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wordsandrobots · 2 months ago

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IBO reference notes on . . . spaceships

@gonk2020 kindly responded to my plea for the means to procrastinate over the essay I should be finishing with a suggestion I take a look at the ships of Iron-Blooded Orphans. So I'm going to do exactly that! Warning for an image-heavy post and spoilers for the whole show and both spin-offs.

[Note: I've compiled this primarily from English-language sources, including fan-translations. There will certainly be additional details I've missed in material that hasn't received a translation.]

A dash of context

Mecha shows and sci-fi in general often revolve around an aircraft-carrier gimmick, where a larger vessel (treated in naval terms) functions as the base for various smaller craft (treated in aviation terms). Terrestrial-based shows will often make the carriers aircraft in their own right (Eureka Seven and Argento Soma spring to mind) to emphasise the advanced technology on display, while extraterrestrial adventures like Macross go full-bore on substituting ships for spaceships. It's a good conceit, providing visual diversity as well as a moving headquarters from which the heroes can operate.

Gundam falls squarely into this pattern from the start. The original anime's White Base functions in space and on Earth as a flying warship, deploying the Gundam, Guntank, Guncannon, and various 'core fighters' along what are recognisably aircraft carrier catapults. Other ships in the setting are shown to operate similarly, with flight decks, conning towers, and a sea-vessel-like aspect (albeit remixed into a weirder style for the Zeon side). Thereafter, the wider Gundam franchise has mostly followed suit. Successor series like Gundam SEED, Turn A Gundam, Gundam 00, and Gundam Reconguista in G all follow Mobile Suit Gundam in portraying flight- and space-flight-capable aircraft carriers of some variety as a key part of their fictional militaries.

Where Iron-Blooded Orphans deviates from this trend is, like fellow outlier Gundam Wing, by eliminating the terrestrial part of the equation. Gone are concessions to atmospheric travel; here, spaceships remain in space and are treated closer to a Star Trek 'tall-ship' model, with shuttles providing the necessary bridge from orbit to the ground. As in Wing, this is not a concession to physical realism: IBO features full-blown artificial gravity and functionally-perpetual sources of energy. Rather, it serves to retract the 'get out of logistics free' card previous flying aircraft carriers provided to their casts. While Gundam has always erred on the side of making logistical concerns count (damage to the White Base is emphasised alongside the frailty of its supply lines), here they are absolutely key to how the plot unfolds.

Tekkadan not having access to the unbounded resources of their opponents in Gjallarhorn matters. That they cannot take their ship, the Isaribi, with them to Earth is a highly significant step towards the desperate nature of Season 1's final battle. They have to rely solely on what they can transport down in a shuttle and then scrounge along the way. Similarly, it is significant in both seasons that one cannot simply land a spaceship where reinforcements are required. This introduces delays, heightening the tension and the stakes. It's a canny choice, for the kind of story being told.

World mechanics

For want of an official classification scheme, I'm going to group the ships that appear throughout the series based on size, function and power-plants:

Surface-to-orbit shuttles

Small non-Ahab reactor ships

Medium Ahab reactor ships

Large Ahab reactor ships

Huge pseudo-colony ships

This done, we can look at commonalties shared by some or all of these groupings in terms of how they are depicted.

Life support: The most important detail, as far as establishing the setting's technology goes, is that living in space is relatively straightforward. Ahab reactors provide artificial gravity. Concerns about oxygen, food and other consumable supplies are never raised as a serious issue. A brief moment in spin-off game Urdr Hunt even suggests that ships maintain some sort of protective forcefield (capable of resisting a lightning strike – it sort of makes sense in context), which could imply cosmic and solar radiation can also be neutralised. Basically, to all intents and purposes, space travel is a completely solved problem.

Offensive and defensive capabilities: Battles are carried out almost exclusively with conventional ammunition (shells, missiles); there are no laser/beam weapons due to the deflective effects of nanolaminate armour, which also conveys a high degree of physical resilience. In the original Gundam timeline, mobile suits are devastatingly effective anti-ship weapons; it is outright stated that ships are no match for 'suits, due to the latter's manoeuvrability and damage output. Here, the equation is somewhat more balanced. Most ships can retract their vulnerable conning towers and their missiles can target and obliterate 'suits in open combat. However, particularly powerful or well-equipped mobile suits may still threaten ships single-handed and sustained attack by more generic models is sufficient to knock out weaponry and propulsion. There is also mention of 'anti-ship napalm', a short-range weapon presumably intended to burn through hulls, and ships prove extremely vulnerable to the Dáinsleif mass-drivers, which can punch deep into their interiors. Nonetheless, it would be fair to say IBO ships are atypically sturdy for the Gundam franchise.

Toughness: Exactly how sturdy may be illustrated by Eugene crashing the Isaribi face-first into a space station in order to draw a Gjallarhorn fleet away from a battle.

This works. Spectacularly. The Isaribi leaves a massive gash around the station core, causing enough havoc the whole structure starts to lose orbit. Meanwhile, Tekkadan pull away with barely even superficial damage. And sure, the square-cube law is on their side, but at the same time, it's hard not to be impressed, especially since we are talking about a ship of Calamity War vintage. Ramming is not only feasible as an offensive tactic, it seems to be actively designed for.

Power output: In addition to their durability, spaceships show off an abundance of power and thrust, owing to the aforementioned Ahab reactors. Wisely, the writers opt not to give exact figures, simply indicating one ship towing another is no big deal. We see the Dawn Horizon Corps' flagship towing three ships of comparable mass at once, with similar feats carried out by other vessels in their fleet. This of course feeds back into the ramming tactics, since all that additional motive force enables one ship to shunt another with relative ease (presumably provided the impact goes at an angle to the direction of the target's own main drive).

