Designation: Rineunadou Lojmeuean class Monitor

Names and Disposition:

Note: While these gargantuan ships have been assigned Earth naval type designations, it must be stressed that the Zentraedi ships were in a class of their own and that the designations therefore reflect the assigned tasks rather than the comparative strength with human vessels of the same era. In this vein, it should be remembered that the SDF-1, called by the humans a 'Battlefortress' and representing the largest class of military vessels ever designed by humanity, was viewed by the Zentraedi as simply an up-gunned Monitor. In addition, the proper translation of the Zentraedi vessel designations into English was never completely agreed upon: for instance, some texts call the Rineunadou Lojmeuean a 'Cannon Ship'.

These ships constituted approximately 0.4% of the Zentraedi fleet just before the marshalling of the Grand Fleet by Dolza to bombard Earth. It is estimated that a total of 27,000 vessels of this class were built for the Zentraedi fleet.

Ship's Complement:

• 1800 crew and troops

Dimensions:

• Length: 1215 m
• Width: 550 m
• Height: 380 m
• Mass: 23,000,000 metric tons

Propulsion Systems: (Standard for all Zentraedi starships)

• Reaction-Mass thrusters for combat: The design board demands for the thrust and fuel supply of the Zentraedi Starships were as follows:
  • maintain 0.23g for 5 hours 6 minutes;
  • be capable of 1.1g for 38 minutes;
  and the emergency thrusters are expected to:
  • propel a Zentraedi vessel at 2.1g for 10.8 minutes.
  Although no Zentraedi class met this precisely, these standards were the minimal requirements. Most ships were at most 3% over these limits.
• Gravitic Displacement Drive for sublight travel: Local, monopolar-induced gravitic space-time distortion, powered by main protoculture reactors, accelerates vessel at 400-500 g, but the vessel's maneuverability is reduced to such a degree that only minor course corrections are possible. Typical cruising speed is .001 C. A low-power anti-gravity system provides hover capabilities.
• Space Fold: A hyperspace system that catapults the vessel through space-time. The spacefold system is used for travelling from one system to another quickly. Range: Unknown, presumably limitless. However, extreme long-distance jumps are always made in a series of smaller jumps. Unlike Tirolian and later Terran vessels, Zentraedi folds are conformal to the ship's surface.
• Planetary capabilities: All Zentraedi starships can enter and leave a planetary atmosphere. The Monitor can make planetfall without many problems. A good alternative for any Starship is an oceanic touch-down, since the vessels will float.

Endurance and mobility limits:

• Range: Effectively limitless through fold and sublight drive systems. Protoculture reactors will function for 60-100 years, depending on the individual system's design age and the level of use it gets.

Weapon Systems:

• Reflex Cannon: An incredibly destructive particle beam with a range of over 300,000 km, mounted only on Flagships and Monitors. It is fired by aligning the horizonal axis of the ship with the target, after which the ship opens up into two sections. It is between these two sections that the beam generation takes place. This weapon cannot be fired more than once every two or three minutes. The effects of this weapon against planets are equal to the heat and blast effects of the detonation of a fusion weapon of 16 megatons, if fired at full power. Note that during the Zentraedi Holocaust energy levels in the Zentraedi Grand Fleet were so low that the blast effect seldom exceeded 15 megatons, and more often reached a peak of 7.5 megatons.
  At full power, an entire county can be leveled with one hit (the center disappearing in a crater) and there are only slightly less destructive effects on the surroundings.
  If utilized against starships, the largest vessels can be destroyed with one salvo. The weapon can also be set to a wider dispersal. While not nearly as effective as a tight beam against warships, it is capable of clearing a wide area of fighters and other mecha.
  While the power of the beam and the affected area varies with size of the firing ship (Flagships being superior in this), the intensity is quite constant, and there is no tactical difference between the larger and smaller weapons of this type. The Tirolian mini-reflex cannon was never mounted on Zentraedi vessels, only on their own ships and later on REF vessels.
  Image of monitors firing on Earth.
• 30 Particle Beam Turrets: All Zentraedi Starships mount large numbers of these powerful multi-purpose weapons. They have the same range as the main guns, and are designed to suppress attacking spacecraft in support of the larger cannons and to provide orbital fire support for ground forces, something that the larger cannons are unsuited for. They deliver 1000 MJ of particle energy and can fire every three seconds at maximum intensity.
• 20 Torpedo Tubes: Each Zentraedi warship mounts two different missile systems. The larger of these missiles is the anti-ship torpedo, which is noticably different from the anti-mecha missile. The launch installation for these missiles is a Reloadable Silo Launch System (RSLS), or as it is better known, a torpedo tube. Zentraedi starships mostly carry these tubes forward, often with a large concentration in the black groove between the two halves of the ship's armor (if built in this way). The tubes can reload in ten seconds, and have a large magazine available. Two separate types of missile are available: the Type 1 Sniper, a rather fat-looking design with multiple sensor heads, and the more elongated Type 2 Scrapper, which carries a similar payload but less electronics while also having a superior acceleration and delta-v capacity compared with the Type 1. Both missiles come with either a powerful plasma warhead or a 280 kiloton tactical fusion device, similar to the "Angel of Death" cruise missiles of the RDF/REF. Both missiles are optimized for deep space, but can be used in an atmosphere.
• 30 Missile Turrets: These turrets serve as the primary anti-mecha weapons of the ships. They can fire a 320 km range (in an atmosphere) high explosive or multi-warhead anti-mecha missiles ten times every minute.

