Battle of Loum

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Disambiguation:

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Battle of Loum
Battle of Loum (ルウム戦役)
Data
Other Names	Loum Campaign
Part of	One Year War
Beginning	January 15, 0079 U.C.
End	January 16, 0079 U.C.
Location	Side 5
Result	Principality of Zeon tactical victory Second colony drop failed Destruction of Side 5
Belligerents
Principality of Zeon
Earth Federation Forces
Commanders
Dozle Zabi
Johann Abraham Revil
Strength
4 x Gwazine-class and other battleships 78 x Chivvay-class and Musai-class cruisers 34 x Jicco-class and other missile frigates 320 x MS-05 Zaku I 2600 x MS-06 Zaku II Approx. 400 x Gattle fighters 22 x Papua-class and other transports 1 x QCX-76A Jormungand
48 x Magellan-class and other battleships 163 x Salamis-class and other cruisers 118 x L144 Type Minesweeper and other missile frigates 60 x FF-4 Toriares 84 x Columbus-class and Minovsky particle dispersal ships
Casualties and Losses
2 x battleships heavily damaged 22 x cruisers sunk or heavily damaged 18 x missile frigates sunk or heavily damaged 4 transports moderately damaged
36 x battleships sunk or heavily damaged 139 x cruisers sunk or heavily damaged 114 x missile frigates sunk or heavily damaged 60 x Toriares ran out of fuel and forced to return 82 x support vessels sunk 2 x support vessels moderately damaged
Miscellaneous
OVA	IGLOO: HOYW

“	In the history of mankind, there has never been a decisive battle in space, let alone a fleet battle. Soldiers, make history.	”
—Transmission from Zeon flagship prior to the battle

The Battle of Loum was the first space fleet battle in the history of the Universal Century and a major battle during the One Year War.

Prelude

The Zeon fleet passing by the Jormungand

The Federation fleet heading for Loum

Following the One Week Battle, which concluded with the failure of Operation British - the Principality of Zeon's plan to destroy the Earth Federation Forces headquarters at Jaburo - Zeon Supreme Commander Gihren Zabi ordered a second Operation British to be launched, with the target being Side 5, also known as Loum.

On 13 January, U.C. 0079, Vice Admiral Dozle Zabi took command of the Zeon 1st Combined Fleet at the space fortress Solomon (which was still under construction and only 70% complete) and departed for Side 5. The Combined Fleet was made up of 5 Zeon fleets, with over a hundred ships, more than half of Zeon's combat vessels. Dozle commanded the fleet from the flagship Falmel, a modified Musai-class cruiser. Among the Zeon forces was the 603rd Technical Evaluation Unit, which had been ordered to field test the QCX-76A Jormungand, a prototype beam cannon designed for decisive fleet battle. Zeon's 2nd Mobile Fleet departed from Solomon and headed directly for Side 5. Meanwhile, the 1st Combined Fleet took a longer route across the dark side of the moon, linking up with forces from Granada on the way.

The Earth Federation Forces soon learned that Zeon planned to attack Loum next and prepared to respond. However, according to one account, Zeon intentionally leaked the information to the Federation in order to draw their fleets out from Luna II. Then-Vice Admiral Johann Abraham Revil, the commander of the EFSF 2nd Space Fleet, soon gathered all available vessels at Luna II. By 0900 hours on 14 January, Revil was able to muster a fleet more than three times the size of the Zeon fleet, with 308 combat vessels and 84 support vessels. Meanwhile, Vice Admiral Tianem remained at Luna II with a backup fleet.

The Battle

The Dozle fleet began attacking Side 5 on 15 January, at 1120 hours. At 2200 hours, from a space sector close to Side 5, the Revil fleet sighted Zeon worker ships attaching nuclear pulse engines to the Side's 11 Banchi, Wathort, and the Dozle fleet behind the worker ships. 14 minutes later, the battle commenced, with the two fleets exchanging beam cannon fire and missiles at a distance of 28,000 km.

Having come under attack by the Federation fleet, Dozle gave the order to scramble all mobile suits and continue the installation of the nuclear pulse engines. However, this forced the already outnumbered Zeon fleet to divide their forces further to protect the worker ships. At 2240 hours, Dozle gave the order to cease the installation of the nuclear pulse engines.