Mobility: Above all, ships are of a piece with the other mobile weapons. Despite the nautical terminology, they do not always behave with stately grace, instead zooming about and engaging in manoeuvres entirely unbounded by gravity. This is what struck me the most about the show's depiction of spaceflight: it captures a sense of speed that sci-fi shows usually leave implicit out of deference to an impression of scale. Here, craft hundreds of metres long execute rapid arcs and spins with an ease comparable to the much smaller mobile suits. Furthermore, they can be operated using the same Alaya-Vijnana man/machine interface technology, with Eugene twice straining his augmentation to fly multiple ships simultaneously. The attack on Earth's defensive lines that culminates in ramming Glaðsheimr One involves using a captured assault ship as a shield to protect the Isaribi from incoming fire. It's a phenomenal sequence, showcasing the advantages of abandoning weight when writing space battles – and demonstrates that ships in the Post Disaster timeline can dance as well as they punch.

Now, on to the specifics.

Surface-to-orbit shuttles

Mars shuttle

Fittingly, we start with the vehicle that first takes our protagonists to space. Straight away we have to discuss how it is launched from Mars, namely by being shot up a large, upward-curving runway. This is an example of 'sky-ramp launch', which is pretty much exactly what you think and represents a theoretical means of removing the need for multi-stage rocket assemblies. Both parts of the process are reusable: an orange sub-flyer helps propel the shuttle up the ramp and then separates to glide back to the ground while the main body flies onwards.

It's a fascinating idea that I don't believe has ever actually been tested in real life and perhaps makes more sense in a Martian setting where the lower gravity would undoubtedly render it more practical. However, this is by all appearances the standard method regardless of planet, as the Earth-based Vingolf facility has a similar ramp. So we can assume this, like life-support, is an established, widely-practical technology.

The shuttle itself is a chunky affair, a streamlined cockpit and passenger module giving way to a wider, squarer cargo section big enough to comfortably hold two mobile suits. Its wings are articulated and kept folded vertically for launch, only opening out once it has separated from the launch vehicle (which also unfolds wings for the descent back to Mars). In orbit, the shuttle proves capable of outrunning a Gjallarhorn patrol, albeit one distracted by the sudden appearance of Gundam Barbatos, but is vulnerable to both mobile suits and the cannons of a pursuing ship.

What happens to the shuttle after the Isaribi arrives in the nick of time and Tekkadan disembark is unclear. Neither it nor its flight crew appear again, so we must assume they detached and returned to Mars while the battle raged on without them. Likely this would have been relatively easy since all hostile forces were concentrating on chasing the Isaribi and couldn't stop to deal with anything else. Those two pilots must have had quite the hair-raising story to tell when they got home.

Earth shuttle

Although it shares the same general outline, the craft that takes Tekkadan down to Earth at the other end of their journey is much larger and beefier. Comfortably able to accommodate several launches (vessels on par, size-wise, with the Mars shuttle) and with room for multiple mobile suits to attach to the hull, this is a relatively gigantic vehicle for traversing the atmosphere. The passenger module looks laughably small, stuck on the front of cargo section that brings to mind that line from Rocket Rider's Prayer about a 'highly polished brick'.

A pair of large external propellant tanks are attached to the upper surfaces of the wings, giving the impression it can achieve considerably greater thrust than its Martian counterpart, as would be necessary for ascending from Earth. We don't get confirmation of whether this shuttle also launches with the aid of a booster, although there seems no reason to assume otherwise. Regardless, its heavy-duty nature is obvious.

As the shuttle goes through re-entry, the viewports are sealed with heat-shields to protect the occupants. Once inside the atmosphere, it is capable of splashdown. I don't think we should necessarily take this as a standard procedure so much as a consequence of Tekkadan's intended destination and lack of experience with these matters. Nevertheless, it proves perfectly buoyant in the waters off Makanai's island retreat.

The shuttle was provided by the Montag Company, ostensibly in exchange for half-metal mining rights on Mars, although in reality this is just McGillis Fareed putting Tekkadan where he needs them to be. Interestingly, the Moon Steel manga has the Montag Company arranging lift-off from Earth for the protagonists at one point, suggesting there are ways to circumvent the official channels in the other direction as well. Normally, transfer to and from the ground like this would appear to go through orbital stations like Jutland One.

Two more of the smaller shuttles are seen on Mars when Yamagi and Eco deliver Gundam Flauros back to Chryse during the battle with Hashmal. One of the larger type is featured briefly early in the Moon Steel manga, while another appears on Vingolf during McGillis' uprising. Here we see it can fold its wings too (even if the angle this is drawn at makes that look a bit peculiar) and we get a look at the landing gear left unseen in previously. This shuttle is coloured an all-over grey, lacking the orange on the external tanks from Tekkadan's version, but this may be a colouring error since it or a very similar shuttle is shown later with the orange in place, as per the earlier model.

Small non-Ahab reactor ships

Launch

The boxy 'launch' is a utility craft deployed by virtually every major group we encounter over the course of the series. They are used by the Dort colonists, by Tekkadan and the Montag Company, by Gjallarhorn, by workers at the Oceanian Federation's industrial centres, and by the Turbines. In Moon Steel, a launch is even the main characters' principal mode of transport for a couple of chapters.

