I don't see how thinking of ships as humans will change the way we wage war. Hell, it's been human lives we've been throwing away since the first one, hasn't it? I think the statement that really needs to be made is for the generals and admirals to stop seeing those humans as mere instruments for winning that war. And according to human male (the vast players of KanColle are this) mindset, the most efficient strategy to visualize your ships to avoid devaluing their worth, is to treat them as girls or young women. Perhaps this is why we always address our vessels with female pronouns.

Well, first start with this question:
- How do we treat our veterans ?
- How do we treat our retired nukes ?

The fairy has suggested a way to make sure the treatment of the girls during war. They must avoid the right wing peoples related to the imperial armed force.
IMO, ensuring they are seen as human is giving them a future if they got through the war.

Fairies will probably only be released from military facilities when mankind has declined.

Allow me to state what I think could be a possible idea about these questions.

Animefan162a said:

I don't see how thinking of ships as humans will change the way we wage war. Hell, it's been human lives we've been throwing away since the first one, hasn't it? I think the statement that really needs to be made is for the generals and admirals to stop seeing those humans as mere instruments for winning that war. And according to human male (the vast players of KanColle are this) mindset, the most efficient strategy to visualize your ships to avoid devaluing their worth, is to treat them as girls or young women. Perhaps this is why we always address our vessels with female pronouns.

Have you seen how animals used in wars are treated? Like how they treated warhorses in older days wars. THey take care of the horses, giving them names, care for them more than they do about their own family. Why? Because horses are what they use to increase speed in battles. With that, if the horses are poorly treated, they would likely, not allow the rider to stay on their back, let alone fighting. Besides, horses can be a good way to relieve stress built up in wars, by talking to them like to other humans. Let feelings built up is bad for both the mind and the body so saying them out, even to a horse would relieve a part of it. Or so I believe after hearing stories about how horses were treated in WW1, some older wars in about 900AD in Asia, etc. I believe it's like that with calling ships, guns, almost every equipment used in military force as they are women too. After all, the mother is the one, in many cases, listen to what we have to say rather than a father. So, to sum it up, it's all about morale.

Seika said:

Well, first start with this question:
- How do we treat our veterans ?
- How do we treat our retired nukes ?

In the first place, those nuke stuff are to deal with humans. They have them but rarely ever use them. Why? Because the nukes might make the earth become impossible to live in, if we survive their strikes that is. SO, they can still be kept as a leverage for political aims. As for our veterans, they can be instructors for the girls or their commanders, like how some admirals in doujin are, Tonda's Matsuda, nathaniel penel's female admiral, or the mouse commander in in a recent Chinese doujin that was shared here who was in air force, etc. There are plenty of ways to them. Even if they can't be commanders, they can still be the force for expeditions, that would explain why ship-girls still use up ammo in expeditions.

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Seika said:

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That too of course. But you think the Navy can just let them get to be "normal" human beings that easily?

Demundo said:

[comparing old nukes and old vets]

I think the analogy was perhaps misworded. Perhaps a comparison between WWII era tanks and WWII veterans would be more accurate.

Or even better, a comparison between a modern AFV and a modern infantryman.

Tank hits an IED and blows its engines? -> Evacuate the crew and have a friendly blow it to smithereen.

Rifleman gets shot in the stomach? -> Get him home in one piece, preferably alive.

So does treating the shipgirls as humans instead of tools going to change the way we fight wars? Most definitely, unless you're the kind of Admiral who sees sending those girls to the next node at Heavy Damage a "token investment."

Of course, our argument thus far has been "No, it changes nothing, since we DO agree that it's always been about human lives to begin with" so we're all pretty much in agreement about that. In this instance, these shipgirls were once ocean-faring vessels of war, not human. They were machines before becoming shipgirls, so there will be some admirals who still see them as merely the vessels they were named after.

Ships are treated with a little more care than tanks. There's a great deal more ceremony involved, even when scuttling them. Makes sense since they're basically homes away from home in a hostile environment.

AdventZero said:

I think the analogy was perhaps misworded. Perhaps a comparison between WWII era tanks and WWII veterans would be more accurate.

Forgot if I've posted this before (and delete it for being TLDR)

After use, weapons are destroyed, or in case of indestructibles like nuclear waste, isolated and kept in strict control so they can't fall to the wrong hand.
In our context, it means the girls will be kept in custody if they can't be destroyed either by technicalities or because they look too much like human.

Veterans in the other hand, because they are human, we try to get them back to society instead of sending them to quarantine until they die. We give them support, appreciation and help them get through post-war trauma so they can live like everyone else.

Seika said:

Forgot if I've posted this before (and delete it for being TLDR)

After use, weapons are destroyed, or in case of indestructibles like nuclear waste, isolated and kept in strict control so they can't fall to the wrong hand.
In our context, it means the girls will be kept in custody if they can't be destroyed either by technicalities or because they look too much like human.

Veterans in the other hand, because they are human, we try to get them back to society instead of sending them to quarantine until they die. We give them support, appreciation and help them get through post-war trauma so they can live like everyone else.

Thank you! I was trying to reach this conclusion. This is exactly the reasoning why our scientist guy is trying to establish that the ship girls are "humans" and not just merely weapons.