fletcher (kancolle)
フレッチャー フレッチャー(艦これ) フレッチャー(艦隊これくしょん) Fletcher(艦これ) Fletcher(艦隊これくしょん) Fletcher マザー・フレッチャー
Kantai Collection's personification of USS Fletcher (hull number DD-445), nameship of the US Navy's 175 Fletcher-class destroyers. Her namesake (and namesake of the class) is Navy Admiral Frank Friday Fletcher (1855-1928), who served in the 19th and 20th centuries, most notably as commander of naval forces at the Battle of Veracruz in Mexico. She is designed by Zeco, who also illustrated the first of her class in the game, Johnston.
The Fletcher class was the most numerous of the destroyers that participated in World War II, built completely free from any treaty restrictions with a larger size, larger fuel capacity and range, and better armaments. In the world of Kantai Collection, this translates to Fletcher and Johnston being tall and having ample bustlines; among the other non-Japanese destroyers before them, only Tashkent is comparable in those areas while the others are implied to have flat chests.
Being the nameship of the class, Fletcher herself is given stereotypical Caucasian American traits of long blonde hair with triangular side buns, purple eyes, and a very well-endowed body. Her outfit is similar to Johnston's but with the black features being given lighter colors: a stylized serafuku which consists of an off-shoulder blue shirt with a white sailor collar that exposes her cleavage, a yellow [neckerchief, and a short white pleated skirt, along with white thighhighs that are shielded by what seem to be metallic thigh and shin guards and red rudder shoes. She also wears white short gloves and a metallic hairband. In her remodeled form, she adds a star hair ornament to each side of her hairband.
Her machinery consists of two smokestacks and two 5-inch cannon turrets with one set on each side of her rigging. Her hull number is emblazoned on each side of her lower rigs. She also carries a cargo net, a reference to her rescuing many survivors of the USS Northampton during the Battle of Tassafaronga by using cork-floated cargo nets.
With the May 20, 2020 update, she obtained two reversible remodels: (Kai) Mod.2 and Mk.II. Mod.2 switches her net for headphones and a quintuple torpedo launcher. Mk.II, her "real" second remodel, modifies her outfit somewhat by giving her tight sleeves, a black skirt and black thighhighs. Her gear has been overhauled and features experimental ASW weapons, including a surface-to-underwater rocket launcher turret mounted on what appears to be a boxy bullpup rifle chassis. Her new equipment reflects the historical destoryer's post-war anti-submarine offense role. She is officially the first non-Japanese destroyer in the game to obtain a second remodel.
In one of her lines, she refers to herself as "Lucky 13," a historical nickname developed by the historal crew. This stems from the great luck they received despite multiple instances of the number. She survived the events of November 13, 1942 (a Friday to boot) during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal unharmed while being the 13th out of a line of 13 ships, with three torpedoes missing her hull. The digits of her hull number add up to 13; the same can be said of Task Force 67, of which she was a member.
Fletcher is one of the US Navy's most decorated ships during World War II, earning 15 battle stars for her service in the Pacific. She would later earn another five battle stars for service in the Korean War. Fletcher was decommissioned twice, first in 1947 before being reactivated in 1949 and then again in 1969, ending up being scrapped the same year.
Of her 174 class sisters, 19 (including Johnston) were lost in battle, six were heavily damaged and never repaired, and the rest had varying degrees of success in World War II and beyond with several being transferred to other navies (including 11 to the modern Italian Navy, the West German Bundesmarine, and the JMSDF). Four still survive to this day as museum ships (The Sullivans, Charrette/Velos, Kidd, and Cassin Young) with a fifth (John Rodgers/Cuitláhuac) serving until 2001 before being scrapped in 2006.