List of Mobile Suit Gundam military units
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The anime series Mobile Suit Gundam, set in the fictional Universal Century is centered around the conflict known as the One Year War (or OYW for short), between two military factions: the earthbound Earth Federation Forces (EFF for short) and the spacebound Principality of Zeon (Zeon for short), each utilizing different machines of war, although the series is famous for its mobile suits, there are other military units like space battleships, carriers, tanks and fighters as well. This is a major break through in the robot anime at the time where other robot anime preceding this are of the Super Robot genre which introduces robots owned by individual research centres fighting against evil,[1] yet Mobile Suit Gundam introduces robots as weapons of the military units like main battle tanks and fighters.[2] It is also interesting watching the difference between the designs of the weapons, which also tend to represent the context in which the weapons were created, specially in the case of the Zeon, which deploys many designs that were tested in space colonies, which utlimately prove uncapable of providing the adequate conditions to test aircraft and other vehicles, and therefore tend to have unusual designs that seem faulty at first glance. On the other hand, the weapons of the EFF, specially the ones for the ground, aerial and naval combat, seem outdated compared with ones deployed by Zeon. This is mainly result of the EFF focusing on fortifying their space forces, which other than MS, are more up to date with Zeon own space forces. Basically, the different types of vehicles can be classified according to their role, whether this is as a spaceship, a landship, aircraft, boat, submarine, tank, etc. Furthermore, not all of them are battleships. Many vehicles are designed for specific functions such as supply transport units, recon units, and in some cases, even as units that work together with MS, providing additional firepower or even the atmospheric flight capacity.
As previously mentioned, the series focus on the use of both Mobile weapons, specially Mobile Suits(or MS for short), and as military weapons, MS also need maintenance, and while this can be provided without a ship, it proves useful to provide it while allowing transportation for them. Therefore many of the ships and vehicles will actually provide the MS capacity stat, which reflects, how many MS can a ship carry, specially in the case of the Zeon, which creates many ships with this capability in mind. Here is a list of military units that appear in the show.
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[edit] Principality of Zeon
[edit] Fat Uncle Transport Plane
The Fat Uncle transport aircraft was the primary non-combat transport aircraft for the Principality of Zeon during the One Year War. The Fat Uncle's ungainly belied it's true effectiveness, as it was a highly efficient aircraft, able to carry nearly twice its weight in cargo, including Zaku-type mobile suits standing in the massive cargo bay. This was in part due to the powerful thermonuclear jet engines used for thrust, and the large VTOL rotors used for lift. Despite the similarities between the thermonuclear jet engines of the Fat Uncle and Gaw class assault carrier, it's unknown if they use the same type of engines, but it's certainly a possibility. The Fat Uncle could roughly carry three mobile suits, but the exact capacity it can carry is difficult to estimate, as it was not originally designed to carry mobile suits, but rather a more general range of cargo. A Fat Uncle is seen next to Ramba Ral's Gallop, after providing them with a Zaku II. Another is seen transporting a Zock and Z'Gok MS to Char Aznable's Mad Angler submarine.
[edit] Gaw Atmospheric Attack Carrier
| Gaw Atmospheric Attack Carrier | |
|---|---|
| Fast Facts | |
| Ship Type | Atmospheric Attack Carrier |
| Class: | Gaw |
| Launched: | U.C. 0079 |
| Class Fate: | Unseen as of U.C. 0079 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 690.4 tons |
| Length: | 147.4 meters |
| Wingspan: | 159.4 meters |
| Height: | 72.4 meters |
| Armament: | 3x 2-barrel mega particle cannons 12x missile launcher |
The Gaw Atmospheric Attack Carrier, known very simple as the Gaw, is a flying fortress that was sent in to attack and obliterate its target. The Gaw also sported three double-barreled mega particle cannons for attacking bases and other large-scale aircraft. It also had several machineguns for point defense.
The Gaw's eight Dopps and three MS units made them very effective in their ship-type as carriers. The Gaw could also hold six vehicles on its rear hangar, such as the Cui Personal Carrier or Magella Attack Tank. In some cases these vehicles could be replaced by three additional MS units which would be parachuted in a similar way Medeas eject their MS. It also has a large number of gravity bombs which made them extremely effective as carpet bombers.
Several Gaws were used in the unsuccessful Zeon offensive in their attempt to take the Earth Federation's General Headquarters in Jaburo, in which they dropped off their payloads of mobile suits to take the attack to the ground and to try to force their way inside.
