that very quickly cause humans to Go Madfromthe Revelation in an estimated radius of 50 to 75 kilometers. They can focus as a beam attack, currently the effects are unknown.
  • Moe Anthropomorphism: Like its source material, of ships from World War II. In this case, they're all US Navy ships.
  • More Dakka: Chicago has a Thompson submachine gun.
  • Ms. Fanservice: California, to the point that she could give even Shimakaze a run for her money.
  • Multinational Team: The production team themselves, along with being on both sides of the political spectrum. Morgane is a conservative American. Sune is an outspoken Japanese ultranationalist with IJA heritage. Zeroblaze is a fervent Chinese Communist. November and Sima are also Chinese.
  • The Multiverse: Supplementary materiel released on the website reveals that the universe depicted in currently released material is one of many that have come under attack by the Abyssals in this work. We're even shown what seems to be Kongou from one of those alternate universes.
  • My Greatest Second Chance: Just like its source material, this applies to some of the ship girls (such as Arizona and Houston) who were lost in some of the early battles in the Pacific War.
  • Mystical White Hair: Northampton, Chester, Missouri, and the humanoid Abyssal.

     Tropes N-Z 
  • Native Americans: Oklahoma has several references to them, such as a feather.
  • Non-Uniform Uniform: The ship girls don't have standardized uniforms, but they do have a USN or STEC logo sewn onto their clothes instead in order to identify them as members of said organizations.
  • Nuke 'em: Averted. President Harry S. Truman in the Backstory specifically ordered the US Military NOT to use Nukes on the Abyssals, as that would have more-or-less spelled World War III.
  • Oh, Crap!: Essentially the overall reaction of the US Navy upon enountering the first Abyssal up close. See Apocalyptic Log for further details.
  • "Oh, Crap!" Smile: Chester does this after accidentally hitting Arizona with Maury's shield (which is loaded with live torpedoes).
  • Ojou Ringlets: New Jersey has them.
  • Oral Fixation:
    • Hornet and lollipops.
    • Narwhal keeps a blade of straw in her mouth.
  • Original Character: And an entire fleet's worth of them, too. If it weren't for the fact that this work was largely based on Kancolle, not to mention the Abyssals still being the main antagonists, this could have very well been an original work in and of itself.
  • Our Ghosts Are Different: The Unique fairies. They claim to be historical figures, look like a Super-Deformed version of them and possess vast knowledge of person details of the person. STEC isn't quite sure as if they are a copy, imprinting, somehow linked or imitating the person in question. They are also the only fairies able to communicate with humans.
  • Parasol of Prettiness: Iowa has a large blue one, in contrast to Yamato's small red one.
  • Past-Life Memories: Makes a huge part of their personality. To the point that the author herself stated that, for example, Enterprise and Hiryu working together would be almost impossible given their pasts as Arch-Enemies.
  • Patriotic Fervor: Maury, who even waves around an American flag. Edsall has a costume that puts Maury's to shame.
  • Perpetual Smiler: Chester, who is always is a cheerful mood.
  • Phenotype Stereotype: Several, but the most notable examples are New Jersey and Des Moines. Both of them have blonde hair and blue eyes.
  • Pint Sized Power House:
    • Nevada, in comparison to the other battleships.
    • Enterprise in comparison to her sisters and most of the IJN carriers. Her remodeled version subverts this.
  • The Pioneer: Langley, fittingly enough, given that her real-life counterpart was the first American carrier ever built.
  • Play-Along Prisoner: Iowa in her second 4-koma, who only had herself handcuffed by the Secret Service out of good will.
  • Prim and Proper Bun: Pennsylvania's hairstyle.
  • Proper Lady: Iowa certainly has the looks, grace, and clothes of one. And she doesen't lose her grace and cool when fighting Abyssals either.
  • Proper Tights with a Skirt: Mahan and West Virginia have black stockings, while Edsall uses white ones instead.
  • Pyromaniac: Phoenix, duh.
  • Red Baron: Some of the ship girls retain their monikers from their historical counterparts, such as "The Grey Ghost" for Enterprise, and "Galloping Ghost of the Java Coast" for Houston.
  • Red Eyes, Take Warning:
    • Played straight with Phoenix.
    • Enterprise, but only if you're an Abyssal or IJN kanmusu.
    • Dolphin, but it's mostly due to her Drill Sergeant Nasty personality.
  • Red Oni, Blue Oni:
    • The St. Louis sisters are this, with Helena as the red to St. Louis' blue. Their eye colors should make this obvious.
    • Maury (Blue Oni) and O'Bannon (Red Oni).
    • Among the submarines, there's Sailfish (Red Oni) and Sculpin (Blue Oni).
  • Redshirt Army: The US Seventh Fleet in the Backstory. Justified since they had no idea on how to combat the Abyssal destroyer, due to it being completely alien to them.
