Archangel class (Archangel)

While the Earth Alliance played a game of catch up with ZAFT on mobile suit development, it also designed a new type of battleship to complement their mobile suits. Developed in conjunction with Orb’s Morgenroete company, the design of the Archangel class was based on that of Orb’s Izumo class. In addition to carrying mobile suits, the Archangel featured many new technologies not seen in other Alliance vessels. The Archangel was capable of unassisted atmospheric reentry, thanks to an ablative gel that could be spread across the hull. The Archangel also featured laminated armor, making it quite difficult to seriously damage in battle. In terms of weaponry, the Archangel was a mobile fortress. Its main weapon was the dual “Lohengrin” positron blaster cannon housed in the “legs” at the forward end of the ship. The Archangel‘s armament included an array of other weapons, such as “Gottfried” beam cannons, “Valient” linear cannons, “Igelstellung” vulcan guns and missile launchers. The first of its line, the Archangel, entered combat when Heliopolis was attacked by ZAFT on January 25, C.E. 71. As a result of ZAFT’s surprise attack, the captain and most of the crew were killed, leaving only a few junior officers. Following the initial battle, Murrue Ramius took command of the ship as the most senior surviving officer. With a crew made up of Alliance soldiers and Heliopolis volunteers, the Archangel departed the destroyed colony and headed for friendly territory. After a disastrous orbital battle, the Archangel descended to Earth and unfortunately landed in ZAFT-controlled North Africa. After a long trek, the ship finally arrived at Alliance headquarters JOSH-A in Alaska.

Unfortunately, the Alaska base was the target of ZAFT’s Operation Spit Break. With the crew separated, the damaged Archangel was forced into battle against overwhelming numbers. When Murrue learned that the Alliance planned to use her ship and others as a decoy to deploy their deadly Cyclops System, she violated orders by retreating from the battlefield. The Archangel then headed to Orb for repairs and joined its forces to fight an invasion by the Alliance. After the fall of Orb, the Archangel traveled to space and joined with the Orb battleship Kusanagi and the ZAFT ship Eternal to form the Three Ships Alliance, a faction independent of ZAFT and the Alliance that was dedicated to ending the war. In space, Archangel was pursued by the second Archangel class ship Dominion, captained by former Archangel second officer Natarle Badigiruel. On September 27, C.E. 71, the Archangel destroyed the Dominion during the war’s final battle. After the Bloody Valentine War, the Archangel was hidden by Orb for two years and re-entered service as an independent vessel in late C.E. 73. During those two years, the ship was upgraded to allow for underwater operation. On several occasions throughout the Second Bloody Valentine War, the Archangel intervened in battles between the Alliance, ZAFT and Orb. In C.E. 73, the Archangel was formally adopted as a ship of the Orb Union’s space fleet. At the end of the war in C.E. 74, the Archangel engaged in a ship-to-ship duel with the ZAFT battleship Minerva and inflicted heavy damage upon it.