Colorado

Unit type: escort carrier
Dimensions: length 220 meters
Armament: 5 x 2-barrel GN beam cannon; 6 x GN antiaircraft laser phalanx
Powerplant: argon-cooled nuclear reactor, output rated at 47000 kW; 2 x GN drive, output theoretically unlimited based on remaining particle supply
Propulsion: 4 x MPD thruster
Hangar capacity: 12 mobile suits

The Baikal-class battleship has served as the standard fleet combatant for the Earth Union's space forces since the inception of that branch of the military, and is considered by many as a top-notch battleship due to its high speed, low profile, and heavy firepower. It can also field a squadron of mobile suits in an internal hangar, but the slender hull limits this overall capacity. To address the growing need for more mobile suits available to space force commanders, a new mobile suit mothership was designed.

The Colorado-class escort carrier, named after the river of the same name, fills a very specific role to boost the mobile suit capacity of Union fleets it is attached to. It is essentially two large boxes attached to a central hull, with the entire forward section given over to storage of mobile suits. The two main hangars are provided with adequate facilities to serve six mobile each, giving the Colorado twice the capacity of the Baikal. There are also ample mechanical shops and storage for spare parts and components - in an emergency, up to eighteen mobile suits could be stored by stuffing them into these maintenance areas, though under no circumstances could they be deployed for combat due to a lack of particle charging hardware and drive starters. Mobile suits are deployed on elevator-like risers through individual hatches on the sides of the ship. A small bridge is positioned in the midships area, with the crew quarters behind it. The drum-like central section is a rotating gravity block and contains additional facilities for the benefit of the ship's crewmembers as well as those of other ships in the fleet, allowing it to act as sort of a maintenance facility for the fleet's human resources as well as its mobile suits. Like the Baikal, a conventional nuclear reactor is used to drip-charge its GN drives as well as provide impulse power for the magnetoplasmadynamic thrusters - the engineering section, including the main powerplant and GN drives, is contained in the long rear hull, which can be jettisoned in the event of catastrophic damage.

As an escort carrier, the Colorado is primarily intended as a support vessel. While capable of carrying a large number of mobile suits, it is also armed with GN beam cannons in five turrets, three fore and two aft, while six laser phalanxes for close defense against enemy mobile suits and missiles are installed on the hangar containers. These armaments are expressly defensive in nature: the Colorado's armor protection is very modest, and its considerable mass and low engine power make for sluggish turning and acceleration. By design, the vessel is intended to avoid combat whenever possible - it is by and large a mothership for mobile suits and cannot withstand any kind of significant punishment.

Since the Colorado lacks a GN vernier array, and furthermore that its hull cannot support its own weight under atmospheric conditions, it is purely a weapon of the space forces. While certainly coming up short as a combatant, the Colorado is a highly efficienct and effective carrier unit. Just one attached to a patrol battle group increases the available mobile suit contingent by two thirds, granting a significant boost to combat ability without necessitating the deployment of a massive Ural-class attack carrier. Likewise, the carrier can also be deployed to assist in the recovery of damaged or particle-drained mobile suits, and can also be used in an emergency support role by retrieving mobile suits whose mothership has been sunk in combat.