Magellan-class

The Magellan-class was a line of space battleship produced by the Earth Federation. Notable ships of the line were Anake, Phoebe and Titan.

History

After the Republic of Zeon became the Principality of Zeon in UC 0069, Zeon escalated their arms production in Side 3. In response, the Earth Federation initiated the 70’s Armament Reinforcement Plan to beef up the Federation’s military. The Magellan-class and the Salamis-class were developed as a result. Both lines of space battleships became the mainstay of the Federation’s space forces.

Magellan-class battleships were usually the flagship of fleet commanders and high-ranking officers. Although these ships were not designed to carry mobile weapons, the slow production rate of newer warships forced the Federation to use them to transport mobile weapons. RGM-79 GM and RG-79 Ball units were tied to the hulls of the Magellan-class battleships to carry the mobile weapons into the combat zone.

Zeon introduced mobile suits at the outbreak of the One Year War. These performed well against the Magellan-class battleships, which only had several anti-aircraft guns to defend against the mobile suits. The flagship of General Revil, Ananke, was sunk in the Battle of Loum while trying to prevent a colony drop. Admiral Tianem captained the Titan, which was lost while covering the retreat of the Federation forces after the battle. Admiral Watkein was sacrificed at Luna II to allow White Base to escape from the pursuing Zeon forces.

After the war, Magellan-class ships were upgraded into the Magellan Kai-class battleship.

Magellan-class battleship from MS IGLOO

Production overview

Class: Magellan

Type: Space battleship

Completed: Unknown

First deployment: October UC 0070

Manufacturer: Earth Federation

Operator: Earth Federation

Developed from: None

Developed into: Birmingham-class

Variants: Magellan Kai-class

General characteristics

Crew: Unknown

Total length: 627 m

Total height: 96 m

Wingspan: 102 m

Empty weight: Unknown

Gross weight: Unknown

Armour: Unknown

Sensors: Unknown

Sensor range: Unknown

Performance

Power plant: Unknown

Power output: Unknown

Propulsion: Unknown

Max speed: Unknown

Equipment

Armaments

‣ 7 x twin mega particle cannon turret

‣ 7 x twin machine gun turret

‣ 4 x missile launcher

Mobile suits: None

Launch catapults: None

Others: Re-entry capsule

Design

The Magellan-class battelships were heavily armed and armoured. However, these ships were built before mega particle cannons were developed. Instead, they used projectile weapons until they were refitted with beam weaponry later in the One Year War.

They were equipped with a large re-entry capable shuttle on their ventral hulls. These were used to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere or to escape the ship.

Bridge of a Magellan-class battleship

Armaments

The battleships had seven main turrrets and fourteen secondary turrets.

Main cannons

Magellan-class battleships had seven twin-barrel turrets mounted on their front. The cannons for older models fired projectiles while newer units were armed with mega particle cannons.

Secondary guns

The battleships had fourteen twin-barrel secondary turrets that had two machine guns each. These were mainly used for anti-aircraft and anti-mobile suit defense.

Missile launchers

The Magellan-class battleships had four missile launchers that could use a variety of missiles.

Notable ships

Ananke
Nereid
Phoebe
Titan
Luzar
Hyperion
Hood
Kilimanjaro
Naiad

Behind the scenes

Kunio Okawara was the original mechanical designer. Hajime Katoki designed the version seen in the Mobile Suit Gundam MS IGLOO series.