Hatsuharu (Kancolle)

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"Early Spring"

Hatsuharu is the namesake ship of the Hatsuharu-class destroyers in Kantai Collection.

She has long purple hair in a ponytail secured with a rope with ornamental shide. She has purple eyes and her eyebrows are in hikimayu. She wears a short one-piece sailor dress with thighhighs and black gloves. She usually holds a folding fan and talks in a very formal, if old-fashioned way (Uses personal pronoun "Warawa", uses "ja" as copula, etc.). She has a floating chevron-shape thing as her headgear. Her gear usually glows a orangeish yellow color.

Hatsuharu Kai Ni

In her second remodel, her clothes and rigging design are revamped. Her sailor dress is now sleeveless, button-up and features a pattern along the brim and collar. Her tie is replaced with a metal piece holding more shide. Her thighhighs and elbow gloves are shortened and are visually replaced with a pair of heels and wide white gloves. Her rigging is more detailed and replaces the gun drones on flexible arms with a fixed twin gun and a stack of two triple torpedo launchers on more robust arms. The "floating chevron thing" over her head has been redesigned to be simpler as well. Her hair is slightly longer at the front and gained volume on the back. She also holds a new folding fan as well.

History

In real life, Hatsuharu and her sisters were specifically built to make the most out of London Naval Treaty restrictions on destroyer tonnage as the Treaty had prevented more Akatsuki-class destroyers (of 1,800 tons) to be built. The IJN wanted newer, lighter, smaller units of 1,500 tons displacement and yet be able to mount virtually the same armament of three 12.7 cm twin gun mounts and three 61 cm triple torpedo mounts, but Hatsuharu as designed was forced to mount 5 guns instead of 6 due to the smaller size.

The taxing demands of the IJN resulted in a ship class that had severe stability and maneuverability problems, with Hatsuharu and her sister Nenohi being ordered into a substantial refit within a year of commissioning. Their high bridges, funnels, and masts were reduced in height, while one torpedo mount was removed. The rest of the class was completed to the revised design.

When the Pacific War began, she was assigned to Destroyer Division 21 and participated in the taking of the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia) and the Aleutian Islands campaign.
She spent the rest of 1942 up to mid-1944 in escort and training duties before seeing action in Leyte Gulf, rescuing Wakaba's survivors. Retreating to Manila, she was caught and sunk by a US carrier raid there in November 1944.