| Magellan-class battleship | ||||||||||||||||
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  Top: An original Magellan-class battleshipBottom: A Magellan Kia-class battleship | ||||||||||||||||
| Overview | 
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| Class type: | Battleship | |||||||||||||||
| Class namesake: | In honor of the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan | |||||||||||||||
| Launched: | October Universal Century 0070 | |||||||||||||||
| Preceded by: | N/A, First Space Force battleship class | |||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by: | Birmingham class battleship | |||||||||||||||
| Ships of the line: | Ananke, Nereid, Phoebe, Titan, Luzar, Hyperion, Hood, Kilimanjaro | |||||||||||||||
| General Characteristics | ||||||||||||||||
| Displacement: | Original: Unknown 0083 refit: 62,900 tons | |||||||||||||||
| Length: | Original: 327 meters 0083 refit: 327 meters | |||||||||||||||
| Width: | Original: 102 meters 0083 refit: 102 meters | |||||||||||||||
| Hieght: | Original: 96 meters 0083 refit: 96 meters | |||||||||||||||
| Armament: |
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| Ms Hangers: | None | |||||||||||||||
| MS Capacity | 4-6 MS on outer hull | |||||||||||||||
| Powerplant: | Minovsky-Ionesco Fusion Reactor | |||||||||||||||
In the Universal Century timeline of Mobile Suit Gundam , the Magellan-class battleship was a battleship-type that was commissioned in UC 0070 as part of the Federation's "'70s Armament Reinforcement Plan." Developed along side with the Salamis-class cruiser, the Magellan-class had only one refitted design in U.C. 0083 that stemmed from the original shipline.
The original Magellan-class
The Megellan-class battleships were authorized as part of the Year 70 Armerment Reinforcement Plan, begun in response to the rapid increase in arms at Side 3. The Magellan-class was developed in conjuction with the Salamis-class cruiser, and at the time of their commissioning the Magellan-class was the most powerful warship in the Earth Federal Space Force. The first Magellans had no mega particle cannons, relying on shells and gunpowder to shoot projectile, but were later refitted with beam weaponry sometime before the One Year War. All Magellan-class ships featured seven twin turret mega particle cannons in all, along with 14 anti-aircraft machineguns, which later be used to help defend the ships against mobile suit attacks.
At the Outbreak of the One Year War the Earth Federal Space Force fleet commanders were suprised by the Zeon deployment of Mobile Suits, which could out distance, out shoot, and out manuver the Space Fleets ships. Furtunatly for the Magellan-class, Federation engineers had installed several anti-aircraft guns on the battleships, but the Magellan fleet still took losses. Early in the One Year War Fleet Admiral Revil' flagship Ananke was lost at during the Loum War while atempting to prevent a colony drop. Admiral Tianem, commander of the EFSF 4th Fleet lost its flagship Titan while covering retreating Federal Forces after the Loum War. In September Magellan, Admiral Watkins' flagship, was scuttled at Luna II to allow White Base to escape the facility.
As the One Year War entered its final leg the Federationbegan mass production of their first crude mobile suits. This was a blessing because the Federation's space fleet would now have MS counter Zeon MS; however, dedicated MS fighting ships such as the Pegasus-class assault carriers were few and far between. This resulted in several Federation ship classes, such as the Magellans, being pressed into service as makeshift mobile suit carriers for the Battle of Solomon and the Battle of A Boa A Qu. After the surrender of the Zeon the Federations fleet contained just a handful of Magellan-class battleships still in service.
Magellan Kai refit
Despite the superiority of mobile suit based combat, the Federation's engineers were not about to give up on Magellan-class battleships just yet. Between the end of the One Year War and the Federation's naval review in November of U.C.0083, the Magellan-Class Battleships underwent an overhaul and refit. During this refit the missile launchers were removed in favor of two additional anti-MS beam gun turrets. More importantly, all of the old style machine guns were replaced with a new kind of small calibur beam turret which fired slower but stood a better chance of killing an opponent should the beam strike. This refit, known as the Magellan Kia-class battleship (or less formally, the (0083 refit)), was intruduced along with the refitted Salamis-class cruisers during the U.C. 0083 naval review at Konpei Island, the former Principality of Zeon space base known as the Solomon. During the Konpei Island naval review, the stolen RX-78GP02 Gundam Physalis fired a nuclear warhead that destroyed much of the Federation's space fleet; Many of the newly refitted Magellan-class battleships were destroyed or damaged beyond repair. The Earth Federation, finally seeing that the "All Big Gun" ship philosophy simply would not work with mobile suits, called it quits for the Magellan-class battleship program, and decommissioning most of the remaining vessels before the Gryps War in U.C. 0088 of the Zeta Gundam series.
In Gundam Sentinel, it was said that a few of the original vintage Magellan-class battleships that were not refitted into the 0083 refit, were refitted in a less expensive version known as the Magellan Kai-class battleship. However, it has never been seen in animation or been seen outside of the Gundam Sentinel series.
Magellan-class fate
The Magellans were phased out from UC 0083 to UC 0088, replaced by the Irish-class battleships, which were somewhat less powerful than their predecessors but built with internal MS hangers for mobile suits, which balanced their design.
External links
- The World-Wide Gundam Informational Network
- The Gundam Naval Museum
- MAHQ
- Library of Londonion (UC ship names)
Template:Universal Century ship classes