Gundam Archives

The Gwazine-class: A Formidable Space Battleship

In the Universal Century timeline of the Gundam meta-series, the Gwazine-class is a fictional class of space battleship that plays a significant role in the Principality of Zeon’s naval fleet. Developed to serve as the flagship and heavy battleship for various space fleets, the Gwazine-class surpasses its Earth Federal Space Force counterparts in several ways.

Design and Capabilities

The Gwazine-class ships are massive, with an overall height of 103 meters and a length of 440 meters. They have a beam of 320 meters and a max weight of 108,100 metric tons. These behemoths are equipped with three massive double-barreled mega particle cannon turrets mounted on their topside, ten smaller double-barreled mega particle secondary guns, and multiple 155mm machine gun turrets for anti-air defense.

Their propulsion system consists of eight thermonuclear rockets, allowing them to travel vast distances, including between the Earth and the asteroid belt. The Gwazine-class ships also have a large mobile suit carrying capacity, with hangars capable of holding up to twenty mobile suits.

History

The Gwazine-class was developed by the Principality of Zeon in limited numbers during the years leading up to the One Year War. The first ship of this class entered service in UC 0076, making it the largest class of space warship known in the Earth Sphere at the time. Designed as flagships for high-ranking officers, these warships could easily take on and defeat several Earth Federation warships on their own.

The Gwazine-class battleships participated in most major fleet battles, providing significant firepower to the battlefield. At least two of these ships were seen participating in the Battle of Loum, and several others appeared at the Battle of A Baoa Qu. Only two Gwazine-class ships were known to survive the war: the Gwaden, which served as the flagship of Admiral Aiguille Delaz, and another ship that was used as an escape vessel for Zenna Zabi and Mineva Lao Zabi.

Legacy

By UC 0083, the Zeon remnant forces at Axis had engineered and built descendants of the Gwazine-class, including the Gwanban-class and Gwadan-class battleships. The destruction of Degwin’s Gwazine-class ship was also seen in Gundam Unicorn, when Banagher Links and Full Frontal were time-traveling through space using the Neo Zeong’s psycho shard.

The Gwazine-class remains an iconic symbol of the Principality of Zeon’s naval power and a testament to their engineering prowess in the Universal Century timeline.