The Battle of Dardanelles is a conflict of the Second Alliance-PLANT War, featured in Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny.
Prelude[]
Following the failure of the Battle of Aprilius One, an infuriated Lord Djibril, leader of Logos, attempted to find some way to obtain a new victory against ZAFT. By this point, both Logos and the Earth Alliance, which was only loosely held and mostly spearheaded by the Logos-dominated Atlantic Federation, had mostly operated separately, but due to the beginning of the Second Alliance-PLANT War, Logos' forces, particularly that of Phantom Pain, no longer needed to operate in the shadows.
Eager to suppress the recent events in Western Eurasia caused by the ZAFT warship LHM-BB01 Minerva, Djibril called for Copeland to have the newly-joined Orb Union aid in their hunt for the ship, having Phantom Pain accompany and aid the joint attack. The sudden mobilization of both Orb Union and Atlantic Federation's forces would not go unnoticed by ZAFT as the movements of the Alliance's forces from Suez, the Black Sea, and the Sea of Marmara were reported though they did not have a clear vision of whether the target would be Gibraltar or ZAFT-held Diocuia.
As a deterrent, the Minerva was dispatched to the strategic chokepoint of Dardanelles to check on any hostile encounters. FAITH pilot Heine Westenfluss was also assigned to the ship with the new prototype ZGMF-2000 GOUF Ignited mobile suit to provide the ship with more manpower. While the planning went on, Orb's de facto ruler, Yuna Roma Seiran, proposed to the Alliance's captain, Neo Roanoke, an attack at Dardanelles as it was a double-edged sword, and meant that the rest of the ZAFT defense would collapse if it fell. It was then decided that the Orb forces would try to pull the Minerva for an appropriate spot for the Alliance to ambush them.
Underneath both sides, however, was the faction of Cagalli Yula Athha of Orb's true ruling family, who still sought to defend the ideals of the late Uzumi Nara Athha and a neutral Orb. The LCAM-01XA Archangel, a former close ally of her during the First Alliance-PLANT War, also sympathized with her wish, and "kidnapped" her during her political wedding. The ship would learn of Orb's recent mobilization and would shadow them from behind.
The Battle[]
The battle commenced when Orb's fleet met with the Minerva in Dardanelles Strait. As part of the plan, Yuna attempted to corner the Minerva using their superior numbers in ships and mobile suits, and the Minerva responded by sending out Shinn Asuka and Athrun Zala's ZGMF-X56S/α Force Impulse Gundam and ZGMF-X23S Saviour Gundam to engage Orb's MVF-M11C Murasames in the air. As the Minerva refused to budge, Yuna began recklessly ordering for more soldiers to be brought out, thinking little of the Takemikazuchi's own position.
When the Minerva was about to capitalize on Yuna's mistake by firing its "Tannhäuser" positron blaster cannon, a sudden shot erupted from outside. To the shock of all sides, the shooter would be Kira Yamato's ZGMF-X10A Freedom Gundam, who protected Cagalli as she attempted to implore the Orb forces to honor the country's true ideals of peace and neutrality. As the confused Orb forces were unable to respond, Neo immediately pressured Yuna to act immediately. In haste, Yuna, to the shock of all his subordinates, branded Cagalli as a "fake" and ordered them to fire upon her.
In spite of this odd turn of events, Neo sensed the opportunity and sent out the Alliance mobile suit teams, including Sting Oakley, Stella Loussier, and Auel Neider's ZGMF-X24S Chaos Gundam, ZGMF-X88S Gaia Gundam, and ZGMF-X31S Abyss Gundam respectively to aid the GAT-04 Windam teams to attack the Minerva. Because of this, the Minerva then sent out Heine's GOUF Ignited, Lunamaria Hawke's ZGMF-1000/A1 Gunner ZAKU Warrior and Rey Za Burrel's ZGMF-1001/M Blaze ZAKU Phantom with the former to engage while the latter two providing support fire from atop the ship. The Force Impulse and the Saviour would also change targets to the Abyss and the Chaos respectively. Yuna would once again make the inept command of simply throwing more bodies into the fire as he kept ordering more Orb soldiers for futile attacks on the Minerva and a second attack on the Archangel. Heine would respond to this brazen attack by cutting through the Orb forces before engaging the Gaia in a nearby isle.
Seeing that Cagalli's words no longer held any meaning and that even Orb's forces were attacking them, Kira requested Andrew Waltfeld to exit and protect Cagalli with his own custom-colored Murasame while he would split and force the battle to a halt. Meanwhile, though the Force Impulse was struggling to keep up with the submerged Abyss' faster speed, Athrun and Heine were more successful as the former's aerodynamics outmatched Sting's while the latter had successfully destroyed Stella's beam rifle using its heat rod.