I'm actually making an assumption that launches do not use Ahab reactors. Given the size of the mobile suit-grade reactors, there's no reason a ship of this scale could not include one. However, we never see launches generating artificial gravity and based on that and the lack of mention of such a device (from what I can tell) in the Mechanics & World captions, I'm prepared to place them in this category. In any case, contrasting sharply with the shuttles, they have an entirely space-based design – basically a moving shipping container with thrusters facing along the cardinal axes.

Launches act mainly as transport, ferrying goods and people between colonies and ships. 25m long, they are large enough to carry mobile suits (see Moon Steel), can act as refuelling posts, and even operate in an offensive capacity. The weapons loaded during the Dort uprising are described as 'debris missiles', suggesting a role in keeping the area clear of collision hazards. Due to Gjallarhorn's sabotage, we never learn how effective these would have been in a combat scenario.

The launch belonging to the Dort Colony Network news team features an antenna on top of the cockpit and a couple of spotlights bolted to the cargo section. It also has the company logo sprayed on the side and I find it a bit of a shame this kind of flourish wasn't added more widely, since otherwise the only external variation is in colour scheme.

JEE-M103 Kutan Type-III

Manufactured by the (presumably) Europa-based Teiwaz subsidiary Euro Electronics, the Kutan is the first ship on this list to serve an exclusively military purpose. That is to say, while the official description indicates this type of craft can be used to carry a variety of different loads, we see it used exclusively as a delivery mechanism for mobile suits. Not to mention that it has a pair of inbuilt vulcan guns on its forward arms and can be equipped with additional cannons if required.

The 'Type-III' in the name refers to the configuration with large boosters and propellant tanks added on the back, plus triangular side armatures to store mobile suit weapons. The inner body is otherwise identical to the Kutan Type-I. Although it is engineered to transport a only single 'suit inside its arms, a second may easily latch on to the upper hull. A Type-III is used to return Gundam Barbatos to the Isaribi following a refit aboard the Saisei, indicating it can traverse considerable distances in a useful time-frame. We later see one reach an isolated refuelling station from Mars, when Tekkadan rush to the Turbines' aid. Though comparatively tiny, it operates on a scale similar to much larger vessels.

Unusually, this is done without an Ahab reactor. The Kutan is built instead around a hydrogen engine, which gives us some idea of how space-travel might have looked prior to the adoption of the more powerful reactor. This also has consequences for the Kutan's defensive ability, since nanolaminate armour is normally reinforced by a supply of Ahab particles. While the armour is not completely useless without that boost, the Kutan would be much more vulnerable to attack than its cargo, which explains why, Shino's stunt in Earth orbit aside, these transporters are not used as combat vehicles.

Indeed we can see from Shino attempting to fight Ein while still attached to a Kutan that it hampers his mobility considerably. The supplemental boosters are an explosive hazard and he is quickly trapped within the transporter's arms by Ein's grappling cable. There is a kit-only configuration that applies the various components from the Kutan to a 'suit in what might be a more usable layout, as a backpack and leg-extensions. But on screen, the more sensible tactic is clearly for the transporter to race in, release its cargo, and retreat as quickly as possible.

Skidbladnir

The Urdr Hunt mobile game includes another Kutan, this time in a civilian setting. Personal vessel of archaeologist Kozo Mendo, Skidbladnir is a variant that might even be a Kutan Type-II, since it shares the main body of the Type-I/III but is fitted with a different set of arms.

The ship has additional fuel tanks and what appears to be an expanded living module or cargo hold. We do not see the interior beyond the cockpit, so exactly how many amenities Mendo has crammed inside is left to our imagination. Regardless, the modular design of the Kutan has allowed it to be remixed into a craft capable of reaching debris zones or ancient shipwrecks and manoeuvring close enough to get a good look at them.

It is implied to be a somewhat ramshackle affair, breaking down twice over the course of the game and leaving Mendo and his Hunt guide Slice in need of rescue. Aside from the irony of repeated failures affecting a vessel named for "the best of ships" (Grimnir's Sayings 44.2, The Poetic Edda, Oxford World's Classics 2008, p58), this adds to Skidbladnir's outlier status. No other vessel we see is in such bad shape as a baseline (it goes without saying, this thing is useless in a fight, immediately getting downed by a pack of plumas when certain archaeological investigations prove horribly successful).

Exactly how Mendo came into possession of his ship remains unexplored. According to the kit manual, Kutans are primarily operated in the Outer Sphere, so it could be that he acquired one in the vicinity of Mars or Jupiter. And perhaps the technical difficulties explain how he was able to afford to buy it. For now, we can only speculate. What is certain is that Skidbladnir is a rare example of the Millennium Falcon 'small owner-operated spaceship' trope appearing in Gundam, and thus opens up a host of possibilities for small-scale private – and extremely hazardous – space-travel within the Post Disaster timeline.

Medium Ahab reactor ships

Biscoe class cruiser

Our introduction to IBO's spaceships comes in the unassuming form of the Wilm, which delivers Gaelio Bauduin and McGillis to the Ares base in orbit of Mars. Like the Kutan, the Biscoe class is designed around mobile suits: two 'suits can be stored in the lower section of the hull and launched by folding that entire section downwards. Beyond this, the Biscoe does not carry any armaments, although it can deploy signal flares. In terms of range, the Wilm reaches Mars from Earth within the space of two weeks, a feat not to be sniffed at, although it's never clear if this being markedly quicker than Tekkadan's initial estimate for the opposite journey is due to Gjallarhorn having access to more direct routes or the Biscoe's speed relative to the Isaribi.

