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| ''Ra Cailum'' |
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| Fast Facts | |
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| Ship Type | Battleship |
| Class: | ''Ra Cailum'' |
| Launched: | Universal Century 0093 |
| Ship Fate: | Unknown, presumed decommissioned |
| General Characteristics |
|---|
| Displacement: | Unknown |
| Length: | 487 meters |
| Beam: | 165 meters |
| Draft: | Unknown |
| Armament: | 2-barrel main gun x 4
2-barrel secondary gun x 22
missile launcher x 6 |
| Mobile Suit Complement: | 8 |
| Mobile Suit Contigent: | RX-93 Nu Gundam x1
RGZ-91 RE-GZ x1
RGM-89 Jegan x6
Mini Mobile Suit unit x? |
In the fictional
Universal Century Gundam universe the '' (also spelled '''''Lar Karium''''', both pronounced Ra-Kai-Lam/ラ・カイラム) was the
Flagship of the
Earth Federation 's
Londo Bell unit, and the first ship of the
''Ra Cailum'' Class . The ship was constructed to make use of mobile suits, and thus is similar to its predecessor the
''Irish''-class Battleships . The ''Ra Cailum'' is also one of the largest space
Battleship s ever launched by the Federation, and these ships would remain in service until the Federation's disbandment in UC0223.
The conclusion of the Federation's civil war and the defeat of the Titans had brought the colonial space separatist movement to a virtual fever pitch, and when the first Neo-Zeon War ended it was decided that a new organiztion should be created to inspect the
Colonies for left over dissents and revolutionaries. The force created for this job was called Londo Bell, and they did inspect the colonies, but unlike the Titans they were much more humane in their inspections. This task force was first to receive the new
Clop Class Cruiser s and they also received the first battleship of the ''Ra Cailum'' class: ''Ra Cailum''.
The ''Ra Cailum'' was the largest battleship built to date, and it was adopted for use as a
Flagship by
Captain Bright Noa . The ''Ra Cailum'' would also serve as
Amuro Ray 's ship when he became a part of Londo Bell, which brought the MS contingent aboard the ''Ra Cailum'' to seven
Mobile Suit s and one Gundam. The ''Ra Cailum'' was also the first Federation ship to make use of the Base Jabber, a mobile suit sled that increased the range of Mobile Suits placed on it by providing them with an external fuel force to travel from one point to another; the Base Jabbers on the ''Ra Cailum'' were used to move Mobile Suits into battle so they would not burn up their internal fuel on the flight to engage enemy forces.
The ''Ra Cailum'' saw its first war action on
3 March UC0093, when the ship responded to a new Neo-Zeon movement under the command of
Char Aznable . In company with the three of the Federation's ''Clop''-class cruisers, the ''Ra Cailum'' raced to the scene and the
Second Neo-Zeon War began in ernest with the battle for Fifth Luna. Although the ship and its Mobile Suits fought valiently, they failed to prevent the drop of Fifth Luna and the asteroid collided with Lhasa, Tibet. Although damaged by the battle, Bright Noa order ''Ra Cailum'' to super-impose herself between the Neo Zeon forces and a disabled passenger shuttle that had wondered into the combat zone. When the battle died down the shuttle captain and his passengers abandoned the disable shuttle and were taken aboard the ''Ra Cailum'' as refugees; among those on the shuttle were Bright Noa's son Hassaway, Vice-Foreign Minister of the Earth Federation Adenauer Paraya, and his daughter Quess. Adenauer Paraya—under orders from the Earth Federal Goverenment to establish contact with the Neo Zeon leadership for purposes of negotiation and outranking Captain Noa—comendered the ''Ra Cailum'' and ordered it to sail to
Side 1's Londonion Colony in oder to meet with Neo Zeon representatives.
The ''Ra Cailum'' arrived at , which they purchsed from the Federation with
Gold Bullion . This seemed suspicious to one of the Federation's accountants, and he informed Bright Noa of Chars purshase and—fearing the worst—arranged for the ''Ra Cailum'' to receive 15
Nuclear Warhead s. Armed with the warheads and the information of the purchase ''Ra Cailum'' and her task force set sail from Londonion on
12 March UC0093 to pursue the Neo Zeon forces and ensure that they dismarmed. Unfortunately, Londo Bell mistook ship-like balloons for the Neo-Zeon fleet, which enabled the Neo Zeon fleet to capture
Luna II and Axis with relative ease. Amouro Ray eventually saw through the balloon deception, and explained to the officers aboard the battleship that they had been tricked, and that the Neo Zeon already had control of Axis. Bright Noa ordered ''Ra Cailum'' to speed for Axis, but the Londo Bell forces arrived to late to stop the reactivation of the engines.
As soon as Noa
's ships were in range of Axis Londo Bell forces opened fire on the Astriod, and a full scale war for control of Axis erupted between the Londo Bell fleet and the Neo Zeon fleet, leading to the loss of several mobile suits. Bright Noa opted for the use of the nuclear missiles, but ''Ra Cailum''
's attempt to destroy the asteroid with the nuclear weapons failed. With time running out the battle subsided as Londo Bell
's senior officers and Mobile Suit pilots reconvened aboard ''Ra Caium'' to prepare for one last ditch effort. Their plan called for the destruction as Axis
' tail thrusters, which would cause the asteroid to miss earth entirely, but if that failed then ''Ra Cailum'' would have to close in and launch Mini-Mobile Suits (MMS) to infiltrate Axis and plant powerful explosives. The resulting explosion would split the Astriod in two, causing it to miss earth entirely. Wasting no time ''Ra Cailum''
's Mobile Suit squad re-launched.
The attempt to destroy the tail thrusters on Axis ended up failing, so ''Ra Cilum'' closed in on the Asteroid to allow a number of MMS to land on the Axis and plant high explosives, as per the plan. Despite murderous losses incurred by the Londo Bell forces the MMS unit succseded in placing the explosives, and the resulting blast split Axis into two pieces, the latter of which was still headed for earth. Amuro Ray, through the use of his Nu Gundam, prevented the last piece from colliding with earth, thus bringing the battle for Axis to a close.
It is not known what became of the ''Ra Cailum''; as it is not seen passed the movie
Char's Counterattack . It is presumed that the ship was not sunk during the Second Neo-Zeon War, leading to speculation that it may have been decomissioned.
