|
| Ra Cailum class mobile battleship |
|---|
|
| Fast Facts |
|---|
| Ship Type | Battleship |
| Class: | Ra Cailum |
| Launched: | Universal Century 0093 |
| Class Fate: | Retired sometime between
UC 0153 and UC 0223 |
| 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 |
| Ships of the Line | ''Ra Calium, Ra Gusta, Jeanne D'Arc, Admiral Tianem'' |
In the fictional
Gundam universe, the '' (sometimes spelled '''''Lar Kairum''''', both pronounced Rock-eye-loom, first of its eponymous class) was the last battleship line commissioned by the
Federation . The class was constructed to make use of
Mobile Suit s, so it incorporates two launch catapults into its design. The class has four two-barrel main beam turrets, twenty-two secondary Anti-Aircraft guns, and six missile tubes. The class also has eight engines and a pair of cooling fins to help improve fuel consumption and increase speed.
In design, the ''Ra Cailum'' class owed a great deal to the
Anti Earth Union Group 's
''Irish'' Class Battleship and the
Earth Federation 's
''Alexandria'' Class Cruiser . Very little design legacy remained from the old, mothballed
''Magellan''-class ships. The ''Ra Cailum'' also served as a model for the Federation's
''Clop'' class vessels, which were constructed around the same time as the ''Ra Cailum'' class.
The first ''Ra Cailum'' class ship debuted in U.C.0093 as the
Flagship of the
Londo Bell task force. The ''
Ra Cailum '' was commanded by
Captain Noah , and played a major role in the Second Neo Zeon War, by first rescue-ing a disable civilian shuttle, then later launching an impressive nuclear barrage against the asteroid Axis, and lastly by infiltrating a team of mini moble suits (or MMS) to destroy Axis from the inside.
Several years later, during the
League Militaire 's struggle against the
Zanscare Empire , the LM used a ''Ra Calium'' Class ship named ''
Jeanne D'Arc '', which was under the command of
Admiral Mubarak Stern. Interestingly, the ''Jeanne D'arc'' was fitted with a beam shield, which reduced the damage done by an enemy mobile suit's beam weaponry.
There was only one major ''Ra Cailum''-class refit program, in which at least one ship, ''Admiral Tianem,'' was refit. However, statistics on this refit type were not immediately available.
As battleships, the ''Ra Cailum'' class combined good defense, large mobile suit carrying capacity, powerful engines and weapons and long endurance. However, their service was largely unremarkable owing to the steadily deteriorating state of the
Earth Federation during the second
Universal Century .