While the Biscoe is presented as a Gjallarhorn product, it has also found its way into civilian use. Both the Montag Company and Moon Steel's Tanto Tempo own Biscoes, with the latter's use of one in an action sequence demonstrating the ship possess the ability to fire smokescreens as well as flares. This is not the last time we'll see Gjallarhorn vessels in the hands of outside entities.

Past prominent appearances at the start and in the third quarter of Season 1, Biscoes are relegated to bulking out fleet scenes. I should note that the official designation of 'cruiser' seems a bit of a misnomer, since in modern naval parlance, this means a large, multi-role vessel. The term would surely fit the Halfbeak much better than this glorified cargo ship.

An intriguing detail translated in this Reddit post is that Biscoe can go in and out of a planet's atmosphere. This makes sense of the large landing struts built into the lower hull (kept retracted in its on-screen appearances). I raise an eyebrow at the idea of this ship descending to the surface. Scale-wise, it's smaller than the shuttle Tekkadan take down to Earth but I'm not sure how it would lift off back to orbit in the absence of anti-gravity mechanics. Then again, with the presence of 'inertial control systems' capable of cushioning a mobile suit's fall from sub-orbital heights, maybe there is a case to be made that the setting does have the necessary technology to allow something like this to move easily within a gravity well and we just don't see it happen.

Erda II

Owned by Afam Equipment, management company for the Radonitsa Colony in orbit of Venus, the Erda II is a modified Biscoe class ship. In its original configuration, it sports three additional thrusters, two on top and one below, and the pre-existing engines have been extended along the sides. The section above the bridge has also been built out, creating an additional deck. The result is still recognisably a Biscoe and retains the ability to deploy mobile suits by opening up its lower hull. However, unlike the base model, the Erda II can only hold a single 'suit. This seems mainly due to the addition of a catapult mechanism designed to quickly eject its passenger to the rear of the ship, a feature more commonly found on larger warships.

That is my interpretation of the Erda II's halved carrying capacity, anyway. The shots of McGillis' Biscoe launching his Schwalbe Graze play havoc with the scaling, such that the mobile suit appears about 50% smaller than it should be. It looks like the animators got the perspective wrong, a not uncommon occurrence in the early part of Season 1 (c.f. McGillis being portrayed as taller than Gaelio in some of the scenes on Mars). The Urdr Hunt game serves us much better for consistency, as we see several mobile suits interacting with it from the outside, such as Gundam Asmodey being forced to ride on top of the hull for a few instalments.

To address this, the ship is later retrofitted with an expanded hold – basically a large shipping container bolted on the back. This doubles the ship's length, easily fitting both Gundams and their corresponding catapults, and has its own set of thrusters to make up for the removal of the Erda II's ventral engine. It is hard to say if this has a detrimental effect on the ship's speed or manoeuvrability since it never does anything that would demonstrate either. It is equally hard to say why a company ostensibly concerned with municipal infrastructure should need to be able to launch mobile suits into battle in the first place. But that is tied to the presently-incomplete backstory of Hajiroboshi (nee Marchosias), which Erda Afam, namesake of the ship, likely piloted during the Calamity War.

Further details from the official description are that the Erda II is armed with a single machine-gun and that it dates from the founding of the company, suggesting Biscoes are quite venerable. Interestingly, the standing crew consists of only two people, the elderly Dexter and Sinister. While we might expect little manpower to be required for the Skidbladnir or a relatively small vessel like this, McGillis is able to briefly operate a full-size warship single-handed. Eugene is able to fly two or three at once. Clearly, a high degree of automation exists, as it does for mobile suits – another facet of space travel being trivialised in this setting

Large Ahab reactor ships

Calamity War shipwrecks

There isn't a lot to say about the shipwrecks shown in Urdr Hunt, mainly because they *are* wrecks and we thus do not know what they looked like when they were intact. I'm not even sure which way up the second ship encountered is supposed to go.

Doing my due diligence and checking the art-books, neither of these are based on unused concepts for, say, the Halfbeak or the Skipjack. They appear instead to be entirely new designs, depicting vessels owned by Angelica Elion and Makie Fareed, Calamity War Gundam pilots and progenitors of the 'Seven Stars' lineages to which they gave their names. The Elion ship is in a worse state, falling apart as it drifts along the orbit of a comet. Its systems are offline, its generators, barely functioning. The Fareed ship, on the other hand, retains a breathable atmosphere and enough power to allow Mendo to boot up the computers in some form of administration room. From this he learns it fought a mobile armour during the War.

We should not be surprised the power in these vessels lasts as long as it does, given they are almost certainly using Ahab reactors. Nor do I think it unexpected that warships would have played a role in defeating the mobile armours. That Mendo can access the Fareed ship's systems may speak more to his familiarity with old software than anything else, but it could also be an indication of how little has changed, technologically, since the War.

Beyond this, the wrecks do at least confirm spaceship design was once more varied than it is in the present day.

Freighter

Speaking of the present, the 300m long cargo ship is as ubiquitous as the launch. Seen in vast numbers as the backbone of the Turbines' operations and in use even by space pirates like the Brewers, this is an entirely uniform design, rarely so much as changing colour between appearances.

Utilitarian, featuring sixteen container modules arranged either side of a rounded-off rectangular core, with a bridge at one end and two standard thrusters at the other, it is an unglamorous vessel and tends to fare quite badly when it shows up in more than an illustrative capacity. See for example Akihiro's family's freighter getting overtaken by pirates, or a couple of Turbines' ships being sunk by Dáinsleifs. These ships are pretty much defenceless, requiring mobile suit escorts to stand a chance of making it through hazards.

