On the other hand, the Submarines just wear a normal swimsuit, I'd actually label that much lower than Shimakaze and Shouhou.

To me Shouhou's at least seems like a "traditional" form of dress adapted to battle, whereas Shimakaze's just skimpy and Iku's a walking fetish.

Tetsamaru said:

On the other hand, the Submarines just wear a normal swimsuit, I'd actually label that much lower than Shimakaze and Shouhou.

Shouhou is actually wearing the full jacket, but has half of it dropped away apparently for combat (honestly it seems like it would be MORE likely to get in the way like that, but whatever). I've seen a fair few artists depict her as wearing it normally when walking around outside of combat and thus being pretty much the same as most of the other carriers and personally that's my own favored interpretation.

As noted Shimakaze and Iku have no real defense there is no alternate way to wear their clothes and they're pure fetish bait.

I like how Iku is carrying a torpedo that can explode anytime and the Admiral is like IDGAF

Tk3997 said:

Shouhou is actually wearing the full jacket, but has half of it dropped away apparently for combat (honestly it seems like it would be MORE likely to get in the way like that, but whatever).

Wearing it like that is not so uncommon even in real life. But probably it's more for ceremonial purpose rather than practical.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Arceri_Kyudo.JPG