CBS-74 Ptolemaios 2

CBS-74 Ptolemaios 2 (aka Ptolemy), is the mothership/MS carrier for Celestial Being in season 2 of Mobile Suit Gundam 00. In Mobile Suit Gundam 00 The Movie: A Wakening of the Trailblazer, Ptolemy was upgraded and re-dubbed CBS-74 Ptolemaios 2 Kai. The ship is commanded by Sumeragi Lee Noriega.

Technology & Combat Characteristics
Ptolemy's design is largely inspired by a combination of the previous Ptolemy, Assault Container, and GN Arms. As the successor to CBS-70 Ptolemaios, Ptolemy II is a dramatic improvement over its predecessor. Ptolemy II is a multi-purpose MS transport carrier, capable of operating in space, atmosphere, and sea. Ptolemy II overall is designed to be a self sustainable warship, capable of providing combat support to their Gundams and/or Meisters in various combat situations for extended periods of time. The ship has atmospheric re-entry capabilities and is capable of returning to space on its own. In addition, Ptolemy II is also a submarine. The ship is capable of diving underwater for infiltration and stealth operations.

The ship no longer uses a docking ring for launching Gundams or portable MS containers. It has a large MS container bay that directly loads the Gundams onto the two linear catapults to launch mobile units with shorter launching times. The MS container bay of the ship was designed to accommodate the Gundams and mobile support units. During underwater operations, the bottom of the bay can open for underwater launching or retrieval.

The new bridge is nearly identical to the original, but enhanced with new electronics for optimal performance. The ship also contains a sub-bridge. It's a smaller bridge, fitting only two people for piloting and weapons control. The secondary bridge was meant to ease responsibilities in combat. When the pilots are preoccupied with helm controls, the sub-bridge can take over weapons. It's also meant to be a second place for controls should Ptolemy's main bridge become damaged or destroyed in combat, allowing Ptolemy to continuing functioning even in the most dire situations.

Ptolemy requires a large number of staff to maintain its systems and repairs to continue operations. Even though the ship itself was designed to hold a sizable number of crew members, Celestial Being has been managing the ship with a skeleton crew. To compensate for the lack of a full crew, the ship has a large number of Haros and Karels to substitute a human crew. The Karels themselves are low-level thinking maintenance bots, should more complicated tasks are given (ex: Gundam repairs, system repairs), the Haros will dock with the Karels to complete the task. The maintenance-bots themselves are only able of completing a certain level of repairs and ultimately require a human engineer to complete the job. It's why the engineer is often supervising the Haros and Karels during their work; due to their tireless nature, they often complete major repairs in a speedy manner that contributes to the survival of the ship and the Gundams.

The ship is loaded with an arsenal of weapons for self defensive/offensive purposes and is able to hold its own without the need of a Gundam. The ship can use high GN particle dispersal for stealth and GN Field for protection, but also has a holographic camouflage system to avoid detection. The ship was also designed to utilize the power of the Gundams; when speed and power is needed, the ship can utilize the Gundam's Trans-Am systems to temporarily enhance it's capabilities and launch straight into space. Overall, Ptolemy II is a highly formidable and versatile warship.

Armaments

 * GN Large Missile Launcher
 * These large missile launchers all face directly forward, in four clusters of three launchers each. They fire large GN Missiles suitable for use against warships or even large fixed structures.


 * GN Missile Launcher
 * Ptolemy 2 also has a total of 38 smaller vertical missile launchers, capable of firing an array of missiles against enemy mobile suits. The launchers are arrayed in four rows of four (located on the top of the aft section, just forward of the engines), two rows of five (on the underside of the aft section, directly below the topside launchers), and two rows of six (on the underside of the forward section, just aft of the torpedo launchers).


 * GN Missiles: The GN Missiles are multi-purpose ordinance, capable of being modified for specific purposes in a combat situation. The explosive cluster-jamming missiles are a recent addition to the ship's arsenal. The ship can prepare missiles loaded with mines. When fired, they detonate at a specified distance and release a large minefield in the path of the incoming enemy. A particle beam can ignite the field and incinerate everything within the mine field. The missiles can also be prepared to unleash a smokescreen along with the mines. The traditional ordinance are tracking missiles, loaded with GN particles that disperse on contact to cause an enemy MS frame to explode in seconds.


 * GN Torpedo Launcher
 * The torpedo launcher is located at the bottom-front area of Ptolemy 2, in between the MS container bays. The weapons platform is a 4-tube launcher, but can fire torpedoes individually if necessary.


 * GN Torpedeo: Just like GN Missiles, the torpedoes can be prepared to fire specific types of ordinance for underwater and underwater-to-surface firing. The torpedoes can traditionally track and detonate on contact or be modified as a countermeasure, such as concentrated GN particle dispersal and/or smokescreen.