[edit] Musai-Class Cruiser
The Musai Class Cruiser is the main Mobile Suit carrier of the Zeon Forces.
[edit] Chivvay-Class Heavy Cruiser
The Chivvay class was a ship developed by the Zeon to help protect convoys and perform miscellaneous tasks. It was often used to serve as a flagship in a battle group. It is equipped with two triple barreled beam turrets, multiple twin barreled anti-air batteries and several missile launchers, but originally was not designed to carry mobile suits. However, its size was sufficient that its cargo bays could be, and usually were, easily converted to mobile suit hangars. A handful of these vessels were remade into Tivvay class heavy cruisers, and some of the Chivvay class vessels were refitted for use by Zeon/Neo Zeon space attack commanders. The class proved itself useful, but in the end the Zeon drive for ships with mobile suit capacity resulted in the discontinuation of the class.
[edit] Dolos-Class Heavy Carrier
| Dolos-Class Heavy Carrier Ship | |
|---|---|
| Fast Facts | |
| Ship Type | Heavy Carrier Ship |
| Class: | Dolos |
| Launched: | Universal Century 0070 |
| Class Fate: | Both known Dolos ships destroyed at A Baoa Qu |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 144,000 tons |
| Length: | 492 meters |
| Width: | 351.5 meters |
| Height: | 123.7 meters |
| Armament: | 8x 2-barrel main gun, 2x 2-barrel machinegun |
| Mobile Suit Complement: | 182 |
| Ships of the Line: | Dolos, Dolowa |
The Dolos-Class Heavy Carrier Ship are the product of the Principality of Zeon Supreme Commander Gihren Zabi and are the biggest ship of the One Year War and also the largest mobile suit carrier.
Designed and built by Zeon to be the ultimate ace-in-the-hole space weapon, this ship has eight massive two-barrel mega particle cannon turrets, all of which are bigger than the ones mounted by the Gwazine class battleships. They also mount two double-barreled machine guns. However, its true purpose was to serve as a mobile launch pad for 182 mobile suits.
Some of the drawbacks of these vessels are that they so large and cumbersome to maneuver that they were often used as semi-movable defensive structures during the One Year War. In addition, while their mobile suit capacity was tremendous, with only 7 launch bays it was time-consuming to launch them all. At least two of these vessels were built and both saw action in defense of the Zeon's space fortress A Baoa Qu. One of these ships, the Dorowa, was the mothership of Zeon ace pilot, Anavel Gato, and served at both the Battle of Solomon and the Battle of A Baoa Qu, before it was destroyed. The Dolos-Class warships were both sunk during the Battle of A Baoa Qu in less than an hour after the start of the battle. It has been often mentioned that a third Dolos-class ship was completed, however its fate remains a mystery.
In the strategy game series Gihren's Greed, the Dolos-Class ships are almost indestructible vessels with the largest mobile suit capacity and powerful beam cannons that enable it to attack foes from huge distances. However, true to their origin they are incredibly slow and almost ridiculously expensive. The amount of resources needed to build one Dolos-Class could be used to build a small fleet.
[edit] Gwazine-Class Battleship
| Gwazine class battleship | |
|---|---|
| Fast Facts | |
| Ship Type | Battleship |
| Class: | Gwazine |
| Launched: | Universal Century 0076 |
| Class Fate: | At least 4 were destroyed during the One Year War, with at least two surviving the conflict |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | Unknown |
| Length: | 440 meters |
| Width: | 320 meters |
| Height: | 103 meters |
| Armament: | 2-barrel main gun x 3 2-barrel secondary gun x 10 |
| Mobile Suit Complement: | 20 |
| Ships of the Line | Great Degwin, Gwamel, Gwazine, Gwaran, Gwarib, Gwaden, Asarum |
The Gwazine class battleship were constructed by the Principality of Zeon to be flagships for the various space fleet Admirals. Although they filled a role similar to that of the Federation's Magellan class battleships, the Gwazine class completely outclassed the competition in several ways.
The Gwazine class ships were built to be the most powerful space warships during One Year War. They were also the second largest after the Dolos Class Heavy Carrier Ships. The Gwazine class was equipped with three massive double-barreled mega particle cannon turrets mounted on the topside and ten smaller double-barreled mega particle cannon turrets (on par with the main cannons on the Musai Class Light Cruisers). Anti-air defense was also top-notch with 155 mm double-barreled machine guns layered all over.
Yet the deadliest arsenal on the Gwazine class ships was the MS troop onboard -- each vessel could carry up to twenty mobile suits, more than triple of what the Federation's Pegasus class could hold.
