That's line ahead formation and crossing the T maneuver in naval battle tactic.
It's questionable though how effective it would be on ship-girls as all the guns on ship-girls actually on their front instead of their side like in real warship.

Nameless_Troll said:

That's line ahead formation and crossing the T maneuver in naval battle tactic.
It's questionable though how effective it would be on ship-girls as all the guns on ship-girls actually on their front instead of their side like in real warship.

Crossing the T may give them a barrel advantage but the other fleet gets to hammer shots into their broadsides with little to no deflection AND are presenting a narrow profile. That said in KanColle the formation is only the initial engagement formation for when the fleets make contact iirc so after the initial contact the crossing fleet would probably collapse their formation into more of a semicircle to force the enemy fleet to spread fire in all directions, simultaneously preventing the target from evading while they focus on said target and hammer it from all directions. As long as the attacking fleet holds the initiative in those circumstances, the defending fleet can't escape nor can they effectively counterattack.

sporked said:

Crossing the T may give them a barrel advantage but the other fleet gets to hammer shots into their broadsides with little to no deflection AND are presenting a narrow profile. That said in KanColle the formation is only the initial engagement formation for when the fleets make contact iirc so after the initial contact the crossing fleet would probably collapse their formation into more of a semicircle to force the enemy fleet to spread fire in all directions, simultaneously preventing the target from evading while they focus on said target and hammer it from all directions. As long as the attacking fleet holds the initiative in those circumstances, the defending fleet can't escape nor can they effectively counterattack.

I dunno, it still seems easier to fire down the enemy line (in essence enfilade fire) instead of trying to fire across it.