 * GN Cannon
 * The GN Cannons are a pair of GN Particle Beam Cannons on the top of each side of the catapult launchers. The design and firing capabilities are similar to that of GNR-001 GN Arms. The GN Beam Cannons are fixed stationary weapons, and depend on the helm of Ptolemy to change the angle of the ship to adjust their firing solutions against enemy units.


 * GN Cannon Turret
 * These beam cannons are very similar to the four forward-firing guns, but are mounted on movable turrets on the sides of the ship's forward section, just aft of the GN Large Missile Launchers.


 * GN Flak Cannon
 * These small cannons are intended for anti-aircraft/anti-MS defense. Six of them are clustered around the Ptolemy 2's nose.

System Features

 * Trans-Am System
 * Ptolemy II was designed to utilize the power of Trans-Am through their solar furnaces. The ship itself does have a Trans-Am system, utilizing the pre-stored particles in its particle storage tanks; it can be used only for a very brief period of time. For the ship to maintain Trans-Am at extended time period(s), at least one Gundam (and more) is needed to supply additional particles to power the carrier. The Gundam's particle generation can be redirected to temporarily improve the performance of any specific system(e.g. engines, GN Field etc.). It's unclear what the ship's particle output and tolerance are when utilizing such high GN particle energies, but Ptolemy II was designed to siphon GN particles from all four Gundams for maximum potential.




 * When utilizing Trans-Am, the ship's hull integrity, GN Field, speed, and weapons are temporarily enhanced. Trans-Am is used to help the ship return to space at incredible speeds and can repel powerful particle beams; Trans-Am power is still limited to the duration of the Gundam's GN particle expenditure. Once Trans-Am deactivates on the Gundams, the ship's power return to normal or below parameters until recharged.


 * Optical Camouflage
 * GN Field

Variants

 * CBS-74 Ptolemaios 2 Kai

Development
Little was explained about the creation of Ptolemy 2. Though a successor to Ptolemy, it was never explained whether the ship was a repaired and upgraded version of the original or a completely new build. The ship can logically be presumed to have been constructed at one of Celestial Being's secret bases in Lagrange 1, Lagrange 3, or Krung Thep. The launch date of the ship is also unclear, and was only certainly in active service in 2312 AD.

Rescue Allelujah Haptism
The Ptolemy 2 went down to Earth to rescue Allelujah, fully expanding its GN field before plunging into the ocean next to the prison where Allelujah was located, causing a massive tsunami that flood the prison's grounds, causing mass panic. Ptolemy remained underwater in order to disperse an enemy particle beam. Once Allelujah was located, Ptolemy briefly surfaced to launch Arios before leaving the combat zone.

Underwater Operation
Because Setsuna had rescued Marina Ismail, Ptolemy directed its course to Azadistan. Suddenly, they are attacked by a GN drive Tau-equipped mobile armor, Trilobite. It managed to puncture Ptolemy's hull, but filled the containers with water so the Gundams could launch.

Seravee was deployed first to counter the Mobile Armor. By managing to push the Trilobite away from Ptolemy using Trans-Am Face Burst, the ship was safe from further damage.

Aiding Katharon
Because of the sudden A-Laws attack, Ptolemy used its optical camouflage to hide evacuation efforts at Rub' al Khali Katharon base. They then proceeded to engage the nearby A-Laws carrier to buy time for Katharon refugees to make it to safety.

Trans Am Launch
Estimating that the enemy will surround them in 12 hours, Sumeragi devised a plan to get to space through use of Trans Am. She used three of the Gundams that were Trans Am capable to boost Ptolemy 2's speed, using explosions from Trilobite missiles as an initial boost. Ascending into the sky, Ptolemy shot down any mobile suits attempting to shoot it down. However, as it made for the stratosphere, the GNZ-003 Gadessa used its GN Mega Launcher to push Ptolemy 2 off course by three degrees. Once Trans Am was up, the ship was attacked by an A-Laws cruiser. Luckily, Sumeragi had anticipated this and had 00 launch during atmospheric exist, which destroyed the cruiser.

Maintenance at L3
After a brief skirmish with the GNZ-005 Garazzo, Ptolemy 2 docked at the Lagrange 3 asteroid base, where immediate repairs and resupplying began.

Battle at L3
Unfortunately, their resupplying operations had to cease when the A-Laws found the base. Ptolemy 2 and the Gundams launched to defend any escaping ships. However, Gadessa used its Launcher to punch a hole in Ptolemy 2, disabling its GN field. Ptolemy was able to reactivate its GN Field afterwards. Thanks to 00 Raiser, the enemy was forced to flee. Ptolemy 2 then raced back to Earth to destroy Memento Mori.

