Salamis-class cruisers

The first Salamis-class cruisers were launched in conjunction with the Magellan-class battleships as part of the Earth Federal Space Force's Year 70 Armament Reinforcement Plan in U.C. 0070. They were armed with conventional weaponry: six main cannon turrets, six two-barrel machine gun turrets for anti-fighter (and later anti-mech) defense, and two six-cell external missile launchers. By U.C. 0079 most of the cruiser's original main cannon turrets had been upgraded with superior mega particle cannons. The original Salamis-class suffered heavy casualties during the One Year War due to the general superiority of the NEO' combination of their Musai-class light cruisers and their MS-06C Zaku II battle mechs. In particular, the nuclear-bazooka-armed C-Type Zaku II extracted a heavy toll against the Salamis-class, as their thinly armored hulls were ill-suited to withstand nuclear weaponry. For this and a combination of other reasons, the Earth Federation order the Earth Federal Space Force to recall the last remaining Salamis vessels to the asteroid base Luna II, where they remained until September U.C. 0079, until the Federation scientists finally launched their first battle mechs. The remaining ships of the Federation's fleet were redeployed into combat zones with the new RGM-79 GM battle mechs and RB-79 Ball mobile pods for protection. Unfortunately, the Salamis-class ships could only store their new mechs and mobile pods on the outer hull of the ship, due to the fact that the ships lacked any sort of hangar bay. Although the Salamis class would suffer even more causalities throughout the remainder of the war, they proved to be more effective when used in conjunction with battle mechs, which would play a role in the Salamis Kai design a few years later.

Salamis class
Unit type: space cruiser
Manufacturer: Earth Federal Forces
Operator(s): Earth Federal Forces

First commissioned: October UC 0070
Ships commissioned: >48

Overall length: 288 meters

Unit complement:
Battle Mech x 4
re-entry capsule x 1
Launch catapults: 1

Armament:
main gun turret x 5
2-barrel main gun turret x 2
secondary gun turret x 4
2-barrel secondary gun turret x 6
missile launcher x 8

Class namesake: The island of Salamis in Greece; The Battle of Salamis

Launched: October Universal Century 0070
Preceded by: N/A, First Space Force cruiser class
Succeeded by: Clop-class cruiser

Ships of the line: 0070 Salamis, Saffran, Madagascar, Cisco, Philadelphia

Displacement: Original: Unknown

Length: Original: 288 meters

Width: Original: 68.5 meters

Hieght: Original: 61.3 meters

Armament:
6 single barrel beam turrets
6 2-barrel machine gun turrets
2 6 tube external missile launchers
8 internal missile launchers
2 6 tube external missile launchers

MECHA Hangers Original: None

Mech Capacity Original: 4-6 MS on outer hull

Powerplant: Minovsky-Ionesco Fusion Reactor