  • Religious and Mythological Theme Naming: The most notable are Phoenix and Helena, to the point that their outfits are also mythological-themed.
  • The Rival:
    • Maury to Shimakaze, especially with regards to anything related to racing.
    • Again, Maury to Shigure, due to having actually been enemies in the past.
    • Enterprise to Zuikaku as well, with regards to their Past-Life Memories as arch-enemies.
  • Rose-Haired Sweetie: Mahan again.
  • Running Gag:
    • Louisville's name getting pronounced wrong. To the point that the authors themselves suffered the same problem.
    • Iowa's cup size being labelled as "classified" is in the process of becoming this.
  • Sailor Fuku: Not a big surprise here, considering its source material. Interestingly, its the Heavy Cruisers (barring Houston) who make use of them the most.
  • Screw Destiny: In contrast to Akagi's stance of fate (or at least to one of her quotes in the anime), Enterprise does not subscribe to the same idea, believing that the future is shaped by you, and you alone.
  • Sexy Backless Outfit: New Jersey and Edsall's outfits.
  • Shadow Archetype: Subverted. The Abyssals in this work are completely different from the Allied ships, and its still left ambiguous as to what they are exactly.
  • She Is All Grown Up: Enterprise's remodeled version.
  • Shout-Out: Several.
  • Shown Their Work: Hooo boy, where to start? A lot of research was done on each ship, to the point that their personalities have a lot of historical references to them.
  • Slasher Smile: Dolphin and Phoenix are depicted this way in their respective artwork.
  • Southern Belle:
  • Southern-Fried Private:
    • Narwhal, down to the straw in her mouth and stereotypical southern accent.
    • Louisiana, though her case is downplayed in that she also has features of a Southern Belle.
    • Houston, in addition to being a Cowgirl and a Southern-Fried Genius.
  • The Strategist: Mahan's specialty. Seems to be inherited from her namesake's work.
  • Stripperific:
    • Helena's costume.
    • Lexington.
    • St. Louis.
    • Chicago's costume, at least in comparison to the other Northamptons.
    • O'Bannon, but fortunately for her case it averts Vapor Wear.
  • Super-Soldier: The ship girls are a cross between this and Military Superhero.
  • Team Mom:
    • What makes a huge part of Langley's personality is her tendency to care for the other ship girls.
    • Edsall is one for the other American destroyers.
    • Despite her Drill Sergeant Nasty personality, Dolphin is one for the other submarines.
  • Technician vs. Performer: Surprisingly present here in the form of the USN ship girls getting more modern looks and better-looking equipment than their IJN counterparts. Compare Enterprise to Zuikaku for example.
  • Theme Naming: Battleships are named after US states, Cruisers for US cities, Destroyers after fallen sailors, and Submarines after a species of aquatic animal. Carriers, meanwhile, vary, though the common point lies in that their names are inherited from previous ships.
  • There Is Another: This is basically New Jersey's sudden appearance in the backstory.
  • The Stoic: Iowa, in keeping with her image as an Aloof Dark-Haired Girl, almost always maintains a slight frown.
  • Those Were Only Their Scouts: The Abyssals have not yet arrived in force, making every battle so far this trope.
  • Token Mini-Moe: Enterprise to her sister ship Hornet. Just compare her to the latter. That is, until her refit.
  • Tomboy and Girly Girl: Chester is the tomboy, while Northampton is the girly girl.
  • Tomboy with a Girly Streak: Maury, surprisingly enough, who actually goes shopping for clothes with Tashkent.
  • Unreliable Narrator: Pennsylvania's profile and backstory in Volume 1 is full of exaggerated claims of her role During the War (which STEC immediately lampshades to the readers).
  • Vapor Wear: Just look carefully at Helena's and St. Louis' costume for a moment.
    • And now, Lexington's costume makes the former's look modest by comparison.
  • We ARE Struggling Together: Downplayed. The US and Japan are in this sort of relation with one another regarding the Abyssal threat, though this doesen't affect their alliance directly. This is thanks in part to the Japan of Pacific's timeline being more militaristic and less prosperous than Real Life Japan.
  • When It All Began: Specifically, on June 25, 1950, around the beginning of The Korean War, when the first Abyssal appeared, as well as the Seventh Fleet's investigation and subsequent destruction after making contact with it.
  • Womanchild: Chester, Chester, Chester. Just look at all the things she does in the 4-komas...
  • Yonkoma: Several, which usually show Morgane, in Author Avatar form, introducing us to a US Navy ship girl of particular interest.
  • You Are Number 6: Literally with Enterprise (CV-6). Also applies to every single ship girl due to the US numbering system on the original ships.
    • A more specific example would be the V-boats' historical counterparts, before switching to the current names they have.
  • Youthful Freckles: Shaw and Lousiana both have them.

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