Introduction
The Winter 2017 Event Reconnaissance Force Emergency Deployment! Operation "Hikari" is scheduled to begin on February 11, 2017.
The theme of the event is based upon the Ogasawara Islands and "Operation Hikari", the IJN's planned reconnaissance of and raid on the USN base at Ulithi Atoll.
The upcoming event will be a "small-scale" event, and will feature at least 3 new ship.
More information will probably be revealed through the KanColle Staff's Twitter in the days ahead.
For additional information regarding event-related subjects and content related to the dev tweets, please refer to the following links:
- Combined Fleet
- Armor Reduction
- Land-Based Air Squadron
- Transport Operation
- Anti-Air Cut-In
- Line of Sight
- Improving Ship Speed (May become a part of event map requirements)
Historical Background
Disclaimer: The following information is based upon a summary of World War II history and may not have any influence with the game itself. This is for historical reference only.
Operation Hikari was a transport operation by the submarines I-13 and I-14. Their mission was to transport disassembled Saiuns to an ad hoc air base on Truk Atoll, where they would be used to scout the USN positions within Ulithi Atoll.
Operation Arashi was intended to be a follow-up air raid, where two squadrons of 6 Seiran seaplane bombers operating from the submarines I-400 and I-401 would bomb the USN positions within Ulithi Atoll.
Information
New Ships
As of this time, multiple ships have been confirmed to appear in the event which include:
- A Kamikaze-Class Destroyer that served alongside Asakaze and sank in a transport operations off of Chichijima, Ogasawara Islands after being attacked by a Submarine. (Matsukaze)
- A submarine capable of carrying seaplanes that successfully took part in Operation Hikari. (I-14)
Event Requirements
The official Twitter account also states that two or more Saiun will be required for the second half of the event (presumably referring to the EO segment of the event). This only applies to players intending to tackle this part of the event on Normal or Hard difficulty. [1]