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This article is about the Calaklum-class Battleship as portrayed in Star Blazers: Space Battleship Yamato 2202 and its sequels. For its counterpart in Space Battleship Yamato 2 and Farewell to Space Battleship Yamato, see Great Battleship.


Is that..."
"A super battleship.

Yoshikazu Aihara and Yasuo Nanbu[2]

The Calaklum-class Battleship also called the Calaklum Class Great Battleship,[6] is a warship model built and operated by the Gatlantis Empire. It's a weapon of the Gaizengan Weapons Groups and, at the time of its launch, was the largest class battleship in service in the Empire's Navy, before being surpassed by the Apocalix-class carrier. It formed the backbone of the Gatlantean navy during the empire's invasion of the solar system.

Armaments and Technical Specifications[]

The Calaklum-class is a heavy battleship measuring 520m in length. The design of its hull is very different from other Gatlantis ships, giving it a unique operative function.[1] Despite its large size, the bridge is a rather small unit, crewed approximately by five people, including a navigator, and the commanding officer. Additionally, following the mass-production of the Gaizengan Weapons Group, most Calaklum-class were automated, and it is believed that only a small portion, such as Admiral Mazer's flagship, continued to be manned.[7][5] The front of the bridge is entirely made out of windows, and a holographic panel is deployed for communication.[5]

Calaklum bridge turret

A Calaklum's bridge turret firing

The Calaklum-class is equipped with a large number of Rapid-fire Turrets. 3 are placed between the front and rear of the ship, 2 large ones, with a diameter of 26 meters, are placed at the sides of the bridge's base, 4 medium ones and 6 small ones scattered throughout the hull. 12 fixed beam cannons are built into the stabilizer, and the bridge is equipped with 3 fixed turrets underneath it, and 1 capable of limited rotation in front of its base. The largest and smallest turrets are the same as the Nazca class, while the medium-sized one is used as a secondary gun in the Lascaux class.[5] Alongside more traditional weaponry, it is also equipped with a lightning rotation gun, a firing system that uses a ring of small torpedo bits that amplify the beam energy when fired. In addition, its firepower can further be increased by supplying a large number of lightning strike bits from multiple ships of the same type.[1]

Inferno cannon

A group of Calaklums forms an Inferno Cannon

When put together, various Calaklum-classes can assemble a Legionairre Cannon or an Inferno Cannon, two incredibly devastating weapons capable of destroying a vast number of ships or even entire planets. However, firing them results in destroying the ships that assembled them.[7][8]

The battleship is also equipped with positioning lights, which aren't used in battle as they increase the chance of being detected, but was used to navigate inside the gasseous cover of the White Comet.[5][9]

History[]

Late 2202[]

Calaklum demage warp

The damaged Calaklum warps towards the Earth

The Calaklum-class battleship was a Gaizengan Weapon, tested on the occupied Eigth Floating continent in late 2202.[5] The first battleship of the class saw action during 8th Floating Continent Recapture Operation, where it used its Lightning rotation gun to lay waste to the Garmillas-Earth joint fleet. It was later fatally crippled by Andromeda's dispersion wave motion gun. The ship, however, was not entirely destroyed and when the Earth cruisers Defiant and Saratoga were permitted to withdraw and warp back to Earth, the Calaklum reactivated its engines and managed to follow the earthling ships with the intention of making a suicide run to crash over the UNCF Headquarters. The Calaklum was destroyed by Yamato.[2]

During Battle of the eleventh planet, more than 15,000 Calaklum-classes under the command of Admiral Mazer assembled a Legionairre Cannon in order to make Planet 11's artificial sun go supernova, creating a blast capable of completely destroy the Earth. However Yamato fired her wave-motion gun to the artificial sun, causing an interference that rendered all ships immobile.[7]