In addition, the Gwazine class is one of the few vessels that could travel between the Earth Sphere and the Asteroid Belt without mid-way supplies. The thrust of its engine block was also ranked top among contemporaries, making it one of the faster vessels at the time.
However, the Gwazine class was so large and costly that less than ten would have been constructed before the One Year War concluded. Nonetheless, several Gwazine class vessels witnessed important events during the war. Degwin Sodo Zabi, sovereign of the Principality of Zeon, was onboard his Gwazine class, the Great Degwin, when assassinated by his eldest son using the giant laser, Solar Ray. The Gwaden, commanded by Admiral Aiguille Delaz's during the battle at A Baoa Qu, retreated to a junk colony in Side 5 along with several Musai class cruisers. The battalion would later be known as the Delaz Fleet which executed Operation Stardust as a primer of the second wave of Zeon resistance. During the final stages of Operation Stardust, however, Gwaden was sunk by traitor, Cima Garahau. As the curtain fell on the battle at A Baoa Qu, Char Aznable, led the retreat of the bulk of Zeon's remnant forces to the asteroid base, Axis, onboard the Asarum. Also onboard was the sole survivor of the Zabi family, Minerva Zabi. In the Mobile Suit Z Gundam episode, "Ghosts of the War," the crew of the AEUG vessel Argama would chance upon the decrepit wreck of one Gwazine before the Axis Fleet arrives.
[edit] Papua-Class Supply Ship
The main resupply vessel of the Principality of Zeon was the Papua class. These strange-looking ships were designed to operate independently to resupply Zeon's space navy, and are frequently seen throughout the One Year War. The Zeon usually used these ships to move supplies and weapons to and from the frontlines. These ships also carried many of the Zeon Zaku units, though these ships were not utilized as Mobile Suit carriers because the Zeon navy was designed around MS combat. A single Papua class ship can supply two Musai class cruisers. The class performed exceptionally well, but was eventually phased out in favor of the Pazock class.
[edit] Pazock-Class Transport Ship
The Pazock class was introduced in UC 0079 as a successor to the Papua class ships for the Zeon navy. These ships fill a similar role on the battlefield, maintaining and supply the Zeon navy with the latest Mobile Suits, weapons, and other necessities. A single Pazock class can carry the supplies of two Papua class ships.
[edit] Zanzibar-Class Mobile Cruiser
| Zanzibar-Class Cruiser | |
|---|---|
| Fast Facts | |
| Ship Type | Cruiser |
| Class | Zanzibar |
| Launched: | July Universal Century 0076 |
| Class Fate: | Unknown, presumed decommissioned post U.C. 0079 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | Unknown |
| Length: | 255 meters |
| Width: | 221.8 meters |
| Height: | 70.5 meters |
| Armament: | Original: 2-barrel main gun turrets x2, mega particle cannon turrets x4, 2-barrel machine gun turrets x5 II-Class: 2-barrel main gun turrets x2, 2-barrel mega particle cannon turrets x4, 120mm machine gun turrets x8 |
| Mobile Suit Complement: | Both: 6 |
| Ships of the Class: | Original: Zanzibar, Kerguelen, Madagascar, Chimera, II-Class: Lili Marleen |
The Zanzibar-Class Mobile Carrier is a carrier utilized by the Principality of Zeon. These ships are functionally equivalent to the Federation's Pegasus class mobile suit carriers, and fill a similar role in the battlefield.
The Zanzibar class is designed for mobile suit transportation, and as such the ship relies on its mobile suits for most of its offensive and defensive power. This is also the only Zeon ship that can undergo atmopheric re-entry and return to space. Unlike the Federation's Pegasus class ships, the Zanzibar class doesn't have an integrated Minovsky Craft system, so it must depend on sustained thrust to operate. These ships have appeared several times, usually in support of major operations. Some were even used as flagships by high ranking Zeon members (like Rear Admiral Kycilia Zabi) when a battleship was unavailable or ill-suited for the role. Perhaps the most creative use of a Zanzibar class ship was in MS Gundam: the 08th MS Team, when Ginias Sahalin used one as a powerplant for his Southeast Asia base. Some of the Zanzibars were modified to replace the hangar space of four of their mobile suits with launch and support facilities for a mobile armor. While the Zanzibar class was more balanced in terms of weapons than the Musai class, since it was equipped with machinegun turrets for point defense, Zeon space commanders were not as eager to use the class. The Zeon space navy had been built around both mobile suit transportation and ship-to-ship combat. Although the Zanzibar carried double the MS complement of a Musai, the Musai heavily outgunned the Zanzibar. Furthermore, after Zeon's retreat from Odessa, and the subsequent failure of the Jaburo operation, the war moved into space, and the Zanzibar class ships took a back seat to the Musai, since its greatest advantage, transatmospheric capability, was now meaningless.
