Re-Class Battleship
The Re-Class Battleship is a formidable enemy unit belonging to the Abyssal fleet in Kantai Collection. Although categorized as a battleship, she functions as an aviation battleship with absurdly high versatility, capable of executing opening airstrikes, preemptive torpedoes, day shelling, anti-submarine attacks, and night combat. Designed by the artist Oguchi, she debuted in World 5-5 (Salmon Sea Northern Area) and rapidly earned a reputation among Admirals for her overwhelming combat stats and relentless assault phases. Despite her terrifying combat effectiveness, her unique blend of innocence and menace has made her an iconic and popular character within the community.
Overview
The Re-Class Battleship is a formidable enemy unit belonging to the Abyssal fleet in Kantai Collection. Although categorized as a battleship, she functions as an aviation battleship with absurdly high versatility, capable of executing opening airstrikes, preemptive torpedoes, day shelling, anti-submarine attacks, and night combat. Designed by the artist Oguchi, she debuted in World 5-5 (Salmon Sea Northern Area) and rapidly earned a reputation among Admirals for her overwhelming combat stats and relentless assault phases. Despite her terrifying combat effectiveness, her unique blend of innocence and menace has made her an iconic and popular character within the community.
Appearance
She features short white hair, glowing purple eyes (which turn red in her Elite variant), and a cheerful, childlike face. She wears a black hooded coat over her head, an Afghan-style muffler around her neck, and a small white backpack. Her front is open from the chest to the navel, revealing a black o-ring swimsuit underneath. Her lower legs lack distinct feet or ankles and bear black pattern markings. A thick, white, snake-like tail extends from her rear, tipped with Abyssal battleship armaments including triple-barrel main guns, twin secondary guns, and a split flight deck. She is frequently depicted raising her right arm in an outward-elbowed salute.
Personality
On the surface, the Re-Class Battleship exhibits a seemingly innocent and playful smile, yet her underlying demeanor is laced with intense madness. Her distinctive salute, performed with her palm turned outward, conveys a provocative and mocking stance toward opposing fleets. In Kantai Collection Arcade, her dynamic combat actions—such as forcefully extracting aircraft from the mouth of her tail with her bare hands and kicking them into the sky—demonstrate a distinctly aggressive and violent temperament.
Abilities
She commands an unmatched degree of combat versatility for a battleship, taking part in opening airstrikes, preemptive torpedo strikes, two rounds of day shelling, closing torpedoes, and night combat. The aircraft deployed from her tail deck allow her to fight for air supremacy and deal massive damage to enemy submarines. In her Elite form, she carries a midget submarine to fire lethal opening torpedoes. Her base form stats feature 180 HP, 90 firepower, and 100 torpedo power, while her Elite form increases to 270 HP, 130 firepower, 130 armor, and 120 torpedo stat, unleashing catastrophic double-attack salvos during night battles.
Background
She debuted as a mid-route and boss escort enemy in World 5-5 (Salmon Sea Northern Area). Although not serving as the map's overall flagship boss, her staggering stats and high attack frequency caused severe attrition, causing frequent retreat for advancing fleets. Due to her extreme power, she was initially withheld from seasonal events, leading to fan rumors of an event ban. She officially entered event gameplay during the Winter 2017 Event (E-3) and subsequently appeared in later operations such as Autumn 2017 and Summer 2021, as well as arriving in Kantai Collection Arcade in December 2018.
Relationships
She shares the visual characteristic of short white hair with the Abyssal fleet's Aircraft Carrier Wo-Class. In World 5-5, she appears alongside the Flagship Kai form of the Wo-Class during the boss node encounter. Additionally, early community jokes involving fan-edited images featuring a hair clip led to humorous comparisons between her and the destroyer Ikazuchi, though no canonical narrative relationship exists between them.
Trivia
Her design was created by the illustrator Oguchi. Because her kit combines elements of battleships, carriers, torpedo cruisers, and anti-submarine vessels, fans humorously dubbed her the 'Super-Dreadnought Heavy Torpedo Aviation Cruiser Battleship.' Her main and secondary guns are specified in inches, suggesting design inspiration from US Navy battleships such as the Iowa, North Carolina, and South Dakota classes. In Kantai Collection Arcade, she was given a distinct attack motion where she pulls aircraft out of her tail's mouth and kicks them into flight.
