Archangel-class

The Archangel-class is a general purpose ship class in the Cosmic Era time-line.

Technology & Combat Characteristics
Since the Archangel-class assault ship is based upon Orb's Izumo-class battleship, the weaponry of both classes is nearly the same, although all in all the Archangel-class carries more weaponry than the Izumo-class. The armament features positron blaster cannons, beam guns, CIWS, linear cannons and several missile launchers, making the class more powerfully armed than either the Nelson-class battleship or Agamemnon-class carrier. Its only equals are the Girty Lue and LHM-BB01 Minerva. The true power of the Archangel-class is however hidden in the ship's cavernous hangar bay: Room for up to eight mobile suits or Mobile Armors. Combined with the G Project prototypes, the Archangel was intended to be very nearly invincible. In operations, she was intended to hold the GAT-X102 Duel and GAT-X103 Buster, Lieutenant Mu La Flaga's TS-MA2mod.00 Moebius Zero mobile armor, and two TS-MA2 Moebius mobile armors back for defense while the GAT-X105 Strike, GAT-X303 Aegis, and GAT-X207 Blitz took the battle to the enemy.

Armaments
The most powerful weapon of the Archangel-class are two "Lohengrin" positron blaster guns (literally "Knight of] Swan", named after Richard Wagner's opera of the same name), which are retractable and mounted inside the two front "legs" of the ship, directly below the hangars.
 * Positron Blaster Cannon

The only other beam weapons carried by Archangel-class ships are two "Gottfried Mk.71" 225cm high-energy beam cannons, which, like the ones of the Izumo-class ships, can move into several positions. As with the positron gun the beam guns are retractable and mounted on top of the two "legs", thus providing defense capabilities while mobile suits are launched.
 * High-energy Beam Cannon

The only shell firing weapons on the ship are 16 "Igelstellung" 75mm automatic multi-barrel CIWS guns, used to shoot down incoming missiles or Mobile Weapons. Like the "Gottfried" beam cannons, the CIWS guns are movable to shoot down targets from several directions.
 * CIWS

Each side of the ship mounts a single "Valiant Mk.8" 110cm linear cannon, which, like the positron and beam cannons are retractable.
 * Linear Cannon

Besides energy guns and shell-firing weapons, Archangel-class ships are also equipped with a large number of missile launchers, divided into 24 x surface-to-ship missile launchers and 16 x surface-to-air missile launchers. These launchers allow the Archangel-class to fire a large number of different missile types.
 * Missile Launchers

The lighter missiles, such as "Helldart" anti-aircraft missiles are loaded into and stored on tubes on the bridge tower. The light Helldart missiles are primarily used as their classification suggests, in an anti-air role, however they are generally ineffective at damaging targets with phase-shift armor.
 * Bridge Tower Missile Launchers

The stern of the Archangel-class houses two sections that project backwards directly behind its dorsal wings and directly above its engines. These launchers house the heavier missile classes, Sledgehammer anti-ship missiles and Corintoss and Wombat heavy anti-aircraft missiles.
 * Aft Missile Launchers

When deployed these missiles normally perform a 180° turn in a wide arc around the side of the ship and then forward towards their target.

System Features
As a protoype ship, the Archangel-class is equipped with several unique and new features. One such feature is an ablative gel, which can be released by the ship during atmospheric reentry to absorb heat.

The armor of the Archangel-class is made up of laminated armor, which dissipates the heat of beam weapons across the whole hull, granting the ship an incredible defense against beam weapon fire. Additionally, the ship can fire anti-beam depth charges, which release clouds of beam-absorbing particles.
 * Defense Features

First Bloody Valentine War
The Archangel-class mobile assault ship was developed by the Atlantic Federation of the Earth Alliance and Orb's Morgenroete as part of the G Project to support the mobile suits developed under the same project. The Archangel-class ships are functionally equivalent to the modern day aircraft carrier; their primary mission being to launch and recover mobile suits and mobile armors. The first ship of the class, the Archangel was created at Orb's resource satellite Heliopolis, where it was rolled out in January CE 71.