  NOTE: Zentraedi starships mounted a large percentage of their armament forward, for maximum attack capability. Other areas of the ships mounted correspondingly less weapon systems.

Special Equipment of Note:

• Hyperspace communications
• Long-range laser and satellite relay communications
• Long-range radar
• Cloning chambers
• Radar and communication dampeners
• Electronic warfare devices.

Mecha/Air Group Complement:

• approx. 700 mecha
• 2 Shuttle craft.

Design Notes:

The ultimate in Tirolian firepower was the Reflex Cannon. This cannon, which could destroy entire cities or small flotillas with one shot, was not easily constructed, as well as being a weapon with major political impact. In the first centuries of the Tirolian Mercantile Empire, the Reflex Cannon was therefore reserved for the Tirolian Masters themselves and the most reliable Zentraedi. This meant that the cannons were only installed in Motherships and Flagships. However, as the Empire's enemies, the Invid and the Disciples of Zor, began increasingly to press economically and militarally upon the fringes and core of the empire, there emerged a need for additional Reflex Cannons. The construction of thousands of surplus Flagships and Motherships would however have been uneconomical, so a smaller cannon platform was needed. These platforms would be stationed in fleets near the Empire's most important systems and installations (like Tirol and Dolza's base) were they would be under firm political control, and also highly visible to would-be rebels. This would also preclude the misuse of Reflex Cannons by Zentraedi commanders such as Khyron, who would, had he been issued a Reflex Cannon, most likely have fired it at his superiors, at tardy troops, allies, and occasionally at the enemy.

The Monitor, or Cannon Ship as it was also known, was designed to these exacting specifications. Although it was as mobile as any other Zentraedi vessel, it was designed to be the smallest, most economical, and still technically feasible platform for a Zentraedi-manned Reflex cannon, and as a consequence the Monitor carried little in the way of secondary batteries or mecha. Physically, the Monitors were made from the two booms of the Reflex cannon, with the reaction engines added to the back. Two armor flanges stood out at about 60 degrees upward from the engines, giving the impression of short and stubby wings. The two main reaction engines were positioned vertically (above one another), with the two nozzles of the auxiliary engines to the sides of these, burried in the roots of the 'wings'. The total impression was that of a flying Reflex Cannon, which was of course the correct one. This vessel was often mistaken for a Strike Cruiser's bow section or a Cruiser by the untrained eye.

The Monitors were built and deployed as was planned. Occasionally, they were to be marshalled into bombardment fleets, and sent out to support a large offensive against the Invid or the DoZ, or to raze an entire planet's surface, if such a demonstration was necessary in the eyes of the Masters. Later, near the end of the Tirolian Empire, the Monitors, as all Tirolian vessels, suffered from protoculture depletion. Dolza incorporated all operational Monitors into the Zentraedi Grand Fleet, and they folded with him to Earth. Fortunately, energy depletion was so progressive at this point that most Monitors could fire their Cannons only at reduced power, or the Earth would not have survived the Holocaust at all. After the initial salvo, Breetai's Imperial Fleet and the SDF-1 jammed the communication channels with Minmei's singing, and thus the Monitors were deprived of the capability to concentrate their fire. This forced the vessels to enter the battle on their own initiative. Most Monitors were lost in that battle, a few however survived and made their way to the Earth's surface. One such vessel was subsequently taken over by Khyron after his own ship failed completely and then used to attack Macross city and the Battlefortress. As is known, all participating ships as well as the city were destroyed in that battle.

Khyron's commandeered vessel was one of 27,000 Monitors built.

See additional design notes.

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Copyright © 1997, 1996, 1995 Robert Morgenstern, Peter Walker, Pieter Thomassen
Last Updated: Friday, February 27, 1998 11:38 AM