Salamis-class

In the Universal Century timeline of Mobile Suit Gundam, the Salamis-class cruiser forms the backbone of the Earth Federal Space Force's naval fleet. It was introduced in October UC 0070 as part of the Year 70 Armament Reinforcement Plan. The ship's design was upgraded and improved twice, once after the One Year War and again between the years UC 0083 and UC 0088, before the Gryps War.

The Original Salamis
The first Salamis-class cruisers were launched in conjunction with the Magellan-class battleships as part of the Earth Federal Space Force's Year 70 Armament Reinforcement Plan in U.C. 0070. They were armed with conventional weaponry: six main cannon turrets, six two-barrel machine gun turrets for anti-fighter (and later anti-mobile suit) defense, and two six-cell external missile launchers. By U.C. 0079 most of the cruiser's original main cannon turrets had been upgraded with superior mega particle cannons. The original Salamis-class suffered heavy casualties during the One Year War due to the general superiority of the Zeons' combination of their Musai-class light cruisers and their MS-06C Zaku II mobile suits. In particular, the nuclear-bazooka-armed C-Type Zaku II extracted a heavy toll against the Salamis-class, as their thinly armored hulls were ill-suited to withstand nuclear weaponry. For this and a combination of other reasons, the Earth Federation order the Earth Federal Space Force to recall the last remaining Salamis vessels to the asteroid base Luna II, where they remained until September U.C. 0079, until the Federation scientists finally launched their first mobile suits. 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 pods for protection. Unfortunately, the Salamis-class ships could only store their new mobile suits and mobile pods on the outer hull of the ship, due to the fact that the ships lacked any sort of hangar bay. 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, which would play a role in the Salamis Kai design a few years later.

The 0083 Refit
Between UC 0080 and UC 0083, the Salamis-class cruiser underwent its first major refit. Top members of the Federation Admiralty decided that the Salamis-class was in need of a total overhaul, and Federation engineers were charged with re-designing the class. The Admiralty was interested in improving the three major problems of the original Salamis cruisers: insufficient firepower, the slow speed of the cruisers (the original Salamis class ships had only one engine), and a better point-defense system for protection against enemy mobile suits. Drawing on the blue prints of the Magellan-class battleships, engineers began the lengthy process of refitting the Salamis-class.

The design of the Salamis-class cruiser 0083 Refit was heavily modified, with additional beam weaponry (including three double-barreled beam cannon turrets, a first for the Salamis class), AA/AMS defense, increased missile capability (the six-cell launchers were exchanged for larger 15-cell launchers, eight internal VLS cells, and larger engines. The overall length of this variant was reduced, requiring a reduction of the size of the main powerplant; consequently these improvements sapped the ship's power supply.  Many of the new Salamis refit units were lost during the Delaz Fleet's Operation Stardust in U.C. 0083.

The Salamis Kai
At the end of Operation Stardust the Federation Admiralty decided to abandon the 0083 variant of the Salamis-class cruiser in favor of refitting the vintage Salamis-class cruiser. During this second round of refits between UC 0083 and UC 0088, the Salamis-Class received the equipment fit that would serve it through the rest of its commissioned career. Federation engineers borrowed ideas and equipment from the Pegasus-Class Assault Carrier program (most notably the Albion), and the failed design of the 0083 refit, incorporating the best of both classes into this refit.

The vessels refitted under this plan received an all-new bow including MS hangars for four mobile suits (the new bow bore only a cursory similarity to the original bow). The catapult deck was mounted on the exterior of the ship, bearing a passing resemblance to the bow of a World War II aircraft carrier. The hangars and workspaces were placed inside the hull, so they could be continuously pressurized to a shirtsleeves environment. The addition of the hangars and topside catapult deck, however, did cost the Salamis Kai one main beam gun turret. Two additional twin-barrel beam gun turrets replacing the generally useless side-subbridges. Anti-mobile-suit machine gun defenses were increased, as well. This version, known as the Salamis Kai-class cruiser, remained in continuous production from UC 0083 to UC 0093, and composed the bulk of the fleet through the end of the first Universal Century. These ships saw a great deal of action in both major fleets (AEUG and Titans/Earth Federation) during the Gryps War.

The Fate of the Salamis Cruiser
The Salamis-Class was first upstaged by the Alexandria-class heavy cruiser during the Gryps War but still continued to play a major roll as a major warship for the Earth Federation, AEUG, and the Titan task force. But the Salamis model would not be discontinued until U.C. 0102, in favor of the newer and greatly superior Clop-class cruisers. However, the Salamis Kai-class cruiser would continue to see service in the Earth Federation's naval fleet until U.C. 0153, despite the fact that it was almost practically useless against mobile suit and warship designs of that time.