Memento Mori Assault
While 00 Raiser sortied to defend the Katharon fleet (and draw the attention of the A-Laws' defenses), Ptolemy 2 stayed at a distance, waiting for the right opportunity to strike. Luckily, Nena Trinity had secretly sent detailed information on Memento Mori. After Sumeragi devised a strategy, Ptolemy 2 then commenced its assault mission. Racing along the lower ring, right in Memento Mori's blind spot, Ptolemy 2 attempted to bypass the superweapon's defenses, but the A-Laws ships and suits pushed it into Memento Mori's firing range. But thanks to proper timing calculations from Marie Parfacy, Ptolemy 2 evades the particle beam from Memento Mori with Arios' Trans Am. Seravee and Cherudim then come out the center launch tube in ready position; since Arios' Trans Am is all focused on speed, meaning Ptolemy 2 can't use its GN Field; Cherudim deployed its Shield Bits to defend the ship. Once they got close to the superweapon, Sumeragi issued Tieria/Seravee to fire at it using hyper burst mode, followed by a salvo of GN missiles, which penetrated Memento Mori's hull, exposing its light resonance chamber. Cherudim then sniped the exposed chamber, destroying Memento Mori. The A-Laws warships assigned to protect Memento Mori were also caught in the blast.

Return to Earth
Before 00 Raiser could return to the ship, the Ptolemy 2 was attacked by the mobile armor Empress, along with the Gadessa and Garazzo. The ship was forced to reenter Earth's atmosphere in order to escape, but was pursued by the Gadessa and Garazzo. With the ship landed for repairs, Arios and Seravee launched to fight off the attackers. Seravee revealed one of its hidden features, the Seraphim Gundam, and destroyed Garazzo, killing its pilot Bring Stabity.

Break Pillar Incident
While 00 Raiser is fighting Mr. Bushido (Graham Aker) after hearing about an attempted Federation coup by Pang Hercules, the Ptolemy 2 rushes to the Africa Tower, hoping to find Setsuna and assist Katharon. Hercule's plan was to expose the atrocities that A-LAWS have committed, but that is impossible due to the Federation's control over Veda, allowing them to have real-time information. In space, Ptolemy 2 assists Katharon and the coup forces by attempting to destroy a rebuilt ''Memento Mori. Despite the crew's best efforts, Memento Mori'' manages to fire on the Africa Tower, causing it to collapse and kill hundreds of civilians. However, due to a temporary alliance between all opposing forces, the fragments of the tower are all shot down and miss the civilians living near the tower.

Post Break Pillar
After a four month hiatus, Ptolemy 2 returns to action. However, their mission to destroy A-LAWS is made more daunting by the fact that the regular Federation army has been placed under the control of A-LAWS. Gundam Meister Tieria Erde suggests to Sumeragi that they attempt to retake Veda from the Innovators. On top of that, while separated from the crew, Setsuna was exposed to GN Tau particles through a bullet from Ali Al-Saachez. It is Setsuna who suggests that they try to capture an Innovator to find Veda's location.

Battling the Innovators
During the next battle, a force of 12 mobile suits is sent to intercept the Ptolemy 2 in space. The force includes an Ahead piloted by Andrei Smirnov, a GNZ-003 Gadessa piloted by Revive Revival, and a custom Ahead piloted by Louise Halevy. Revive/Gadessa attempts to destroy the Ptolemy from afar, but is engaged in a duel by Tieria/Seravee. Tieria/Seravee engages Revive/Gadessa in hand to hand combat, with the former winning over, but Revive escapes in his GN Tau escape pod. Tieria then activates the Seraphim Gundam and captures the pod.

While being interrogated by the Gundam Meisters and Sumeragi, Revive reveals that he was intentionally captured to take 00 Gundam and 0 Raiser, along with sleeper agent Anew Returner. Their plan to take both machines fails but the Raiser System is damaged. During the next battle, Ptolemy 2 faces off against two new units, the GNZ-007 Gaddess piloted by Anew and the GNMA-0001V Regnant piloted by Louise. The Meisters intercept the new units and all return to the ship safely. However, Cherudim is damaged from its duel with the Gaddess and its meister, Lyle Dylandy, becomes angry towards Setsuna for killing Anew.

Battle at L2
Through information from Wang Liu Mei, the crew of the Ptolemaios 2 discovers that Veda is near the dark side of the moon. However, it is within a large object of unknown mass(CBS Celestial Being). Ptolemaios 2 sets out to find Veda and atone for their sins. Before venturing into battle, the four Gundams receive upgrades and the ship has repairs done.

Ship Refit
After the events of AD 2312, Ptolemy was returned to one of their L-point satellites for repairs and enhancements. It's overall weapons and propulsion systems was given an overhaul and the ship was renamed as CBS-74 Ptolemaios 2 Kai.