This draws attention to something Iron-Blooded Orphans does differently from its stable-mates; to whit, spending time on everyday space-travel. In most Gundam series, civilian traders rarely occupy much of the story. The narratives focus on military action that has suspended normal life. To an extent, this is of course what IBO does as well. But it also portrays space as a realm of industry and commerce. Cargo makes up the bulk of the traffic crossing the solar system. There are designated shipping routes, the Ariadne Beacon network that allows Gjallarhorn to track, protect and (as seen in Moon Steel) charge vessels for the privilege. There are routes outside the beacon network, more perilous and tricky to navigate, allowing the Turbines to dominate Outer Sphere smuggling. There is, in fact, a whole ecosystem based around the transfer of goods, with impoverished, homeless women at the very bottom, exploited as expendable crews.

We must also consider what isn't shown. The Skidbladnir is the only ship serving a nominally scientific purpose. Tourism is a valid solution to Radonista Colony's woes, yet none of the characters have the opportunity to be real tourists. Interplanetary passenger travel – in itself, separate from VIPs getting military escort – is never touched on. Our attention remains fixed on the functional, unglamorous side of a space-based economy, as befits IBO's wider themes, with the freighter as the functional, unglamorous emblem of this strata of society.

Armoured assault ship

Our second major 'default ship', almost all the warships fielded by non-Gjallarhorn groups are variants of this fish-like type. This includes 'hero' ships such as the Isaribi and Hammerhead, which I shall cover separately, and the Mercurius, Tanto Tempo's main combat vessel. Like most other mobile weapons in IBO, these armoured assault ships date from the Calamity War. Even assuming their compatibility with the Alaya-Vijnana means they were developed during that conflict rather than prior to it, this makes them over three hundred and twenty years old. If I have not stressed it enough already, technology in the Post Disaster setting is phenomenally durable.

Armed with two sets of twin-barrelled cannons on rotating tracks either side of the main hull, several point-defence turrets behind those, missile launchers, and a pair of harpoon anchors, these ships can perform a range of combat roles, from long-range bombardment to close-quarters grappling. Naturally, they also function as mobile suit carriers, usually coming with a ventral catapult deck and an articulated 'fin' for 'suits to latch on to during recovery via a hatch in the rear of the ship. Going by the Isaribi, they have three mobile suit hangars, each accommodating three machines.

For propulsion, the ships most often have two large thrusters situated where the 'tail' joins the main body, although those in the Dawn Horizon Corps' fleet have a single thruster at the tip of the tail instead. Smaller thrusters at the front of the side blocks are kept shuttered until required to alter the vessel's trajectory; they also permit flying backwards when the main weaponry needs to be aimed at a pursuing enemy. Vernier jets are placed all across the ship, with significant arrays of them stretching along the tail, providing the aforementioned manoeuvrability these ships enjoy.

One thing never clearly established is how large a crew an armoured assault ship is supposed to have. The best guess we can make is taking the Dawn Horizon's total membership (2500 people) and dividing it by the number of ships they own (10). This gives us 250, but includes both their mobile worker corps and their human debris, so may not be representative of the average ship crew, specifically. Still, the number is slightly lower than the compliment of a much smaller modern destroyer (destroyers are around 150m long; the AAS is 340m) and accounting for automation and the extra space required for life-support and supplies, seems quite a reasonable figure.

[It's not especially relevant but the original Star Trek's USS Enterprise, at 289m in length, supposedly had a crew of 203.]

NOA-0093 Isaribi

At a glance, the chief distinguishing feature of the Isaribi (formerly Will-O'-the-Wisp) is a shortened prow that renders it even more fish-shaped than its class-mates. It otherwise has all the same weapons and fixtures of a standard armoured assault ship. This leads us immediately to the question of why it has such a distinctly shortened appearance, aside from the boring Doylist answer of 'to make it stand out because it's the protagonist vessel'. Sadly, I can't think of an interesting suggestion here. We simply don't see the Isaribi doing anything that another such craft would be unable to. From Eugene's operation of the hijacked Brewers' ship, we know for certain they can all move with similar deftness, and even the ramming tactics would surely be as effective with the standard bow shape.

Perhaps ramming suggests a possibility: maybe in its former life as Will-O'-the-Wisp, it lost the forward section in battle, with the current shape being a money-saving fix. On balance, though, it's more likely this is merely another variant and the Isaribi naturally provides our clearest look at the capabilities of a ship like this. I've already alluded to the retractable bridge; during battle, artificial gravity is also disengaged so that power can be routed elsewhere. Oddly, everything then stays weightless even while the ship is performing combat manoeuvres, suggesting inertial control remains in operation to offset the varying acceleration (that's technobabble for the writers not wanting to throw everybody against the back wall every time the thrusters engage). Oh, and relatedly – via the inbuilt seat-belts that stop pots and pans floating away – the galley hob uses gas flames. I wont' talk in detail about the interiors but I find this too idiosyncratic not to mention, the replication of such a mundane (but efficient!) means of cooking in a sci-fi environment.

Other facilities aboard the Isaribi include a mess-hall, a gym, spacious single-occupant cabins, and common bunk-rooms. There is also at least one main cargo hold to go along with the mobile suit bays. The bridge aside, it is not obvious how the viewports shown in some of these rooms map to the ship's exterior when the glowing sections appear to be running lights not windows. Docking ports, though, are present, midway along the tail. Smaller craft like the Biscoe can also interface directly with the mobile suit recovery hatch. Concept art indicates the small rectangles beneath and fore of the port and starboard anti-aircraft guns are human-scale airlocks, and that there are ladders built into the hull, allowing access to the top of the ship. These are probably how the crew assembled in front of the bridge for the funeral after the battle with the Brewers.