On January 25, CE 71, ZAFT stole four of the five prototypes and destroyed two Moebius mobile armors, leaving the Archangel with only the Strike mobile suit and Lieutenant La Flaga's Moebius Zero to defend herself. After the battleship linked up with Admiral Halburton's 8th Fleet, she took on-board two FX-550 Skygrasper fighters, which were compatible with the Strike's Striker Packs. En route to the JOSH-A base in Alaska, the Archangel lost the Strike and one Skygrasper in combat, and recaptured the Buster. In the aftermath of the Battle of Alaska, the Archangel added the stolen ZAFT mobile suit ZGMF-X10A Freedom Gundam to its complement, piloted by former Strike pilot Kira Yamato.

Two Archangel-class ships were built during the war: the Archangel, commanded by Lieutenant (later Lt. Commander) Murrue Ramius and the Earth Alliance/Blue Cosmos flagship, Dominion commanded by Lt. Commander Natarle Badgiruel (formerly Archangel's XO). The Dominion was destroyed and the Archangel was severely damaged on the war's last day, September 26, at the Second Battle of Jachin Due. In addition, the Archangel-class had a special tender vessel designed for it, however, only one was constructed before the destruction of Heliopolis - the prototype would later be acquired by the Junk Guild and modified into the ReHOME.

Second Bloody Valentine War
After the war, the Archangel was repaired, upgraded with submarine-esque capability, and hidden in a secret hanger at Orb. After a failed attack by ZAFT commandos in CE 73, the Archangel left this facility. Its mobile suit complement at this point was the Freedom piloted by Kira Yamato, the MBF-02 Strike Rouge piloted by Cagalli Yula Athha, and a MVF-M11C Murasame, a new transformable mobile, suit piloted by Andrew Waltfeld. Later that year, the Archangel intervened in battles between the ZAFT battleship Minerva and a joint Earth Alliance/Orb Union task force near the Dardanelles and again off the coast of Crete. After the second battle, six more MVF-M11C Murasame from the Orb aircraft carrier Takemikazuchi defected to the Archangel.

However, shortly after the release of the information on the shady group 'LOGOS' being the true warmongers of human civilization, ZAFT issued orders to destroy the Archangel. Being pursued by a team under Commander Willard and ultimately the Minerva, its mainstay mobile suit the Freedom was destroyed by the Impulse, and its outer hull was damaged by the Minerva's Tannhäuser main cannon.

The Archangel did arrive at Orb, and was repaired at a secret Morgenroete facility before ZAFT's attack on Orb (codenamed "Operation Fury"). Soon after she was repaired, she engaged the Minerva once again, but with the support of Neo Roanoke and his Skygrasper unit.

During the invasion of Orb by ZAFT, the Archangel was forced to engage the Minerva head on in order to defend Orb against ZAFT attacks. With both ships fairly evenly matched, Capt. Ramius decided to submerge the Archangel into the water to break free from the Minerva's relentless pursuit (realizing that once the ship was under water, the Archangel was virtually unchallenged in terms of firepower because all the beam weapons from the Minerva cannot hit targets underwater). The Archangel then proceeded to fire the Valiant linear cannons (projectile based) against the Minerva which was still hovering above the water's surface. Afterwards, the Archangel destroyed ZAFT support ships and submarines (including the St. Helens which was the flagship of Operation Fury) one by one with torpedoes and forced a total retreat of all ZAFT forces.

After the Battle of Onogoro, the Archangel was assigned to Orb's 2nd Space Fleet, and made its way to the Moon for an intelligence mission. After the mission was completed, the Archangel was joined by three Izumo-class battleships, including the Kusanagi and headed for ZAFT's Mobile Space Fortress Messiah, where it fought in the last battle of the Second Bloody Valentine War.

Trivia

 * The Archangel and Dominion are named after angelic ranks in Christian cosmology. If other Archangel-class vessels had been produced, they most likely would have been named after the other angelic ranks, such as the seraphim, cherubim, etc.
 * In SD Gundam G Generation Advance, a third, non-canon, Archangel battleship is introduced, the Archangel Kai. Captained by Natarle Badgiruel, it is made part of the Titans fleet and, like its Dominion counterpart, it is sunk in battle. The Archangel Kai is, for all intents and purposes, just the Archangel, but for the enemy. The reason for the Archangel Kai's inclusion is unknown, though it is most likely because the Game Boy Advance couldn't handle another large graphic, thus the reusing of the normal Archangel.