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.

Technology and Combat Characteristics
The class was constructed to make use of Mobile Suits, so it incorporates a large hanger that carries ten mobile suits and two launch catapults to quickly launch the machines 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. Finally one new featured the Ra Cailum class possessed was the ability to deploy multiple decoy ships, balloon like objects that expand to the same size and shape as the ship with a similar color scheme. A close visual inspection would reveal which is real and which are fakes, however they were useful for fooling long-range inspection and sensors.

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.

Armament

 * Two-Barrel Main Beam Gun
 * The main weapons of the Ra Cailum-class are four 2-barrel mega-particle cannons situated on the dorsal and ventral hulls with three situated forward of the bridge and one to the bridge's aft. These guns provide full covering fire from all directions, ensuring the ship remains protected from threats on all approaches.


 * Two-Barrel Defensive Gun
 * For anti-air/anti-mobile suit defense the Ra Cailum-class is equipped with twenty two two-barrel defensive guns. The guns are placed on various locations of the hull to ensure the ship is defended from mobile suits and aircraft no matter which direction attacks may come from.


 * Missile Launcher
 * The Ra Cailum-class is equipped with six missile launchers which, depending on the ordnance loaded, can be used for anti-ship or anti-mobile suit combat.

History
The first Ra Cailum class ship debuted in the movie Char's 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 Noa, and played a major role in the Second Neo Zeon War, by first rescuing a disable civilian shuttle, then later launching an impressive nuclear barrage against the asteroid Axis, and lastly by infiltrating a team of mini mobile suits (or MMS) to destroy Axis from the inside.

In U.C. 0096, during the Third Neo Zeon War, the Ra Cailum responded to an assault on Dakar by the Zeon Remnants and launched the Tri-Stars to intercept. However, the attack was merely a diversion to distract the Federation from locating the Garencieres in the desert. Later, the Ra Cailum gained a new addition to the crew: Riddhe Marcenas and his MSN-001A1 Delta Plus before moving to intercept a Zeon attack at Torrington.

In the year 0123 UC, after the Crossbone Vanguard captured and occupied Frontier IV, one Ra Cailum class ship, the Ra Gustar, would lead a fleet to attack the enemies headquarters. The captain of the ship would order the guns to fire through the colony's exterior in an attempt to the government buildings where the Crossbone Vanguard's leadership resided, ignoring the possible deaths of refugees camping nearby.

Several decades later, during the League Militaire's struggle against the Zanscare Empire, the League Militaire used a Ra Calium Class ship named Jeanne D'Arc, which was under the command of Admiral Mubarak Stern. Interestingly, the Jeanne D'arc, despite being over 50 years old and considered an obsolete design, was fitted with a beam shield, which reduced the damage done by an enemy mobile suit's beam weaponry. With Admiral Mubarak Stern at the helm, he launched a suicide attack on the Zanscare Fleet, however, this ship would be destroyed by Chronicle Asher piloting the Rig Contio.

There was only one major Ra Cailum-class refit program, in which at least one ship, Admiral Tianem, was refit. However, specifications on this refit type were not immediately available.