Finally, I would be remiss if I didn't point out that Tekkadan decorating the ship with their logo is far from an isolated case of 'warpaint'. Every armoured assault ship has some form of unique livery, from bland greys and whites for the Dawn Horizon's rank and file to the Rakou Pirates' skull insignia, rendered in pink on an expensive black background. Far from mere youthful exuberance, the boys are clearly engaging in a time-honoured tradition.

NOA-0132 Hotarubi

With Tekkadan's rising fortunes comes an additional ship. Combining the forward section of a standard armoured assault ship with reinforced cargo modules, this new vessel's purpose is to transport a greatly-expanded mobile suit force. The 'suits are stored in rows of containers within the modules and launched through large side hatches – a notably slower means than the Isaribi's catapult (especially since they must be recovered the same way) that trades-off against capacity

This is far from the only example of non-catapult-based deployment. While catapults certainly aren't the exception – Gjallarhorn's Halfbeaks easily skew the ratio hard the other way – they are not an essential component of space combat either. Mobile suits can produce extreme acceleration on their own, allowing them to quickly entire battle without external aid. This said, catapults and transporters like the Kutan must offer an advantage – likely in terms of conserving propellent, on top of sheer rapidity.

The Hotarubi's layout also dispenses with a tail section, replacing it with two long, vertically stacked thrusters extending directly from the forward hull. These are the same shape as the normal armoured assault ship engines, only about 50% larger. The scaling changes create a greater visual similarity to both the Kutan and the mobile suit boosters applied directly to Gundam Gusion when Tekkadan flies to the Turbines' rescue. I don't know if anything follows from most ships boasting a single pair of main thrusters beyond observing the commitment to symmetry that characterises Post Disaster ships. For the Hotarubi specifically, we can compare it to the similarly-arranged cargo freighter and note how much beefier it is, the engines' extra size allowing it to move as swiftly as the Isaribi when required. It is described as being able to make the trip from Mars to Earth in about three weeks.

Taking the brunt of a Dáinsleif barrage during the 'final battle' with the Arianrhod Fleet, the Hotarubi is abandoned, then scuttled via a self-destruct system to disperse a cloud of nano mirror chaff that blocks local laser communication and sensors. This necessitates piloting the Hotarubi via tether, then setting it loose to fly towards Gjallarhorn's lines on autopilot. Even as it provides cover for Tekkadan's retreat from the terrible situation in which they are caught, the ship's loss represents the final collapse of the success that led to its acquisition in the first place.

TIR-0009 Hammerhead

Naming conventions for ships in Iron-Blooded Orphans include the Norse origins of Skidbladnir, the familial connection of Erda II, and the Gundam mythology gag that is Mercurius. Meanwhile, Gjallarhorn's battleship class names (Halfbeak and Skipjack) borrow from types of fish, which is striking when set alongside Isaribi, meaning a fire set by fishermen to lure in larger catches. Isaribi itself is a continuation of a poetical theme set by Will-O'-the-Wisp and furthered by Hotarubi – the light of a firefly. And then, for the second 'hero' version of an armoured assault ship to appear, there's the crushingly literal Hammerhead.

Where the Isaribi truncates the standard design, the Turbines' flagship extends it, adding a wide, reinforced block to the front for the express purpose of ramming enemy vessels. The ship's main thrusters have been moved to the rear of said block, where they sit inline with the side modules. This does not appear to impede the Hammerhead's mobility at all, although it does activate additional thrusters situated at the other end of the modules (switched front to back from the normal placement) to increase its pushing power when in contact with a target. In this manner, it is able to crush one of the Brewers' armoured assault ships against a nearby asteroid.

To accommodate this hammer-head, the other weapons has been redistributed. The main cannons have been raised and lowered, providing it with a clear line of fire (something also seen on Dawn Horizon's single-thruster ships), and missile tubes have been placed on both the ram and the superstructure in front of the bridge. The bridge tower, which is slightly larger than the Isaribi's, features a unique cross-bar sensor array – each armoured assault ships sports a different kind of antenna but they are usually in the form of vertical blades. Other than this, the tower has the same functionality as on similar vessels, retracting for battle irrespective of any additional protection the ram confers. Sadly, this is not enough to save the ship from Iok Kujan's Dáinsleifs.

In keeping with its role as home to the polygamous family from which the Turbines take their name, the Hammerhead is more comfortably appointed than most ships. It is also extremely formidable, requiring Tekkadan to launch a high-risk covert boarding action during their initial engagement with it and thereafter proving its mettle against the Brewers. Under the control of a single pilot, it's reduced to a sitting-duck, taking massive damage from conventional and extraordinary artillery. Yet even after Naze is killed, it remains locked on course for Iok's forces, just barely deflecting off one Halfbeak to ram another broadside-on, destroying both vessels in the resulting explosion.

Dawn Horizon battleship

After covering the three named variants of the armoured assault ship, it is almost an anti-climax to end with one that never receives a proper designation. But I've left it to last because it represents several departures from the patterns observed so far.

The fin that on other ships appears to be used for mobile suit retrieval has been moved to the very end of the tail, suggesting it serves some other purpose; maybe as a radiator? The ramming prow has been built out to a significant degree, resembling nothing so much as a locomotive snowplough. The mobile suit deck appears to be completely inverted, with a hatch and catapult fitted atop the ship rather than below. 'Suits are launched along an extended deck, as if this was a true nautical aircraft carrier. Finally, as a consequence of that arrangement, the bridge conning tower is fixed in place, better armoured in its own right but unable to be safely stowed away.

