Ra Cailum

Ra Cailum
Ra Cailum
Overview
Ship type:	Battleship
Ship class:	Ra Cailum-class
Laid down:	Between UC0088 and UC0093
Launched:	Before Universal Century 0093
Commissioned:	Before UC0093
Fate:	Presumed Decomissioned
General Characteristics
Displacement:	Unknown
Length:	487 meters
Width:	Unknown
Height:	167 meters
Armament:	2-barrel main gun x 4 2-barrel anti-MS gun x 22 missile launcher x 6
Powerplant:	Minovsky-Ionesco Fusion Reactor
MS Hangers:	2
MS Capacity:	8
MS Catapults:	2
MS Contigent:	RX-93 Nu Gundam x1 RGZ-91 RE-GZ x1 RGM-89 Jegan x6 Zook-type Mini Mobile Suit x?
Other:	Base Jabber long distance MS tranportation unit x? Medd-type mobile worker x1

The conclusion of the Federation's civil war and the defeat of the Titans had brought the colonial space separatist movement to a virtual fever pitch, and when the First Neo-Zeon War ended, it was decided that a new organiztion should be created to inspect the colonies for left-over dissents and revolutionaries. The force created for this job was called Londo Bell, and they did inspect the colonies, but unlike the Titans, they were much more humane in their inspections. This task force was first to receive the new Clop-class cruisers and they also received the first battleship of the Ra Cailum-class: Ra Cailum.

The Ra Cailum was the largest battleship built to date, and it was adopted for use as a flagship by Captain Bright Noa, Londo Bell's commanding officer. The Ra Cailum also served as Amuro Ray's base of operation when he became a part of Londo Bell, which brought the MS contingent aboard the Ra Cailum to seven Mobile Suits and one Gundam. The Ra Cailum was also the first Federation ship to make use of the Base Jabber, a mobile suit sled that increased the operational range of Mobile Suits by providing them with an external fuel force to travel from one point to another. The Base Jabbers on the Ra Cailum were used to move Mobile Suits into battle so they would not use up their internal fuel on the flight to engage enemy forces.

The Ra Cailum saw its first action on 3 March UC0093, when the ship responded to a new Neo-Zeon movement under the command of Char Aznable. In company with three of the Federation's Clop-class cruisers, the Ra Cailum raced to the scene and the Second Neo-Zeon War began in ernest with the battle for Fifth Luna. Although the ship and its Mobile Suits fought valiently, they failed in stopping the drop of Fifth Luna, which made land-fall on Lhasa, Tibet, then-location of Federation headquarters. Although damaged by the battle, Bright Noa ordered Ra Cailum to super-impose herself between the Neo-Zeon forces and a disabled passenger shuttle that had wandered into the combat zone. When the battle died down, the shuttle captain and his passengers abandoned the disabled shuttle and were taken aboard the Ra Cailum as refugees; among those on the shuttle were Bright Noa's son Hathaway, Vice-Foreign Minister of the Earth Federation Adenauer Paraya, and his daughter Quess. Once aboard, Adenauer Paraya ordered Captain Noa to take the Ra Cailum to the space colony Londenion, located at Side 1, for the purpose of seeking contact with Neo-Zeon leadership with the eventual intention of seeking a settlement to the war.

The Ra Cailum arrived at Side 1 shortly thereafter and docked at the colony's spaceport. Here the civilains from the shuttle disembarked, and the ship's officers and crew enjoyed a brief shore leave while dockworkers hustled to get the battleship repaired, refueled, and restocked with supplies for its next operation. In particular, Ra Cailum 's bow had been blown off during the battle and had to be reconstructed from scratch. Meanwhile, the negotiations between the Federation and the Neo-Zeon reach a conclusion: The Neo Zeon would surreneder all of their warships in exchange for the asteroid Axis, which they purchased from the Federation with gold bullion. This seemed suspicious to one of the Federation's accountants, and he informed Bright Noa of Char's purchase and—fearing the worst—arranged for the Ra Cailum to receive 15 nuclear warheads. Armed with the warheads and the information of the purchase Ra Cailum and her task force set sail from Londonion on 12 March UC0093 to pursue the Neo Zeon forces and ensure that they dismarmed. Unfortunately, Londo Bell mistook ship-like balloons for the Neo-Zeon fleet, which enabled the Neo Zeon fleet to capture Luna II and Axis with relative ease. Amouro Ray eventually saw through the balloon deception, and explained to the officers aboard the battleship that they had been tricked, and that the Neo Zeon already had control of Axis. Bright Noa ordered Ra Cailum to speed for Axis, but the Londo Bell forces arrived to late to stop the reactivation of the engines.

Ra Cailum launches the Gundam into battle

As soon as Londo Bell was within range of Axis, the task force opened fire on the asteroid, and a massive battle for control of Axis erupted between the Londo Bell fleet and the Neo Zeon fleet, leading to the loss of several mobile suits. Bright Noa opted for the use of the nuclear missiles, but Ra Cailum's attempt to destroy the asteroid with the nuclear weapons failed. With time running out the battle subsided as Londo Bell's senior officers and Mobile Suit pilots reconvened aboard Ra Caium to prepare for one last ditch effort. Their plan called for the destruction as Axis' tail thrusters, which would cause the asteroid to miss earth entirely, but if that failed then Ra Cailum would have to close in and launch mini-Mobile Suits (MMS) to infiltrate Axis and plant powerful explosives. The resulting explosion would split the Astriod in two, causing it to miss earth entirely. Wasting no time Ra Cailum's Mobile Suit squad re-launched.

Ra Cailum aproaches Axis

The attempt to destroy the tail thrusters on Axis ended up failing, so Ra Cilum closed in on the Asteroid to allow a number of MMS to land on the Axis and plant high explosives, as per the plan. Despite murderous losses incurred by the Londo Bell forces the MMS unit succseded in placing the explosives, and the resulting blast split Axis into two pieces, the latter of which was still headed for earth. Amuro Ray, through the use of his Nu Gundam, prevented the last piece from colliding with earth, thus bringing the battle for Axis to a close.

It is not known what became of the Ra Cailum as it is not seen pass the events of the Second Neo-Zeon War. It is presumed that the ship was not sunk during the war, leading to speculation that it may have been decomissioned.