The Minerva-class battleship is a fictional ship class from the Cosmic Era timeline of the anime Gundam metaseries. It is a naval space vessel used by ZAFT.
Design and construction
The first ship of the class, Minerva, carries the hull classification code LHM-BB01, designating it as both a transatmospheric mobile assault ship (like the Archangel) and a battleship, the first such craft commissioned by ZAFT during the postwar era.
The Minerva is heavily armored and armed with two twin-barrel XM47 "Tristan" beam cannons, one three-gun M10 "Isolde" 420 mm (16.54 in) projectile cannon turret, numerous missile launchers, and a single QZX-1 "Tannhäuser" positron beam cannon. She was designed with the ability to deploy the ZGMF-X56S Impulse Gundam.
Despite being heavily armored and her advanced ordnance, the Minerva has an exploitable weakness. Aside from her hull armor, Minerva has virtually no defensive or counter measures to protect her underside leaving her quite vulnerable to attacks from below.
Despite the construction plans, however, there is a secondary combat bridge to where the main personnel in the regular bridge, use during combat.
In service
The Minerva is commanded by Talia Gladys; her executive officer is Arthur Trine. The Minerva, which was meant to carry the stolen Gundams ZGMF-X24S Chaos, ZGMF-X31S Abyss, and ZGMF-X88S Gaia, was launched prematurely on October 2, Cosmic Era 73, in the aftermath of the Armory One incident; at that time, her mobile suit complement included the ZGMF-X56S Impulse (piloted by Shinn Asuka), two ZGMF-1000 ZAKU Warriors (one piloted by Lunamaria Hawke, while the other was the unregistered unit brought aboard by Athrun Zala), one ZGMF-1001 ZAKU Phantom (piloted by Rey Za Burrel) and two ZGMF-601R GuAIZ Rs. Both GuAIZ Rs were destroyed in her first engagement and one of the ZAKU Warriors in her second. After its launch, the Minerva was involved in the unsuccessful attempt to break up the Junius Seven colony drop, during which it was attacked by the Blue Cosmos stealth battleship Girty Lue and the three stolen Gundams. When the Minerva reached Earth, one of the ZAKU Warriors was replaced by the ZGMF-X23S Saviour, and one of the GuAIZ Rs was later replaced by the prototype ZGMF-X2000 GOUF Ignited. After Heine Westenfluss' death at the Battle of Dardanelles and Athrun's alleged defection, Minerva's remaining pilots as of the invasion of Orb in Operation Fury were Shinn, Rey, and Lunamaria.
The Minerva was heavily damaged during the battle near Space Mobile Fortress Messiah by the Archangel and Athrun's ZGMF-X19A Infinite Justice. Even though most of the crew survived, Talia Gladys would later die inside Messiah alongside PLANT Supreme Council Chairman (and lover) Gilbert Durandal and pilot Rey Za Burrel.
Related development
Trivia
External links
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