To what extent this configuration alters the ship's capabilities is unclear. Functionally, the two present for the battle with Tekkadan – an orange flagship and a grey-yellow version that is disabled over the course of the fight – perform no action to make them stands out from the rest of the Dawn Horizon fleet beyond towing their single-thruster compatriots. We may assume the battleship to be somewhat tougher, at least from the front, but again, they demonstrate no special abilities, not even ramming anything over the course of their screen-time.

If we again take the Doylist meta-textual perspective, there's no deeper reason to this ship's unique appearance than creating visual interest and underlining Sandoval Reuter's position as Dawn Horizon's leader. And this might serve us from a Watsonian point of view, too: perhaps the impressive appearance is its main selling-point and the reason the pirate chose these craft as his own.

Halfbeak class battleship

At 400m long, Gjallarhorn's main warship is built on a slightly larger scale to the armoured assault ship, tapering from a pointed prow to a wide, almost bulbous stern. This gives it a more traditionally nautical outline (selected from various alternatives sketched by series concept artist Ippei Gyoubu), to my mind evoking an official and proper air; the sense this is what space warfare should look like.

I bring this up because the Calamity War shipwrecks belonging to Elion and Fareed – the most direct precursors available – do not share this aesthetic. Therefore it represents a deliberate design choice on Gjallarhorn's part, perhaps following the same concessions to appearances that can be seen in their uniforms, their aristocratic and heraldic traditions, and 'ceremonial' machines such as the Graze Ritter. This is not to claim the Halfbeak serves a purely decorative purpose; it is an effective battleship and not to be taken lightly. But I think there is room to consider it informed by the wider culture of the organisation, as a symbol in the same way that leads Lieutenant Crank to laud 'the Graze of Gjallarhorn'.

Regardless of whether there is anything to that idea, the Halfbeak appears equal and equivalent to the armoured assault ship in most particulars. Twin main thrusters allow it to keep pace with the smaller Isaribi and Hotarubi, and it possess the corresponding reverse engines. Its pointed hull is not only capable of ramming other craft, it can actively pierce their armour. Missile tubes, grappling anchors, cannons, and point-defence turrets are all present, although strangely, the latter are only placed on the upper structure, leaving the underside noticeably bereft of protection. This perhaps suggests the Halfbeak is expected to fight from range or that the designers felt overly-secure in Gjallarhorn's military domination. And, of course, the ship has a mobile suit catapult, operating on electromagnetic rather than mechanical propulsion, in a rare instance of a Post Disaster faction demonstrating ostentatiously 'advanced' (non-tactile) technology.

Speaking of ostentation, no overview of the Halfbeak is complete without looking at how the Seven Stars mark those they personally use. The ship assigned to the Bauduins is named Sleipnir, to match the Norse mythological figure present in their coat of arms, painted prominently on the hull. Similarly bedecked with her family crest, Carta Issue's flagship is identified as Vanadis in the SD Cross Rays adaptation of the show (another name for Norse goddess Freyja)*. It is later repainted with the Fareed Family crest after McGillis takes over her position.

Overall colour-schemes associate Halfbeaks with different fleets: blue for the Earth HQ Central Direction Defence Corps (latterly the Revolutionary Fleet), teal for the Outer Lunar Orbit Joint (Arianrhod) Fleet, and white and blue-grey for the Outer Earth Orbit Regulatory Joint Fleet. The Bauduins' personal vessel is, of course, a unique lilac. Beyond this the ships appear entirely identical, but there is a suggestion they vary internally, as the ship Isurugi Camice uses to reach Mars at the start of Season 2 is described as the McGillis faction's fastest. Its ID number (GHS-1889) is considerably higher than either Vanadis (GHS-0205) or the unfortunate vessel Vanadis collides with in the finale (GHS-0515), so if this tracks order of production, it could be that 1889's speed is linked to it being more recently constructed (for completeness, Liza Enza's ships is GHS-2015 and Iok's ship is identified via communications as GHS-0287).

Civilian Halfbeak

Like the Biscoe, the Halfbeak makes its way into the hands of non-Gjallarhorn groups, albeit in modified form. The JPT Trust, a Teiwaz subsidiary with connections to the Kujan Family, has possession of such a ship, which features a forward hull widened and deepened to allow it to carry an exceptional number of mobile suits. The TIR-0102 Golden Jasley – namesake of JTP leader Jasley Donomikols, with the ID following the Hammerhead's as a Teiwaz-registered ship – is the only vessel fielded in the face of an enraged Tekkadan yet manages to deploy enough machines to make for a proper, large-scale battle.

This version sacrifices the main battery and mobile suit catapult in favour of heavier armour. As with the Dawn Horizon flagship, the bridge tower is also rendered immobile, which proves fatal for Jasley once Gundam Barbatos gets within striking distance. In the absence of the catapult, mobile suits exit via a rear-facing hatch. A similar hatch is present at the stern of a normal Halfbeak to allow 'suits to re-board. Here, it has been moved forward, closer to the expanded hangars.

Despite being larger and more modern than the Isaribi or the Hotarubi, the Golden Jasley does not distinguish itself in the encounter. Beyond sheer capacity, it is entirely outmatched in the face of Tekkadan's determination to avenge the Turbines. The most remarkable thing about it, in fact, is its existence. The Biscoe we may write off as little more than glorified launch, but the Halfbeak is a formidable weapon. For it to be shared with other entities, even in diminished form, says a lot about how elements within Gjallarhorn view their responsibilities as peacekeepers.

