Ra Cailum class battleship

In the fictional Gundam universe, the "Ra Cailum" (sometimes spelled "Lar Kairum", both pronounced Rock-eye-loom, first of its eponymous class) was the last battleship line commissioned by the Earth Federation. The class was designed to both excel in conventional ship-to-ship battles and support mobile warfare, incorporating 2 launch catapults for a maximum of 8 mobile suits. The class has 4 duel-barrel main beam turrets, 22 secondary anti-aircraft guns, and six missile launcher 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 previous "Irish"-class battleship and the "Alexandria"-class heavy 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 cruisers, which were constructed around the same time as the "Ra Cailum" class. The "Ra Cailum"-class battleship was one of the largest and most powerful warships ever launched by the EFSF, and remained in service until the last days of the Federation.

The first "Ra Cailum"-class battleship, the "Ra Cailum", debuted in U.C.0093 as the flagship of the Londo Bell task force. The "Ra Cailum" was commanded by Captain Bright Noa, and played a major role in the Second Neo-Zeon War, by first rescueing a disabled civilian shuttle carrying important government officials, 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 with nuclear explosives.

Decades later, during the League Militaire's struggle against the Zanscare Empire, the LM leader Hangelg Uso managed to persuade support from a regular Federation fleet under the command of Admiral Mubarak Stern, who used a "Ra Calium"-class ship named "Jeanne d'Arc" as the flagship. Interestingly, the "Jeanne d'Arc" was fitted with a beam shield, which reduced the damage done by an enemy ship'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 powerful weaponaries, good defence, large mobile suit carrying capacity, excellent engines and long endurance. However, their service was largely unremarkable owing to the steadily deteriorating state of the Earth Federation during the second Universal Century.

ee also

*Mobile Suit
*List of Mobile Suits
*RX-78 mobile suit series
*Minovsky Physics
*Future Ships

External links

* [http://www.mahq.net MAHQ]
* [http://www.geocities.com/gundam_uc0079/index.html The World-Wide Gundam Informational Network]
* [http://side7.gundam.com/rgz/info/uc_ship2.html Library of Londenion (ship names and fates)]