Drake-class

Drake-class
Drake-class
Unit Type
Mass Production Space Escort Ship
Profile
Ships of the Line	Bernard, Law, Antigonos, Xerxes, Seleukos, Belgrano
Manufacturer	Earth Alliance
Operator	Earth Alliance Atlantic Federation OMNI Enforcer 7th Space Fleet Peacemaker Force 8th Space Fleet Three Ships Alliance
General Characteristics
Overall Length	130 meters
MS Hangars	1 (Refit)
MS Catapults	2 (Refit)
MS Capacity	4
Movement
Propulsion	4 × Large Thruster 12 × Small Thruster
Equipment
Optional	Positron Reflector
Standard Armaments
Fixed	3 × 75mm Vulcan Cannon (2 x for ships with Positron Reflector, 1 x for C.E. 75 refit) 6 × Torpedo Launcher 4 × Missile Launcher 2 x Linear Cannon (C.E. 75 refit)
Mobile Weapons
TS-MA2 Moebius GAT-01 Strike Dagger GAT-02L2 Dagger L
Real World
Mechanical Designer	Kimitoshi Yamane
Appearances*
Television	SEED: #2 - Episode #50 GSD: #9 - Episode #50
Manga	GSA-R

The Drake-class is an escort ship introduced in the anime Mobile Suit Gundam SEED.

Technology & Combat Characteristics

The Drake-class is one of the three main classes of space warships employed by the Earth Alliance. This small escort ship is often deployed to protect larger battleships such as the Nelson-class and Agamemnon-class. It is armed with Vulcan cannons to intercept incoming missiles and enemy units, as well as torpedo launchers and missile launchers to attack enemy units. Despite its small size, the Drake-class is incapable of keeping up with the high mobility of a mobile suit. Additionally, due to its weak armor, it can be easily taken down by a single mobile suit. It also has a weakness in that its propellant tanks are exposed and externally attached to the engines, leading to them being attacked multiple times, but they can be disconnected in case of emergency. Because of its size, the Drake-class does not have any interior hanger. Instead, four TS-MA2 Moebius mobile armors were merely strapped onto the sides, and this continued with the GAT-01 Strike Daggers. After the First Alliance-PLANT War, the vessels were redesigned with a hangar and outfitted with two external MS launching catapults. Despite this, their MS carrying abilities remained weak.

Armaments

• 75mm Vulcan Cannon

The Drake-Class is armed with three 75mm Vulcan cannons, one in front of the bridge and two on the ventral hull. These are the ship's main anti-air weaponry and are used primarily for defense against enemy missiles and mobile suits. Drake-class ships equipped with positron reflector or linear cannons lacked the forward ventral Vulcan cannon.

• Torpedo Launcher

• Missile Launcher

The Drake-class is armed with four missile launcher, mounted externally around the ship. Each launcher has 10 or 12-tubes, and the missiles fired are primarily used against enemy mobile suits and warships.

• Linear Cannon

Refitted ships deployed in C.E 75 replaces the two ventral 75mm Vulcan Cannons with Linear Cannons for greater firepower.

Special Equipment & Features

• Positron Reflector

During the Second Alliance-PLANT War, some of the Drake-class had their forward ventral vulcan cannon replaced with a positron reflector for defending large structures against attacks from enemy fleets.

History

First Alliance-PLANT War

The Drake-class is one of the space battleships employed by the Earth Alliance during the First Alliance-PLANT War. Several Drake-class vessels were part of the 8th Space Fleet, which rendezvoused with the Archangel, but they were easily destroyed by the four stolen Gundams used by the Le Creuset Team attacking the fleet. Drake-class vessels also took part in the large space battles that happened in September C.E. 71, which marked the end of the war. Since ZAFT had fielded mobile suits equipped with beam weaponry at that time, the Drake-class ships were destroyed more easily than before.

Second Alliance-PLANT War

The Drake-class remained in use during the Second Alliance-PLANT War with minor alterations. Later, some Drake-class ships were equipped with large positron reflector shields to defend one of the relay stations of the Requiem superweapon against a large-scale ZAFT attack. These ships however were eventually destroyed and the relay station fell. Some renegade Drake-class vessels were part of the surviving Earth Alliance forces that allied with the Three Ships Alliance and participated in the Battle of Messiah.

Gallery

Anime

Gundam SEED

Top View

Side View

Rear view

Front view, firing the pair of 75mm Vulcan Cannons on the ship's bottom

Close up of a 75mm Vulcan Cannon in action

A Missile Launcher with hatches closed

A Missile Launcher with hatches open and firing missiles

Missile Launcher firing missiles

Firing a 75mm Vulcan Cannon with Missile Launchers open

Firing a 75mm Vulcan Cannon and missiles from Missile Launchers

Deploying Moebius

Ejecting Propellant Tanks

Damaged

Escorting a Nelson-class

Fighting alongside Nelson-class battleship

Drake-class vessels in hangar with Strike Daggers standing by

Gundam SEED Destiny

Refit Type's Catapult

Refit Types in front of relay station Fauré

Defending relay station Fauré with Positron Reflector

Games

As seen in SD Gundam G Generation Cross Rays

Notes & Trivia

• The portrayal of the missile launchers in the anime is inconsistent, sometimes they are shown as 12-tube launchers, while in other scenes, they are 10-tube launchers.

Appearances

Television Series

• Mobile Suit Gundam SEED
  • PHASE-02, Its Name: Gundam
    • First Appearance; Flashback(s) Only
  • PHASE-03, Collapsing Land
    • Flashback(s) Only
  • PHASE-06, The Vanishing Gundam
  • PHASE-08, The Songstress of The Enemy Forces
    • Flashback(s) Only
  • PHASE-09, The Fading Light
  • PHASE-10, Crossroads
    • Flashback(s) Only
  • PHASE-11, The Awakening Sword
  • PHASE-12, Flay's Decision
  • PHASE-13, Stars Falling in Space
  • PHASE-20, On a Calm Day
    • Image(s) Only; Appears in a video
  • PHASE-27, Endless Rondo
    • Flashback(s) Only
  • PHASE-28, Kira
    • Flashback(s) Only
  • PHASE-29, The Turning Point
    • Flashback(s) Only
  • PHASE-33, Gathering Darkness
    • Flashback(s) Only
  • PHASE-41, Trembling World
  • PHASE-42, Lacus Strikes
  • PHASE-43, What Stands in the Way
  • PHASE-47, The Nightmare Reborn
  • PHASE-48, Day of Wrath
  • PHASE-49, The Final Light
  • PHASE-50, To a Future that Never Ends
• Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny
  • PHASE-09, Bared Fangs
  • PHASE-44, Lacus Times Two

OVAs and ONAs

• Mobile Suit Gundam SEED After-Phase Between the Stars
  • Wreckage Only

Games

• Mobile Suit Gundam SEED: Never Ending Tomorrow

External links

This article is part of Project: SEED

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Project Leader: User:CD298