Having seen enough, Kira finally entered the core of the battle and personally began attacking all sides until they were no longer able to continue. The Archangel would follow up by using its "Gottfried" twin beam cannons and "Valiant" linear cannons to fire in between the Minerva's attackers and overturned Orb's ships with the impact of the latter. Kira would then interfere with Shinn and Auel's dogfight, slicing off the Force Impulse's arm and landing a direct hit on the Abyss' leg thrusters while it's underwater. He then engaged both Stella and Heine, cutting off the former's hind legs and the latter's arm. Throughout this, Athrun, who was formerly allied with Kira and the Archangel in the previous war, made vain attempts to open communications with the former.
At the conclusion of the battle, Stella and Heine would attempt to make a second attack at the Freedom from behind, but the latter was blindsided by the former, and his GOUF Ignited would be sliced into two by the Gaia's beam blades, and Kira would respond to the attack by kicking the Gaia away. Due to her damage, Sting abandoned his fight to retrieve Stella and fled back to the Alliance fleet. Seeing the battle could no longer continue, both the Freedom and Archangel exited as abruptly as they came.
In Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny: The Edge, the battle's ending is treated slightly differently, as Kira also attacks both the Saviour and the Chaos during his rampage. Heine's death is also altered as he would make vain attempt to attack Kira from behind, only for his unit to be sliced apart by the Freedom. The Gaia would take advantage of this and sliced the GOUF Ignited in half as it fell defenseless from above.
Aftermath[]
Following the battle, the Minerva fell back to Port Turkios to lick its wounds. There, Talia, who was aware of Athrun's previous ties, inquired of what the Archangel's own motives were. As he believed there was a simple misunderstanding on their part, Athrun would opt to sortie out to parley with them and find an alternative solution though this would be largely unsuccessful due to the use of Meer Campbell as a fake Lacus Clyne as well as a failed attempt to assassinate Lacus herself. Unknown to Athrun was that Talia had also ordered Lunamaria to spy and record the meeting to keep check on any signs of defection with Athrun though neither saw any hint upon examination. The Minerva would later be ordered to investigate an unidentified research facility in the nearby woods.
On the side of the Alliance, Phantom Pain remained at sea to repair their units to await further orders regarding ZAFT. Djibril, more infuriated than ever due to the Minerva now being an anti-Alliance propaganda tool thanks to its recent successes, would order Neo to continue the hunt. Eventually, Orb's scouts would report the Minerva moving through sea again towards Gibraltar Base, and the Alliance Fleet would have its second opportunity to strike.
Outside the politics, however, despite Heine's untimely demise, his performance with the GOUF Ignited against the superior Gaia would prove the unit's worth in future battles, and the unit would be interred into ZAFT's mass-production line.
Gallery[]
.png "Takemikazuchi Escort Fleet 01 (SEED Destiny HD Ep23).png (4.02 MB)")
.PNG "Minerva Positron Blaster Cannon Shot 01 (SEED Destiny HD Ep22).PNG (3.97 MB)")
.png "Strike Rouge Ootori Ootori Gundam in the Air 01 (SEED Destiny HD Ep23).png (8.5 MB)")
_vs_Gaia_Gundam_01_(SEED_Destiny_HD_Ep23).png "GOUF Ignited (Heine Colors) vs Gaia Gundam 01 (SEED Destiny HD Ep23).png (4.53 MB)")
_Destroyed_01_(SEED_Destiny_HD_Ep23).png "GOUF Ignited (Heine Colors) Destroyed 01 (SEED Destiny HD Ep23).png (3.94 MB)")
.png "Freedom Gundam and Archangel 02 (SEED Destiny HD Ep23).png (4.83 MB)")
Notes & Trivia[]
Appearances[]
- Television Series
- Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny
- PHASE-22, Sword of the Blue Skies
- First Appearance
- PHASE-23, The Shadows of War
- Conclusion
- PHASE-22, Sword of the Blue Skies
References[]
| Cosmic Era Conflicts and Events | |
| Pre C.E. - C.E. 9 | |
|---|---|
| Reconstruction War | |
| C.E. 15 | |
| Coordinator Revelation | Jupiter Exploration Mission | |
| C.E. 30’s - C.E. 50 | |
| Coordinator Boom | |
| C.E. 50’s - C.E. 60’s | |
| Assassination of George Glenn | Flaga Estate Burning | Blue Cosmos Attack on Mendel | |
| C.E. 60’s - C.E. 69 | |
| Mandelbrot Incident | Attack on the Junius Colonies | Mendel Accident | |
| C.E. 70 | |
| First Alliance-PLANT War Tragedy of Copernicus | Bloody Valentine Incident | Invasion of South America | Battle of Yggdrasil | First Battle of Victoria | Operation Uroboros | Battle of Carpentaria | Battle of Coral Sea | First Battle of Jachin Due | Grimaldi Front (Battle of Endymion Crater) | First Battle of Casablanca | Battle of El Alamein | Battle of Nova | First Nova Recapture Operation | October Talks | |