Admiral Mazer’s fleet ignored Emperor Zworder’s orders to return and attempted to pursue the Yamato in revenge. The vast majority of the fleet, including his own personal Calaklum-class, were destroyed by Abelt Dessler, via the Desler cannon, before they could intercept the Yamato.[10]

Calaklums saturn

The Calaklum battleships at Saturn

2203 The Gatlantis Campaign[]

Hundreds more Calaklum-class were developed specifically for the invasion of Earth and saw action during the Battle of Saturn under the command of Commander-in-chief Valsey. The Calaklums alone destroyed most of the Enceladus Defense Unit, but they were forced to retreat after the arrival of the Yamanami fleet under orders from Emperor Zworder.[8]

Calaklums White comet

The Calaklums under the control of Toko Katsuragi

During the Attack on the annihilation missile fleet and Decisive Battle off Mars, the Calaklum-classes fought alongside multiple Gostoke-class Missile Battleships and the Apocalyx-class Carrier Valsey. As the Gatlantis fleet arrived on Earth, three Calaklums were brought down by a Garmillan defensive ground weapon near the federation's capital, an effort which ultimately proved to be futile .[11][12]

During the Golem Assault Battle, Yamato's Transit wave motion gun destroyed a vast majority of the remaining Calaklum-classes. Inside the Ark of Destruction, Toko Katsuragi used her Cosmo wave to control the Calaklum-class ships in construction inside of the Ark, using them as shields to protect Yamato from attacks by the Eater Is and Gostoke classes controlled by Chairman Razera.[13]

At the end of the battle, all battleships were deactivated when Emperor Zworder activated Golem, killing all gatlanteans.[14]

After the war[]

Gatlantis Belt around the 11th planet

The Gatlantis Belt in 2207

By the end of the Gatlantis Campaign, most of the Calaklum-class battleships had been destroyed. The Ark of Destruction had absorbed many that were located within the Earth sphere[14] and in the remnants of Saturn. However, some of the Calaklum-class ships that Admiral Mazer had assembled around the 11th planet were left abandoned. Over time, their wreckage formed a band orbiting the planet, which came to be known as the Gatlantis Belt.[15]

Earth take Calaklum

The EDF towing three Calaklum-class wrecks

The Earth Defense Forces decided not to remove all the deactivated ships, as they believed it would be too difficult to accomplish in a short time with the surviving Wave-motion Gun-equipped vessels. Instead, the 11th Escort Corps was stationed to guard the Gatlantis Belt in case any Calaklums were to reactivate.[16] The military salvaged some of the Calaklums as research subjects[17], preserving a legacy of the ancient Archelias civilization.[15]

In the years following the conflict, Earth scientists conducted research on the remaining Calaklum-class battleships. They discovered significant differences between them and other Gatlantean vessels. It was correctly assumed that the Calaklum-class battleships were created within the Ark of Destruction, using Teresa's energy.[18] Some researchers proposed that the battleships should be considered extensions of the Ark of Destruction itself.[15]

Calaklum being scrapped for parts together with Aldebaran

A Calaklum-class being scrapped for parts alongside an Andromeda-class around 2435

Future[]

According to the history of the future recounted by Dezariam, in 2435, the ban against using Gatlantean resources was lifted. The so-called "Earth Empire"[19] used the wreckage of Calaklum-class ships to augment their own.[20]

Notable ships of the class[]

Gallery[]

Notes[]

  • The class's name probably comes from Calakmul, a Maya archeological site in the Mexican state of Campeche. The Japanese spelling of the name (カラクルム, Karakurumu) also resembles Karakorum, the capital city of the Mongol Empire and the Northern Yuan dynasty, which heavily resembles the Gatlantis Empire's portrayal in the remake series.
  • In the English dub the ship is named Karakrum-Class, this romanization is also used in the Bandai ad on the Yamato 2202 Newspaper No. 3.[21]

References[]

Japanese language information[]

カラクルム級戦闘艦 Karakurumu-kyū sentō-kan

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