Kantai Collection's depiction of USS Northampton (CL/CA-26), which was the nameship of six Northampton-class cruiser of the United States Navy. She is named after the city of Northampton, Massachusetts.
Visually, Northampton has longblonde hair with blunt bangs, green eyes, and a well-endowed chest as well as partly framed glasses, making her the second ever glasses-wearing foreign shipgirl, the first among the Allies. She wears a stylized naval uniform similar to the one seen in sister Houston: A corset, white ribbed sleeves, and a blackpencil skirt, a blackthighband pantyhose, shin guards, and high-heeled rudder footwear. She also has a white peaked cap. Her machinery consists of a smokestack, a crane, and two large cannon turrets, each having three barrels. Houston has a remodelled form where torpedo launchers are added to her machinery among other upgrades and a darker paint job and she switches to black ribbed sleeves.
In her damaged CG in both forms, a PT boat is seen, presumably PT-109 which rescued several survivors of her sinking during Battle of Tassafaronga. Other survivors were saved by the crew of USS Fletcher using cork-floated cargo nets. Fans used this as a connection for shipgirl Northamption somewhat resembling an older and taller shipgirl Fletcher.
Clipped on Northampton's hair to the right is a Navy cross, similar to the one posthumously awarded to Chief Engineer/Commander Hilan Ebert, the most senior officer aboard the historical cruiser who was killed during the Battle of Tassafaronga. Her captain, Willard A. Kitts, was also awarded the Navy Cross for his handling of the evacuation, although he survived her sinking.
The historical Northampton was launched from Fore River Shipyard in Quincy, Massachusetts on 5 September 1929 and was sunk by torpedos in the Battle of Tassafaronga, on 30 November 1942.
