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This article, Lexington-class, is property of Wing Zero Alpha. |
The Lexington-class fleetcarrier is the Earth Federation's premiere mobile suit carrier in Mobile Suit Gundam Alpha. Thirteen of these vessels would be constructed, one of which being the main protagonists' ship, the Ark Royal.
Appearance[]
Essentially an enlarged Grey Phantom style Pegasus-class carrier. General design is that of the Phantom but changed around to reflect a far greater size. Colors are the Federation's standard of grey with navy blue highlights.
Technology & Combat Characteristics[]
Functionally equivalent to an Old Earth aircraft carrier, the Lexington-class' primary role is to launch and recover mobile suits. For this purpose, they carry a far larger allotment of mobile suits than most other warships: their immense hangar bays can hold an approximate total of forty-eight mobile suits, divided into four squadrons, a number only exceeded by dreadnought type warships. Because of this, Lexington-class ships enjoy more freedom on the battlefield, since they do not have to stick in packs for protection against enemy mobile suits. Thus, as Lexington-class ships carry their own MS with them at all times they are somewhat less dependent on their own weapons for protection. To deploy them, the Lexington-class holds a total of four launch catapults (two in each bow "leg"), which are capable of launching the carrier's total number of mobile suits in roughly four to five minutes.
For propulsion the Lexington-class relies primarily on standard particle engines, of which there are eight, and holds two onboard Apollo Reactors to serve as its powerplants. The combination of these two features allows the Lexington to reach sub-light speeds which surpass ships akin to its size, essentially marking them as fast carriers. For faster than light travel, the Lexington-class is equipped with a higher powered Warp Drive, allowing it to travel over large interstellar routes in less amounts of time than most other Federation ships.
As well, what makes this class particularly effective is the addition of a Combat Direction Center (CDC) within its bridge tower, a feature not employed on Earth warships since the waning years of the Anno Domini era. This not only allows a Lexington-class carrier to coordinate and direct its own mobile suits in the most efficient manner possible, but also those of other warships, thus establishing these carriers as centerpieces for entire taskforces and fleets. It is for this reason that the Zeon particularly fear this class, such that they've made their destruction a priority in any engagement.
For direct combat the Lexington-class is equipped with sixteen beam cannons (two per turret) for ship-to-ship combat and orbital bombardments, twelve of which are mounted at the base of each "arm" (four each on the top, side and bottom areas) and angled toward the bow while four others mounted just behind the bridge tower and angled aft (also on the top and bottom), forty beam phalanx for point defense and forty missile launchers for mass barrages and projectile attacks. These armaments make the Lexington-class as much a line of battlecruisers as they are carriers. Combined with its mobile suit loadout, these ships are formidable opponents, as verified by the combat records of ships like the Enterprise and Ark Royal.
Armaments[]
- Beam Cannon
- Main armament. As one can see from the name, these cannons are more powerful than standard beam weapons, such that they hold enough destructive force to obliterate a cruiser in a single barrage. Alongside, that same power also allows them to be used against targets well beyond visual range. However, this is offset by their slower rate of fire, which makes them highly ineffective in the point defense role.
- Beam Phalanx
- Secondary armament. While far less powerful than beam cannons, these smaller guns have a greater rate of fire, making them especially suited for point defense against enemy mobile suits, missiles and other small craft, as well as against other warships at close-ranges. The Lexington-class in particular carriers forty of these around its hull, giving it far greater point defense than most other Federation warships.
- Missile Launcher
- Secondary armament. The Lexington-class carries forty missile launchers, arranged in two twenty-tube VLS clusters on her flanks (concealed within circular mounts when inactive), allowing it to enact full on missile barrages against enemy fleets. As well, these tubes can hold and launch a wide number of missile types, from standard high explosive weapons to beam diffusion warheads to even nuclear missiles. Its targeting system is also particularly advanced, such that very few unit types are able to evade a lock on.
