Tenzan

Unit type: land battleship
Manufacturer: Atlantic Federation
Dimensions: length 187 meters, height 53 meters, width 85 meters
Armament: 2-barrel 280mm cannon; 3 x 2-barrel antiaircraft machine gun, 1 port, 1 midships, 1 starboard
Powerplant: 2 x gas turbine, output rated at 34000 kW each
Performance: maximum speed 160 km/h
Propulsion: air cushion
Hangar capacity: 12 mobile suits

Land battleships formed the core of the Atlantic Federation's ground forces, essentially acting as mobile bases (and seats of authority) in the Federation's extremely far-flung territories. This arrangement was just as much a political as tactical arrangement, as the presence of a Federation officer trusted to uphold the orders of the Supreme Command on each vessel would ensure the crew's continued loyalty.

The Tenzan is easily the most common of these designs, possessing a good mixture of mobility, firepower, and mobile suit capacity. As with most Federation land battleship designs, the Tenzan is propelled via a pair of air cushions positioned fore and aft, allowing it to chug along flat ground at a very high speed for a vessel of its size, as well as cross bodies of water at a somewhat reduced pace. Thanks to the efficient shape of the hull, theTenzan can also float if it should ever lose power while making an aquatic trip. Most of the battleship's hull is given over to a large hangar capable of housing a dozen mobile suits, which are deployed via a hatch on the port side or a deck elevator in the center. Turreted artillery is positioned at the fore end of the battleship's "island", while antiaircraft machine guns are placed around the midships area. The Tenzan's fairly light armament is primarily intended for defensive purposes or to support its mobile suits, rather than for direct bombardment.

Many Tenzan-class ships were destroyed by invading ZAFT forces and, later, Guild renegades, but plenty were still in service at the time of the Atlantic Federation's dissolution. Most of these squadrons ended up joining a variety of remnant forces, such as the Al-Ghazi Brigade, while others "went into business for themselves" (read: became pirates or mercenaries), using their land battleships as self-propelled home bases for scavenging and raiding operations. While no new Tenzans have been built in at least thirty years, the design is likely to see action on Earth for at least that long again.