Ra Cailum-class

In the Universal Century timeline of Mobile Suit Gundam, the Ra Cailum (sometimes spelled Lar Kairum, both pronounced Rock-eye-loom) was the last battleship line commissioned by the Earth Federation. The class was constructed to make use of Mobile Suits, so it incorporates two launch catapults into its design. The class has four two-barrel main beam turrets, twenty-two secondary Anti-Aircraft guns, and six missile 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 Anti Earth Union Group's Irish-class battleships and the Earth Federation's Alexandria-class heavy cruisers. Very little design legacy remained from the old, mothballed Magellan-class battleships. 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 first Ra Cailum class ship debuted in the movie Chars Counterattack. Set in U.C.0093, the Ra Cailum was introduced as the flagship of the Londo Bell task force. The Ra Cailum was commanded by Captain Noah, and played a major role in the Second Neo Zeon War, by first rescue-ing a disable civilian shuttle, 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.

Several years later, during the League Militaire's struggle against the Zanscare Empire, the LM used a Ra Calium Class ship named Jeanne D'Arc, which was under the command of Admiral Mubarak Stern. Interestingly, the Jeanne D'arc was fitted with a beam shield, which reduced the damage done by an enemy mobile suit'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 good defense, large mobile suit carrying capacity, powerful engines and weapons and long endurance. However, their service was largely unremarkable owing to the steadily deteriorating state of the Earth Federation during the second Universal Century.