| Unrelated Conflicts First Attack on the Graveyard | |
| C.E. 71 | |
| First Alliance-PLANT War Battle of Kaohsiung | Battle of Heliopolis | Skirmish near Artemis | Battle of Artemis | Second Nova Recapture Operation | Clash at Junius Seven | Skirmish in the Debris Belt | Battle near Junius Seven | Skirmish in the North African Desert | Skirmish towards Earth | Battle of Orbit | Second Battle of Victoria | Blue Cosmos Attack on PLANT | Desert Dawn Campaign (Attack on the Archangel | Attack on Tassil | Retaliation of the Desert Dawn | Blue Cosmos Attack in Banadiya | Battle of Talbadiya) | First Equatorial Skirmish | Second Equatorial Skirmish | Skirmish on an Uninhabited Island | Strait of Malacca Breakthrough | First Battle near Orb | Orb Infiltration Mission | Second Battle near Orb | Battle of the Marshall Islands | Theft of the Freedom Gundam | Operation Spitbreak | Shoot Out at White Symphony | Mission to Recapture the Freedom Gundam | Battle of Porta Panama | Battle of Orb | Assassination of Siegel Clyne | Third Battle of Victoria | Attack on a ZAFT Fleet | Theft of the Eternal | Battle of Mendel | Second Battle of Casablanca | Operation 8.8 (Ayers Rock Landing Operation) | Operation Elvis (Battle of Boaz | Second Battle of Jachin Due) | |
| South American War for Independence Attack on South American Forces Base 12 | Duel at the South American Shore | Battle in the USSA Neutral Zone | Ambush in Low Orbit | |
| Unrelated Conflicts Campaign on the ZAFT Supply Route (Attack on a ZAFT Supply Station | Battle at ZAFT Supply Station 4) | Skirmish at Heliopolis | Pirate Attack on the H.O.M.E. | Recapture of Artemis | Skirmish at Artemis | Second Attack on the Graveyard | Actaeon Hostage Incident | Skirmish at Liteiria | Barnacle Incident | First Attack by the Gundam Astray Gold Frame | First Attack on the Lesseps | Second Attack on the Lesseps | Confrontation in the Deep Sea | Infiltration of the Lesseps | First Battle of the Giga-Float | Second Battle of the Giga-Float | Battle of Ame-No-Mihashira | Battle of the Gundam Astrays | Third Attack on the Graveyard | Find Kira Yamato Operation | Skirmish at Mendel | Raid on the Dreadnaught Gundam’s Transport | Attack on the Serpent Tail Transport | First Attack on the Re.H.O.M.E. | Attack on Supply Station 15B | Escape from Artemis | Assault on Ptolemaeus Port Seven | Attack on the Ortygia | Attack on Ame-No-Mihashira | Battle at the Abandon Colony Zone | Battle at the Mobile Suit Auction | Clash at Mendel | Second Attack on the Re.H.O.M.E. | Assault on the Sahaku Force | Erudou Breakthrough | Third Attack on the Re.H.O.M.E. | First Battle of GENESIS Alpha | First Attack on GENESIS Alpha | |
| C.E. 72 | |
| First Alliance-PLANT War Nairobi Peace Conference (Attack on the Junius Treaty Ceremony) | |
| South American War for Independence Battle for South America | |
| Unrelated Conflicts Battle of the Blue Cosmos Asteroid Factory | |
| C.E. 73 | |
| Second Alliance-PLANT War Attack on Armory One | Battle of the Debris Belt | "Break The World" Incident | Battle of Aprilius One | Operation Spear of Twilight | Ambush of the Minerva | Assassination Attempt of Lacus Clyne | Kidnapping of Orb's Chief Representative | Battle of the Indian Ocean | Attack on Lohengrin Gate | Battle of Gulnahan | Battle in Lunar Orbit | Battle of Dardanelles | Skirmish at Lodonia Lab | Lacus Clyne Shuttle Hijacking | Battle of Crete | |
| Unrelated Conflicts Second Attack on GENESIS Alpha | Third Attack on GENESIS Alpha | Second Battle of Genesis Alpha | Attack on Ed the Ripper’s Shuttle |Attack in Fortaleza | Attack on Kirgitz | Declaration of the Sky | Attack on The Clan Space Station | Assault on the Coordinator Refugee Camp | |
| C.E. 74 | |
| Second Alliance-PLANT War Minerva Breakout | Attack on the Bonaparte | Destroy Crisis (First Attack on Eurasia | Second Attack on Eurasia | Third Attack on Eurasia | Battle of Berlin) | Campaign Against Logos | Operation Angel Down | Desertion of Athrun Zala and Meyrin Hawke | Operation Ragnarök | Eternal Chase | Operation Fury | Battle of Requiem Station Gounod | Battle of Daedalus | Assassination Attempt in Copernicus City | Proclamation of the Destiny Plan | Attack on Requiem Station One | Battle of Messiah | |
| Unrelated Conflicts Attack on Toroya Station | Foundation Shock | Freedom Hijacking Incident | |
| C.E. 75 | |
| Blue Cosmos Campaign Battle of Aldrin City | |
| Foundation Conflict Eldore Incident | Moscow Tragedy | PLANT Coup d'état | Millennium Hijacking | Lacus Clyne Rescue Operation | Battle of Requiem | |