FFMH-Y101 Eternal

FFMH-Y101 Eternal
FFMH-Y101 Eternal (FFMH-Y101 エターナル)
Unit Type
Custom Support Space Ship
Real World
Television	SEED: First Seen in Episode #42
Profile
Ships of the Line	Eternal
First Seen	July 1, 71 C.E.
Manufacturer	Zodiac Alliance of Freedom Treaty
Operator	Three Ships Alliance Terminal Zodiac Alliance of Freedom Treaty
Known Captains	Andrew Waltfeld Lacus Clyne
Known Crew	Andrew Waltfeld Lacus Clyne Kira Yamato Athrun Zala Martin DaCosta Meyrin Hawke Hilda Harken Mars Simeon Herbert Von Reinhard
General Characteristics
Overall Length	300 meters
MS Catapults	1
Movement
Propulsion	4 x Large Thruster 6 X Small Thruster
Equipment
Optional	2 x METEOR Unit
Standard Armaments
Fixed	Main Cannon 2 x Twin Rail Gun ? × Missile Launcher ? × Small Beam Cannon ? × CIWS
Mobile Weapons
ZGMF-X09A Justice Gundam ZGMF-X19A ∞ Justice Gundam ZGMF-X10A Freedom Gundam ZGMF-X20A Strike Freedom Gundam ZGMF-X88S Gaia Gundam ZGMF-XX09T DOM Trooper

The FFMH-Y101 Eternal is a support ship in the Cosmic Era timeline. As it was extremely task-specific, only one such vessel, the class namesake, was ever produced.

Technology & Combat Characteristics

The Eternal is a space warship built by ZAFT to specifically support the nuclear powered ZGMF-X09A Justice Gundam and ZGMF-X10A Freedom Gundam, and has special facilities for maintaining both mobile suits. To accompany both highly mobile machines in battle, the Eternal also has high speed and can outrun even the Nazca-class, ZAFT's fastest class of ship. It is lightly armed, with only a single large beam cannon, a pair of twin rail guns, numerous CIWS, and countless batteries of defensive missile launchers. Additionally, the Eternal carries a pair of Mobile suit Embedded Tactical Enforcer (METEOR Units), an optional armed module for the Justice and Freedom Gundams, which can also function as gun turrets for the ship when not utilized by the two mobile suits.

Armaments

• Main Cannon

A single beam cannon mounted in front of the bridge. It is incapable of rotating sideways, but its barrel can swivel upwards.

• Twin Rail Gun

A pair of twin railguns mounted behind the bridge on either side of the ship.

• CIWS

A large number of CIWS guns are mounted on the Eternal and they serve as part of the ship's defense against enemy mobile suits and missiles.

• Small Beam Cannon

A large number of small beam cannons are mounted on the ship.

• Missile Launcher

A large number of missile launchers are mounted on the ship. As with the CIWS, these launchers are used primarily for defensive purposes.

Special Equipment & Features

• METEOR Unit

A pair of armed modules stored at the front of the ship.

History

First Alliance-PLANT War

Soon after its completion, the Eternal was stolen by the Clyne Faction, and was commanded by Lacus Clyne and Andrew Waltfeld, who used it to escape the PLANTs. Together with the Archangel and the Kusanagi, the Eternal formed the Three Ships Alliance, an independent force that successfully ended the First Alliance-PLANT War.

Post-War Era

The Eternal was hidden in an asteroid after the war, while Andrew and Lacus secretly immigrated to the Orb Union.

Second Alliance-PLANT War

After Andrew and Lacus returned to space, the two reunited with some of the remaining members of the Clyne Faction, including Martin DaCosta, who had been commanding the Eternal in their absence.

Eventually, a ZGMF-LRR704B GINN Long Range Reconnaissance Type located the Eternal, forcing it to flee its asteroid base to draw ZAFT forces away from the mobile suit factory also concealed within the base. The Eternal approached Earth as Andrew fought the pursuing ZAFT forces in the stolen ZGMF-X88S Gaia Gundam, until Kira Yamato arrived in the MBF-02 Strike Rouge to assist. During the battle, the outdated Strike Rouge was badly damaged, resulting in Kira boarding the ship and being presented with the ZGMF-X20A Strike Freedom Gundam, which he used to defeat the pursuers.

After the Earth Alliance was more or less defeated by ZAFT, the Eternal, together with other ships of the former Three Ships Alliance and Orb, tried to stop PLANT chairman Gilbert Durandal from taking full control over the Earth Sphere. The group successfully stop him and brought an end to the second war.

Gallery

Lineart from "CE Mechanics & World"

Bridge Exterior

Bridge Interior (1)

Bridge Interior (2)

Strategy Table

Hangar

Catapult

Rear Hangar Entrance

Main Cannon

Firing Main Cannon

Firing Missiles

Eternal & Kusanagi firing various weapons

Hiding in an asteroid

Gundam War Card

As seen in Super Robot Wars X-Ω

Gunpla

EX Model 1/1700 FFMH-Y101 Eternal (2005): box art

EX Model 1/1700 FFMH-Y101 Eternal (Limited Edition) (2005): box art

Notes and Trivia

• If measured by the METEOR units stored at the bow and one assumes the 99.46-meter length per METEOR unit, the resulting ship length appear to vary greatly between 447.57 to 745.95 meters (about 4.5 to 7.5 METEOR units long) depending on the official art used, far greater than the published length of 300 meters.
• The anime's depiction of the guns that are arranged in groups of three across the top and bottom of the ship's "wings" are inconsistent. Sometimes they are shown firing orange shots, which are usually associated with guns shooting physical projectile such as CIWS, while in others, they are shown firing green shots, which are usually reserved for beam weaponry. Data books also have yet to identify them as CIWS or beam cannons.
• The default captain of Eternal in Super Robot Wars J is Andrew Waltfeld, with Lacus Clyne as a swappable sub-captain, and Martin DaCosta as a supporting character. In this game, the Eternal does not have the CIWS, nor is it able to deploy, link with or, store the METEOR units. In other games such as Super Robot Wars Alpha 3 and installments subsequent to the Eternal does retain these features.

External Links

• Eternal on MAHQ