Himalaya Naval Aircraft Carrier General Data and Attributes

Manufacturer: Earth Federation Weight: 45500 Metric Tons Armor Materials: Titanium Alloy Crew Compliment: 76 Crewmen Dimensions   • Length 274 meters   • Width 53.4 meters   • Height 39.8 meters Attributes   • Class: Naval   • Speed: Terrible   • Maneuverability: Almost None +   • Armor: Poor +

Design Features   • M Particle Emitters   • 2x Dedicated Hangar Hangar Capacity   • 2x Cargo   • 4x Infantry   • 8x Helicopter   • 32x Aircraft   • 10x Vehicle   • 4x Mobile Suit

Armaments

Anti Vehicle/MS   • 8x 20mm AA Machinegun Turret   • 8x 4-tube StA Missile Launcher   • 4x 3-tube Anti-MS Torpedo Launcher

Anti Ship   • 2x 180mm Cannon Turret   • 1x Fore 2-barrel 350mm Cannon Turret (A)

Technical and Historical Data Following the creation of the Earth Federation in the days before the Universal Century calendar was established, the newly-unified countries of the world set out to standardize their armed forces. Though American designs were predominantly accepted in those times, the Federation's standard aircraft carrier actually turned out to be the former Soviet Union's Kiev-class, for more beaurocratic reasons than anything else. As the Federation began their 40's Rearmament Program, the aging Kiev-class carriers were taken out of service to undergo a heavy refit. The refitted ships came to be known as the Himalaya-class. The Himalaya still posesses many of the Kiev's features. Its single flight deck is still off-centered, and the Kiev's relatively redundant ballistic weapon systems are maintained even in the face of newer, sophisticated missile weapons. At the opening of the war, Zeon invaders were repulsed from the attack against EF Fleet Command in Hawaii due chiefly to the efforts of Himalaya-class carriers and their wings of Tin Cod and Don Escargot fighter-bombers. Though they are vulnerable to attack by Zeon's new marine mobile suits, the Himalaya remains a strong force on the aquatic battlefield.