> - Hibiki, the quiet one, who - though not yet refitted into her
>postwar Soviet-spoils-of-war form, Верный (Verniy,
>"faithful") - has many stereotypically Russian mannerisms, including
>stoicism, a habit of saying "Хорошо" (Khorosho,
>"excellent"), and - in a lot of fan art - a high tolerance for
>distilled spirits.

According to the semi-official 4koma*, Hibiki and Verniy are separate personalities, with the trigger between the two being loneliness, a play on the fact that Hibiki was the only one of her sisters to see the war through to the end.

> - Akatsuki, the self-conscious eldest, who is a bit obsessed with
>growing up to be, and occasionally dips into the delusion that she
>already is, an Elegant Lady. Actually the phrase she uses is
>"elephant lady", because she's not really terribly bright. Voted
>"most likely to stand on her dignity at inopportune times".

The most childish ship of the quartet trying to convince others that she's a first-class lady. Leads to a truly hilarious moment in-game when you (provisionally) marry her:

"To have a meal with the commander, just the two of us, as a lady.... Wait! Why do I have juice? Furthermore, why does the pilaf have a flag in it!"

> - Ikazuchi, the rambunctious one. Probably going to end up in jail
>someday, but for some epically awesome reason. In a lot of artwork
>she's depicted with a moéfang. When I was a kid I used to
>mis-hear one of the lyrics of the Eurythmics' "Sweet Dreams (Are Made
>of This)" as "some of them want to be of use". That'd be Ikazuchi.
>Her catchphrase is "Go ahead and rely on me more." She would also
>appreciate it very much if you did not pronounce her name "Kaminari".

Her namesake, along with Inazuma's, are also famous for rescuing 442 survivors from British and America ships and treating them with the respect and honor as prisoners, something rare amongst a culture that viewed being taken alive as shameful.

> - Inazuma, the sweet, shy, and sensitive one. Hates it when Ikazuchi
>and Akatsuki fight, which they do basically all the time. Sort of
>what Ui Hirasawa would be like if she didn't have her confidence.
>Often depicted in fan art as a glassy-eyed psychopath, a meticulous
>bureaucrat (since she's one of the available starting ships, and so
>often ends up being used as the fleet secretary), or sometimes both.
>(One fan comic I've read involves her everyone-flees-in-terror
>catchphrase being, "It's time for an audit." :)

The best description I saw for Inazuma came from a comment about the same fan comic, that as wives, Ikazuchi would be the caring and supportive wife, while Inazuma would be a wife who's head of the household.

Also, her verbal tic is to add "nanodesu" (roughly: "it is so") to the end of her sentences, which is supposed to add to her moe cuteness.

*(Specifically Ch 13)