Thanks a lot for the translation, I have to say that the Chikuma of this artist reminds me a lot of Maya from Arpeggio, is it just my impression?
Siscon Heavy Cruiser
Chikuma, the second Tone-class cruiser who loved her sister very much. Basically, heavy cruisers are named after mountains, but because Tone-class is based on the Mogami-class light cruiser design, they're named after rivers.
I'm not sure about the height difference between fleet girl version of Tone and Chikuma, but small elder sister and big younger sister looks nice isn't it ? Just… that habit of calling when there's nobody around is…
* Tone-class are originally 5th and 6th ship of Mogami class. But the Japanese learned failures in Mogami design, and no longer abiding London Naval Treaty, could build the ship heavier.
** Chikuma is one of the girls whose line keep referring to her sister. See post #1517651 Ocean Reconnaissance Ship
Distinctive feature of the Tone-class is the forward concentrated armaments. The cleared aft section is equipped with flight deck to carry more scout float planes. Moreover, this design reduced the common problem with heavy cruisers where shock from their guns could damage their airplanes.
This design is reflected on Chikuma's design with cannons at her right side, and catapult as well as flight deck patterned high socks to the left.Eyes of the Fleet
To avoid reducing their air power to search for enemies, Japanese aircraft carriers doesn't carry reconnaissance planes. Instead, this duty is delegated to ships like the Tone-class. During the Pearl Harbour attack, Chikuma and Tone went to the front line to do reconnnaissance.
Sometimes she got scolded for shooting her cannon over Akagi; but like said in Kantai Collection, she's the eye of Nagumo task force and participated as far as to the Battle of Midway.Leyte Gulf, Everybody's Trauma
Chikuma's last moments is in the place that brings trauma to many fleet girls. October 23rd~25th 1944, Battle of Leyte Gulf in the Phillipines.
During this battle, the enemy has allocated many aircraft carriers. Against this powerful enemy, reconnaissance ship can't do much. But Chikuma's cannons are also expected, so in this war, Chikuma performed both reconnaissance duty as well as battling enemy with the other ships in the fleet.
Chikuma went through long time and numerous battle together with her sister, so it's not so weird to see her mistakingly speaks to Tone…