The Jormungand firing

Despite being assured that result of the battle depended on them and their new weapon, the 603rd Technical Evaluation Unit never received any indirect fire instructions for the Jormungand. Engineering Lieutenant Oliver May noticed that the Zeon fleet was keeping its distance from the enemies, to which Special Operation Captain Monique Cadillac replied that it was proof that they were being counted on. Tired of waiting, Chief Gunnery Officer Aleksandro Hemme decided to fire the Jormungand without instructions. The shot scored a near miss on a Salamis-class, generating a strong magnetic field that pulled it out of course.

To collect observation data for the Jormungand, May and Lieutenant Hideto Washiya boarded an Observation Shuttle and flew straight ahead. At this point, the Jormungand fired a second shot, which once again missed. While May asked Hemme to wait for the data, a large number of MS-06 Zaku II appeared from behind the Zeon battle line and passed the observation shuttle from behind. Lieutenant Char Aznable's red-painted MS-06S Zaku II Commander Type stopped by the observation shuttle and used light signal to ask them to leave, telling them that a mobile suit attack was taking place as planned.

Mobile suits joining the battle

Char Aznable destroying a Magellan-class battleship

Zeon's plan had worked: by using the fleet to draw the Federation's fire, they were able to launch a surprise attack using mobile suits. Now having to engage both the Zeon fleet and mobile suits, and having being specialized for anti-ship combat, the Federation fleet was thrown into chaos. However, since not all Zeon units were informed beforehand that mobile suits would be deployed as part of the battle, their command and control system also became flooded with comm traffic.

Regardless, the mobile suits sank many Federation vessels using nuclear bazookas and conventional weapons. Many Zeon pilots distinguished themselves during the battle, including Char Aznable, who singlehandedly sank 5 battleships in his Zaku, earning him the nickname "Red Comet". Despite initially outnumbering the Zeon fleet, the situation soon turned against Revil's fleet.

The Jormungand destroying a Magellan-class battleship

At this point, the 603rd finally realized that the Jormungand was ignored in favor of the mobile suits. Cadillac felt betrayed, believing that the involvement of the Jormungand in the battle was likely just a smoke screen to hide the mobile suits from the Federation. However, Hemme was undeterred and determined to put the Jormungand to use. Suddenly, several stray missiles exploded near the Jormungand, damaging its command center. All of its gunnery officers were sent flying into space, while Hemme was fatally wounded by shrapnels. Soon after, a damaged Magellan-class began heading directly for the Jormungand. With his dying breath, Hemme fired one last shot at the Federation battleship, obliterating it.

The Black Tri-Stars discover Revil's escape shuttle

By 0100 hours on 16 January, the Federation fleet had lost over 50% of its forces. At 0310 hours, Revil's flagship Ananke was sunk. Revil escaped the ship, but was discovered and captured by the Black Tri-Stars (who were ordered by Kycilia Zabi to assist Dozle in this battle). With Revil's capture, his second-in-command, Rear Admiral Rodney Cunninghan, assumed command of the fleet.

At 0410 hours, Cunninghan ordered the Federation fleet to retreat. However, facing fierce attacks by Zeon mobile suits, the fleet could not withdraw safely. Taking advantage of the Zeon fleet's inferior numbers, Cunninghan divided his fleet into three groups and ordered each group to escape in a different direction: Earth, L4, and L5. If the Zeon fleet pursued one group, the other two would be able to escape safely.

Dozle soon caught onto Cunninghan's plan and decided to pursue the 2nd and 5th fleets, which were heading toward Earth. Among these two fleets was Cunninghan's ship, the Magellan-class battleship Nereid. At 0455 hours, Cunninghan ordered the Nereid to turn around and stop the pursuing Zeon fleet. Cunninghan reportedly told his adjutant that Revil would have done the same thing if he was still alive (believing that Revil was killed in battle). The Nereid pushed its beam cannons to their limits, firing until the heat from the mega particles melted the barrels. At 0514 hours, after taking eight beam cannon shots and four large missiles, the Nereid was sunk.

At 0600 hours, the 1st Combined Fleet decided to cease the operation and return to Solomon and the Side 3 homeland.

Aftermath

While Cunninghan's sacrifice brought the Federation's surviving fleets enough time to escape, the Federation's losses were still heavy. Over 80% of its deployed forces was lost, with only 42 vessels surviving the battle. Meanwhile, the Zeon fleet sustained far less damage thanks to the deployment of mobile suits, losing only 8 battleships and cruisers, with another 16 heavily damaged and 14 moderately damaged. Despite failing to launch the second Operation British, Zeon still scored an overwhelming victory. Side 5 was completely destroyed during the battle, killing its 2 billion inhabitants.

