Ra Cailum

In the fictional Universal Century Gundam universe the "Ra Cailum" (also spelled "Lar Karium", both pronounced Ra-Kai-Lam/ラ・カイラム) was the flagship of the Earth Federation's Londo Bell task force, and the first ship of the "Ra Cailum" class. The ship was designed to support the use of mobile suits, and thus is similar to its predecessor the "Irish"-class battleships. The "Ra Cailum" is also one of the largest and most powerful space battleships ever deployed by the Earth Federation Space Forces, and these ships would remain in service until the Federation's disbandment in U.C.0223.

hip History

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 organization should be created to inspect the colonies for remnant dissents and insurgents. 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: the "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. The "Ra Cailum" would also serve as Amuro Ray's ship when he became a member of Londo Bell, which brought the MS contingent aboard the "Ra Cailum" to eight mobile suits, including two Gundams. The "Ra Cailum" was also the first Federation ship to make regular use of the Base Jabber, a sub-flight system that transport the mobile suits riding on it, hence increasing the operational range by providing an external fuel source. The Bass Jabber's powerful thrusters also provide the mobile suits a faster cruising speed, allowing them to mobilize at a greater efficiency.

The "Ra Cailum" saw its first combat action on March 3rd U.C.0093, when the ship mobilized in response to a new Neo-Zeon movement under the command of Char Aznable. In company with three other "Clop"-class cruisers, the "Ra Cailum" raced to the scene and the Second Neo-Zeon War began in earnest with the battle for the asteroid Fifth Luna. Although the Londo Bell fought valiantly, they failed to prevent the drop of Fifth Luna onto the Federation's capital at Lhasa. Although damaged by the battle, Bright Noa order "Ra Cailum" to super-impose herself between the Neo-Zeon forces and a disabled passenger shuttle that had wondered into the combat zone. When the battle died down the shuttle captain and his passengers abandoned the disable shuttle and were taken aboard the "Ra Cailum" as refugees; among those on the shuttle were Bright Noa's son Hassaway, Vice-Foreign Minister of the Earth Federation Adenauer Paraya, and his rebellious daughter Quess. Adenauer Paraya — under orders from the Earth Federal Government to establish contact with the Neo Zeon leadership for purposes of negotiation — outranked Captain Noa, commandeered the "Ra Cailum" and ordered it to sail to Side 1's Londonion colony in order to meet with Neo-Zeon representatives.

The "Ra Cailum" arrived at Side 1 shortly thereafter and docked in the colony's spaceport. Here the civilians 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 surrender 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 fellow task force set sail from Londonion on March 12th U.C.0093 to pursue the Neo-Zeon forces and ensure that they disarmed. Unfortunately, Londo Bell mistook ship-like balloon dummies for the Neo-Zeon fleet, and wrongly concluded that Char's intention is to capture Luna II. This enabled the Neo-Zeon fleet to capture Axis with relative ease. Amuro Ray eventually saw through the 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 too late to stop the reactivation of the asteroid's nuclear engines.

As soon as Noa's ships were in range of Axis, Londo Bell forces opened fire on the asteroid, and a massive battle for control of Axis erupted between the Londo Bell fleet and the Neo Zeon fleet. Bright Noa opted for the use of the nuclear missiles, but "Ra Cailum"'s attempt to destroy the asteroid failed. With time running out the battle subsided as Londo Bell's senior officers and mobile suit pilots reconvened aboard "Ra Cailum" 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 internal explosives. The resulting explosion would split the asteroid. Wasting no time, "Ra Cailum"'s mobile suit squad re-launched.

The attempt to destroy the tail thrusters on Axis ended up failing, so "Ra Cailum" closed in on the asteroid, Noa himself led 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 succeeded 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 past the movie "Char's Counterattack". It is presumed that the ship was not sunk during the Second Neo-Zeon War, leading to speculation that it may have been decommissioned.

In Yoshiyuki Tomino's novel, "Beltorchika's Children", the "Ra Cailum"'s reactor provides the fuel cell for the RX-93-2 Hi-Nu Gundam's Hyper-Mega-Bazooka Launcher.

ee also

*Zeta Gundam
*Principality of Zeon
*Minovsky Physics
*One Year War
*Space Colony (Gundam)

External links

* [http://www.geocities.com/gundam_uc0079/index.html The World-Wide Gundam Informational Network]
* [http://www.mahq.net/ MAHQ]
* [http://side7.gundam.com/rgz/info/uc_ship2.html Library of Londonion (UC ship names)]