The Gallop-class was a line of land battleships produced by the Principality of Zeon.
History
The Principality of Zeon developed the Gallop-class battleships to provide the Zeon forces with a land-based mobile suit platform when they invaded Earth in the One Year War.
The first ship of the line, the Gallop was the flagship of Lieutenant Rambal Ral. The Gallop pursued the Earth Federation mobile suit carrier, the White Base, across the deserts of Central Asia.
Design
The Gallop-class land battleship was designed to carry a small squadron of mobile suits. Its small hangar could carry up to three mobile suits. Drawing form the design of the Federation’s Big Tray-class land battleships, the Zeon engineers equipped the Gallop-class ships with eight jet engines that allowed it to hover on the ground.
The design of the battleship meant that it could function as a mobile command post that the Zeon forces could launch attacks from. It was fast and had the facilities to resupply its mobile suits, albeit with limited resources.
Armaments
The Gallop-class battleship was armed with main cannons and machine guns. The ship relied on its mobile suit complement to provide cover when needed.
Main cannons
A twin cannon turret served as the primary weapon of the Gallop-class battleship. This provided it with the majority of its fire power.
Machine guns
The battleship was mounted with two twin machine gun turrets to provide anti-aircraft and anti-mobile suit defence. However, these were front-facing turrets and their limited firing range left the rear vulnerable.
Behind the scenes
Kunio Okawara was the original mechanical designer.