Nazca class

Class: Nazca
Ships of the line: Vesalius, Heusinger, Helderton, Voltaire, Rousseau, Caernafon, Holst, Burton, Barfest, Fourier, Herchel
Unit type: battleship
Manufacturer: ZAFT (Zodiac Alliance of Freedom Treaty)
Operator(s): ZAFT; Three Ships Alliance; civilians
First deployment: C.E. 71
Dimensions: overall length 255 meters; overall height unknown
Wingspan: unknown
Weight: unknown
Propulsion: unknown
Equipment and design features: sensors, range unknown
Fixed armaments: 2 x 120cm high-energy beam cannon; 2 x 66mm dual railgun; 10 x 58mm CIWS; 5 x 450mm multipurpose Vertical Launch System
Mobile suits: 6
Launch catapults: 1

The Nazca class was ZAFT’s latest model battleship, introduced during the Bloody Valentine War. This new class of ship was faster than the Earth Alliance’s new Archangel class. It was also heavily armed with beam cannons, railguns and CIWS vulcan guns. The Nazca class also included an internal hangar with space for up to six mobile suits. In the postwar period leading up the Second Bloody Valentine War, the Nazca class was produced in greater numbers to begin replacing the older Laurasia class. In late C.E. 73, one Nazca was secretly refit into a defensive system called the Neutron Stampeder. When fired, the Neutron Stampeder caused nuclear weapons to detonate prematurely by controlling the neutrons inside them and setting off a fission reaction. The Neutron Stampeder was used to successfully protect the PLANTs from the Alliance’s nuclear attack following the Break the World incident in October C.E. 73.

Captain: Ades (Vesalius)
First appearance: Mobile Suit Gundam SEED
Original mechanical designer: Kimitoshi Yamane

Bridge