Because this is not an isolated incident: Urdr Hunt depicts another modified Halfbeak in the hands of the criminal Zahn Clan, who are outright stated to have various officials in their pocket. Whether or not craft like this exist for legitimate purposes – as export models or a variant not widely adopted by the main forces – these examples represent highly dubious dealings between a supposed force for law and order and those they are supposed to keep in line. Hardly a shock, given what else we know about Gjallarhorn and its abuses of power.

Skipjack class battleship

Twice the size of the Halfbeak, the Skipjack is the largest craft in this category. Featuring six mobile suit catapults, each linked to a hangar with a ten-'suit capacity, and bristling with gun batteries and missile launchers, it overshadows everything else in terms of offensive power. Its grappling anchors alone are bigger than a Biscoe class. This is unquestionably Gjallarhorn's capital ship.

Chronologically, the first Skipjack we see in action belongs to the Issue Family, showing up during Urdr Hunt to menace the Afam Equipment gang outside a resort colony near Earth. At this point, it is under the command of family retainer Okina Uroka, and no explanation is offered for why such a colossal warship should be (retroactively) in the Issue's hands and not have been used by Carta when she was commanding the Outer Earth Orbit Regulatory Joint Fleet. If I were to speculate – and why stop now? – we could take this to mean the class was only rolled out after the events of Season 1. But it could equally be that the Skipjack's scale grants a range simply not required within a fleet whose primary purpose is guarding the Earth. One may have been assigned to the Issues, in accordance with their status as the most powerful of the Seven Stars, and simply reserved for ceremonial use, to escort dignitaries and the like.

The flagship of the Arianrhod Fleet, on the other hand, serves as Rustal Elion's main base of operations and like the Issues' version is marked with his family heraldry to indicate his Seven Star status. It is this ship we see the most of, including some dramatic close-ups as Gaelio and McGillis have their final confrontation. These emphasise the scale, with even the catapult tubes being huge compared to those on other vessels.

The Skipjack is not without vulnerabilities though, or rather it is left vulnerable thanks to choices made by its commander. Like the Halfbeak and the armoured assault ship, the bridge module can be retracted and covered over. Gjallarhorn military doctrine, as followed by Carta and others, would seem to be that this should be done whenever engaging in serious combat. However, Rustal's personal sense of dignity encourages standing tall in the face of opposition and he thus his bridge remains elevated as he observes the battlefield. Iok's imitation of this allows Amida Arca to score a direct hit on the main viewport of his Halfbeak during the Hammerhead's final stand, but unfortunately her mobile suit doesn't have sufficient firepower to actually break through. Rustal comes within a hair's breadth of a much more fatal impact when Norba Shino takes a shot at him with a Dáinsleif, being saved only by a last-second intervention that knocks off Shino's aim.

One wonders if he reconsidered disregarding the safety features of his own ship after that.

Huge pseudo-colony ships

Saisei

The regular O'Neil cylinder space colonies that populate the Post Disaster world are each 60 kilometres long from base to tip. At 7km, Teiwaz's 'large planetary cruiser' is positively diminutive by comparison, yet still shares more in common with them than any of the previous ships.

For one, it is constructed around a spherical core, something commonly seen on space-stations and colonies. For another, it has a rotating habitat section, simulating gravity via centrifugal force (the physics student in me is required to state that this is a pseudo-force, existing as a reaction to centripetal force, but the effect is still to make the inner side of the ring section appear as a floor). Within this has been constructed what is essentially a small town catering to Teiwaz executives. Filled with lush greenery, the tiered levels contain houses, shops, bars, and brothels, and at the ground-level, at least one artificial lake, which surrounds the mansion and grounds inhabited by the organisation's leader, McMurdo Barriston. Short of the estates of the Gjallarhorn elite and the Chyrse governor's mansion, this is the most luxurious location the series visits.

Concept art shows a standard-looking bridge module tucked away in the block at the twelve o'clock position (when view front-on), albeit one that must be larger than normal given its relative scale. There is a single main engine at the rear surrounded by four smaller ones, which are in turn counter-balanced by forward-facing thrusters mounted on the pylons surrounding the ring. The same principles of spaceship design persist all the way up from the launch to this.

Part mafia status-symbol, part corporate headquarters, the Saisei displays artistry not found in any other ship, its huge, decorative windows and curving superstructure providing a degree of grandeur beyond mere size. Rather intriguingly, its name translates as 'reproduction' or 'restoration', raising the possibility it was created in an act of reclamation. Is this a former mining base or tool of colonisation re-engineered as a show of wealth? Certainly there is a less glamorous side to the place, engineering facilities for mobile suit upgrade and maintenance, as well as a space-dock that can hold multiple regular ships. But that fits Teiwaz's business, so need not represent any hold-over from a previous life. I like the idea, though, that Jupiter's most powerful organisation reworked some huge industrial facility in order to lord it over the Outer Sphere.

—–

*Throughout this, I've referenced data files from the SD GUNDAM G GENERATION CROSS RAYS game, as documented by Steam user Ralen at https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1973868125. I use this information only where it does not contradict the text of the anime itself (see for example the game stating there were nine single-thruster armoured assault ships in the Dawn Horizon's fleet, when there were in fact only eight, owing to the second battleship). Cross Rays' occasionally loose adaptation of canon events means it's worth being a little cautious when using the game as a source.

Anyway, thanks to @gonk2020 for suggesting this topic. I can honestly say there was a lot more to talk about here than I ever expected!

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#gundam #gundam iron blooded orphans #gundam ibo #g tekketsu #tekketsu no orphans #ships #spaceships #world building #rivet counting #reference #notes

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