One detail that is easily overlooked are the Zanzibar's two anti-ship Giant Missile Tubes. In the Zanzibar II refit they are placed above the two upper 2-barrel mega particle cannon turrets.
In the strategy game series Gihren's Greed, the Zanzibar is one of the most expensive vessels the Zeon forces can build, but on the other hand it is arguably the most useful as well. As it can enter the Earth's atmosphere independently, it can be used to spearhead land-drop operations and function as a supplier for the mobile suit forces (as opposed to relying solely on HLVs which, in addition to being defenseless, do not resupply units.
- Prober-Class Reconnaissance Submarine
- Jicco Assault Boat
- Cui Personnel Carrier
- Samson Transport Truck
- Sealance Ferry Speedboat
- Sodon-Class Space Tugboat
- Luggun Reconnaissance Plane
- Dobday-Class Land Battleship
- Gallop-Class Land Battleship
- Jukon-Class Combat Submarine
- Mad Angler-Class Submarine Tender
[edit] Earth Federation
[edit] Columbus-Class Transport
| Columbus-Class | |
|---|---|
| Fast Facts | |
| Ship type | Transport ship |
| Class | Columbus |
| Launched: | Unknown |
| Class fate: | Unknown |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | Unknown |
| Length: | 145 m |
| Armament: | Unknown |
| Ships of the Class: | Edge (Columbus Kai) |
The Columbus class is the Federation's fleet of resupply ships that were created to keep the space fleets resupplied while they were not in action. Columbus class ships were successful in this role, but many of the vessels were commandeered by the space fleet commanders for use as makeshift mobile suit carriers during the One Year War.
Like most ships in the Federation's space fleet, the Columbus class was refitted between U.C. 0079 and U.C. 0083, resulting in the Columbus Kai class. Unlike earlier Columbus class vessels, the Columbus Kai was not used to ferry mobile suits.
It should also be noted that it was a Columbus class ship which was modified into a control ship for both Solar Flare Systems.
[edit] Salamis-Class Cruiser
Main Article: Salamis-Class Cruiser The Salamis-Class Cruiser is the workhorse ship of Earth Federal Space Force's naval fleet. It was introduced in UC 0060, and subsequently modernized as part of the "'70s Armament Reinforcement Plan". The ship's design was upgraded and improved on multiple occasions, resulting in many variants. Major redesigns of the ship included once after the One Year War and a second during the years between UC 0083 and UC 0088.
The Salamis-Class is named after the Salamis Island in Greece, the site of the Battle of Salamis in September, 480 BC.
[edit] The Vinson Plan
Having realized the need for MS carrying capability on its space fleet, the Federation refurbished a number of Salamis-Class Cruisers and Magellan-Class Battleships at its Jaburo base under the Vinson Plan, which removed some of the missile laucher capacity of both vessels to mount a hangar bay for mobile suits or mobile pods. The Vinson Plan Salamis could carry 3 mobile suits or as much as 16 mobile pods.
Once the refitted ships were launched from Jaburo to join the rest of the fleet, the remaining ships of the Federation's fleet were redeployed into combat zones with the new RGM-79 GM mobile suit and RB-79 Ball mobile pod for protection. Even with the Vinson Plan refits, many federal mobile suits, fighters and mobile pods had to be carried into battle in Columbus class transports. Although the Salamis class would suffer even more causalities throughout the remainder of the war, they proved to be more effective when used in conjunction with mobile suits, a lesson lost upon the architects of the 0083 variant redesign a few years later.
[edit] Magellan-Class Battleship
| Magellan-Class Battleship | |
|---|---|
| Fast Facts | |
| Ship type | Battleship |
| Class | Magellan |
| Launched: | October Universal Century 0070 |
| Class fate: | Decommissioned pre-U.C. 0088 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 62,900 tons (0083 Refit) |
| Length: | 327 m |
| Width: | 102 m |
| Height: | 96 m |
| Armament: | Original: 2-barrel mega particle cannon turrets x7, 2-barrel machinegun turrets x14; missile launchers x4 0083 Refit: 2-barrel mega particle cannon turrets x7, 2-barrel laser turrets x16 |
| Mobile Suit Complement: | Original: 4-6 on outer hull 0083 Refit:4-6 on outer hull |
| Ships of the Class: | Ananke, Nereid, Phoebe, Titan, Luzar, Hyperion, Hood, Kilimanjaro, Drog (in the novel version of MSG) |
The Magellan-Class Battleship was a battleship type that was commissioned in U.C. 0070 as part of the Federation's "'70s Armament Reinforcement Plan." Developed alongside with the Salamis-Class Cruiser, the Magellan-Class had only one refitted design in U.C. 0083 that stemmed from the original shipline.
