Historical Formations

This page is a listing of a number of historical naval formations containing ships that appear in KanColle. Note that many of these formations had multiple 'generations', that ships were often part of multiple formations at a time, and that accurate historical records of these units are very difficult to ascertain. Multiple reorganizations occurred over the course of the war as losses took their toll.

Battle Squadrons
In Japanese, there is no distinction drawn between Battleship and Cruiser divisions, they are simply called "squadrons" (sentai).

Carrier Divisions
The Carrier Divisions (Koukuu sentai) were part of a different fleet system than the Battlegroups and Torpedo Squadrons, though they often had Destroyer Divisions attached to them to act as escorts. The japanese names of the Carrier divisions are often shortened by the shipgirls, for instance 第一航空戦隊, "Dai-ichi Koukuu Sentai" is shortened to 一航戦, ''"Ikkousen". ''In most translations, this is written as abbreviating "First Carrier Division" to "CarDiv1."

Torpedo Squadrons
Torpedo Squadrons (Suirai sentai) and their sub-components, Destroyer Divisions (Kuchikutai), were created as part of the Japanese plan to slowly wear down American forces as they came across the Pacific with superior night-fighting and long-range torpedo bombardment tactics. They were led by a single Light Cruiser flagship supervising a number of Destroyer Divisions. Destroyer Divisions who have no members implemented in KanColle are not mentioned. Some sources translate 'Torpedo Squadron' as 'Destroyer Squadron', it is this that is abbreviated to 'Desron'

Submarine Squadrons
Because there were many, many Submarines and Submarine Tenders which are not represented in Kancolle, this section is a bit sparse. It is included primarily to show the ships that were part of any Submarine Squadrons or Submarine Divisions.

Fleets
The IJN had a number of different 'Fleet' units of varying purposes and sizes. They were primarily administrative formations rather than combat formations. All were considered part of the "Combined Fleet", which was the primary administrative unit of the IJN. It is included separately to show the ships and units that were directly attached to it.

Battle Participants
Here are the ships (present in KanColle) that participated in a number of famous battles, both successfully and unsuccessfully.