Following the battle, Sovereign Degwin Sodo Zabi inspected the ruins of Side 5. Gazing upon the countless floating wreckages of spaceships, Degwin asked Dozle if this was the work of battleship beam cannons, to which Dozle answered that it was the work of mobile suits. Zeon made a propaganda broadcast on 17 January to all of Earth, showcasing their battle results, new weapons, and the captured Revil, boosting Zeon morale while further lowering Federation morale. This was further bolstered by the fact none of the mobile suits were lost in the Battle of Loum.

Through the neutral Side 6, the Federal government agreed to sign a peace treaty with Zeon. The signing was to take place on 31 January, at an observatory in the permanent neutral zone of Antarctica. This treaty would have granted the Principality of Zeon autonomy and limited the size of the Earth Federation Forces, being effectively an instrument of surrender. However, on the day of the signing, General Revil revealed himself at Luna II, having been rescued by Federation forces. He gave a speech stating that Zeon was exhausted, encouraging the Earth Federation to continue resisting rather than surrender. Because of this, the content of the Antarctic Treaty was drastically changed. The Earth Federation Forces were galvanized to continue the war, forcing Zeon to launch an invasion of Earth.

Gallery

A Salamis-class cruiser being sunk by a nuclear bazooka round during the battle

A Zaku firing at a Salamis-class cruiser from its deck

Char Aznable's Zaku destroying the bridge of a Magellan-class battleship

Notes & Trivia

• The Battle of Loum was first mentioned in the second episode of Mobile Suit Gundam as the battle in which Char Aznable earned his name of Red Comet. In Episode 24, General Revil mentioned that the Black Tri-Stars captured him during this battle. The sourcebook Mobile Suit Variation 2, published in 1983, established that in addition to Char and the Black Tri-Stars, multiple other ace pilots distinguished themselves during the Battle of Loum.
• In 1991, the Entertainment Bible sourcebook Big Book of Tactics and Strategy provided a detailed account of the Battle of Loum. It also established that the purpose of the battle was to conduct a second Operation British using one of Loum's colonies, which ultimately ended in failure.
• In 2004, the OVA series Mobile Suit Gundam MS IGLOO: The Hidden One Year War was released. Episode 1 of the series featured the Battle of Loum's first animated appearance. However, IGLOO's depiction of the battle contained numerous inconsistencies with the depiction in Big Book of Tactics and Strategy. Furthermore, Oliver May stated the second colony drop was false intelligence intentionally leaked to the Federation to draw their fleets out of Luna II, though the truth of this is unclear.
• In MS IGLOO, the two fleets began exchanging fire at 10:45, rather than at 22:14 as listed in the Big Book of Tactics and Strategy. This article uses the timeline provided by the latter, since it features a complete timeline of the entire battle.
• A Gwazine-class that appeared to be the flagship of the Zeon fleet appeared in MS IGLOO. This apparently contradicts Big Book of Tactics and Strategy's description that the Zeon flagship was the Falmel. However, neither the OVA nor its novelization explicitly confirmed that the Gwazine-class was the flagship.
• In the Big Book of Tactics and Strategy, the Zeon fleet had already begun its attack on Side 5 when the Federation fleet arrived. However, in MS IGLOO, the Federation fleet arrived first and had been awaiting the Zeon fleet by the time the latter arrived.
• A graph depicting the Battle of Loum in the Big Book of Tactics and Strategy illustrated that in addition to the 1st Combined Fleet, the 2nd Mobile Fleet also participated in the battle. However, the article describing the battle did not mention the 2nd Mobile Fleet at all, so its role in the battle is completely unknown.
• The article on the Battle of Loum in the Big Book of Tactics and Strategy stated that the 1st Combined Fleet departed on 13 January, before dawn. However, the timeline section stated that it departed at 1920 hours.
  • According to The Official Gundam Fact File, the 2nd Mobile Fleet departed before dawn while the 1st Combined Fleet departed at 1920 hours.
• There is conflicting information on which Zaku the Black Tri-Stars and Char Aznable deployed in during the Battle of Loum.

Appearances

Television Series

• Mobile Suit Gundam
  • Episode 2, Destroy Gundam
    • First Mentioned
  • Episode 24, Black Tri-Star
    • Mentioned only

OVAs and ONAs

• Mobile Suit Gundam MS IGLOO: The Hidden One Year War
  • Episode 1, The Vanishing Serpent of Loum
    • First Appearance