The Magellan-Class Battleship is named after the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan.
Developed in conjunction with the Salamis-Class Cruiser as part of the Earth Federation's "'70s Armament Reinforcement Plan", the Magellan-Class Battleship was the most powerful warship the Federation had at the time. The first Magellans had no mega particle cannons but were later refitted before the One Year War with the Principality of Zeon. All Magellan-Classes featured seven twin turret mega particle cannons in all, along with 20 anti-aircraft machine guns, which would later be used to help defend the ships against mobile suit attacks.
Magellan-Class Battleships mostly served as flagships for the Earth Federal Space Force. During the Battle of Loum, Fleet Admiral Revil, more commonly known as General Revil, personally commanded his own Magellan-Class Battleship, the Ananke, which was destroyed in the battle. Revil later returned to command the Phoebe, another Magellan-Class, which was also destroyed with him aboard when Zeon Supreme Commander Gihren Zabi fired his Solar Ray (in the novel version, he commanded the Drog). Admiral Watkins and Admiral Tianem also personally commanded Magellan warships.
While very powerful, the Magellans were hopelessly outmatched against mobile suit equipped Zeon warships, such as the Musai-Class Light Cruiser. Many of the battleships were destroyed during the One Year War. They could, however, take more damage than any Salamis-Class Cruiser due to their superior armor protection. Despite their overall better performance in armament, speed, and armor, the newer and better-equipped warships such as the Pegasus-Class Assault Carrier began replacing the old Magellans, becoming the prime striking arm of the Earth Federal Forces. These powerful ships could not be produce quickly though, which meant the EFSF had to make due with their Salamis-Class Cruisers and Magellan-Class Battleships as makeshift mobile suit carriers during the last few battles of the war, including the Battle of Solomon and the Battle of A Baoa Qu.
The battleships were decimated during the One Year War, leaving just a handful of the Magellans left for active service.
[edit] Public-Class Assault Ship
| Public-Class Assault Ship | |
|---|---|
| Fast Facts | |
| Ship Type | Assault Ship |
| Class | Public |
| Launched: | Universal Century 0079 |
| Class Fate: | Decommissioned U.C. 0080 |
| General characteristics | |
| Armament: | Large Capital Ship-Class Missiles x2 or Beam Dispersion Smoke Missiles x2 |
The Earth Federation's Earth Federal Space Force came face to face with the Principality of Zeon's MS-05 Zaku I and MS-06 Zaku II mobile suits, which were unlike any threat the Federation fleets had ever faced before. The mobile suits were fast, maneuverable, and highly agile. Within in the opening weeks of the war, these mobile suits sank most of the Federation's Salamis-Class Cruisers and Magellan-Class Battleships spaceships. Without a strong naval force to counter the Zeon warships, the Federation needed a way to rapidly increase the size of their navy. Thus, they developed the Public-Class Assault Ship.
The Public-Class is basically a simple space vehicle, such as a shuttle, that was crudely refitted to include room for a pair of capital ship-grade torpedoes. The idea behind these assault ships were to get in fast with hit-and-run strikes, drop both weapons, then leave quickly, much like the World War II era gunboats. However, while extremely fast, the ships were poorly armored and could not easily maneuver.
The Public-Class was useful during the Battle of Solomon, when these ships deployed beam dispersion smoke, allowing some of the Federation's dedicated fighting vessels to close in on the space fortress. The Public-Class was also utilized during the Battle of A Baoa Qu, although they were far less successful in their ploy to use the beam disruption smoke.
Because of their overall weakness to do any sort of real damage, the Public-Class Assault Ships were retired at the end of the One Year War.
- Gunperry Transport Plane
- Medea Transport Plane
- Big Tray-Class Land Battlehsip|Big Tray-Class Land Battleship
- Himalaya-Class Aircraft Carrier|Himalaya-Class Aircraft Carrier
[edit] External links
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Super Robot Wars
- ^ Dengeki Hobby Magazine issue November, 2007
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