System Features[]
- Combat Direction Center (CDC)
- Considered the defining feature of the Lexington-class, as well as the main reason many fear this class. A design element originally prevalent in ocean based warships (namely aircraft carriers) of Earth's AD era, the Combat Direction Center was not passed on to modern Earth warships, as ship bridges had since been adapted to handle command and control operations directly. Even when warships began fielding mobile suits, they usually held a much smaller allotment of craft than the aircraft carriers of the past, thus only necessitating a single bridge officer (nicknamed the "Bridge Bunny" after the seemingly universal tendency to place women in this role) to handle CDC operations.
- However, because the Lexington-class was designed to carry a larger amount of mobile suits than most other ships to date, thus necessitating multiple operators to handle the different MS teams, the designers at Utopia Planitia Shipyards would revisit this ancient concept. As such, the Lexington would become the first ship line in entire ages to be equipped with a CDC (which was placed under the bridge tower), thereby allowing for effective coordination of its mobile suit forces.
- And as an added bonus, the CDC had an additional capability that had only been discovered in the initial battles of the Galactic War: by linking its sensor and communications network to other mobile suits beside the Lexington's contingent, a single carrier could take control over an entire fleet's mobile suit force. This proved to be a major boon for the Federation, as the centralized command and control that the Lexingtons provided made battle tactics easier to implement, especially when their enemies, having yet to adapt a similar system, remained disjointed in commanding their own mobile suit forces. As such, the Outer Powers - Zeon in particular - would respond by specifically targeting the Lexington-class line and focusing a sizeable amount of their forces toward sinking them, to the point that entire operations were planned for the sake of destroying even a single carrier.
- Warp Drive
- The Lexington-class carries warp drive, thereby allowing it to travel along interstellar routes in only a matter of days' time. This makes the class highly effective as interceptors and rapid response vessels, as they are capable of responding to enemy incursions far faster than other Federation ships. The tradeoff is this particular drive requires much in the way of power, thus necessitating the Lexington-class to carry two onboard Apollo Reactors instead of one.
History[]
By the time the Galactic War had begun, only twelve Lexington-class ships had been produced and commissioned by the Earth Federation. These ships usually served as power centers and flagships for their assigned fleets, where despite the ineffectiveness of their Guncannon series mobile suits against Imperial Zakus and other such units, the fleetcarriers' sheer firepower and ability to coordinate MS attacks made them extremely successful in engagements. For this reason, as well as their high MS allotment, their unique winged equus design and the overall fact they were Earth vessels, the Zeon and their allies nicknamed these ships "Trojan Horses".
From the beginning, the Lexington-class' effectiveness as both a warship and a command vessel was very apparent. In response, Outer Power commanders came to specifically target these carriers, in turn making Earth all the more adamant of protecting them, such that sizable taskforces were created for the sole purpose of escorting and defending Lexingtons. Unfortunately however, the majority of the Lexington-class would still end up being sunk early on, such that after the Galactic War's onset, only four would remain: the Lexington, Enterprise, Soryu and Hiryu.
However, in October of GC 377, the Earth Federation would produce a thirteenth Lexington, the Ark Royal. Though technologically little different from her sister ships, the Ark Royal had the distinction of taking part in several battles and fleet engagements early on. One of these engagements was the Battle of Arcturus, where the Ark Royal made her infamous retreat just after being nearly destroyed by Zeon ace Commander Char Aznable. This event would later be referred to as Noa's Retreat (after Lieutenant Commander Bright Noa - the Ark Royal's Executive Officer - who gave the command), and would mark the ship with certain stigma throughout the Federal Forces.
Upon her refurbishment, the Ark Royal would be assigned to newly promoted Commander Bright Noa, who succeeded the late Captain Paulo Cassius. From there, the Ark Royal would take part in other engagements against Zeon, including the infamous Battle of Riah. Much later on, she would be sent on a top secret mission to the distant space colony Shangri-La, which also served as secret proving grounds for new Federation weapons. The mission was to retrieve three top secret mobile suit prototypes and return them to Earth. This would mark the beginning of the Ark Royal's change in legacy, as upon retrieving the mobile suits she would be hounded upon by a Zeon taskforce led by the since promoted Commander Char Aznable, forcing her to go into combat without a support fleet. From then on, the Zeon and their allies would take special interest in the fleetcarrier, as well as the three prototype Gundam mobile suits that she was carrying, and the Federation would exploit this as a distraction against the Outer Powers while they gradually regained the offensive.