The One Year War provided an opportunity to drastically change the structure and operation of ships. As new weapons called mobile suits became the lead on the battlefield, warships needed to have operational capabilities as motherships for mobile suits. However, the Earth Federation Forces was unable to escape their big guns on battleships philosophy and the Birmingham-class, a new ship under the Federation Forces Reconstruction Plan after the One Year War, lacked mobile suit operational capabilities.

Although some ships like the Pegasus-class were built on the premise of mobile suit operations, they couldn’t be the main force and as such upgrades to the Salamis which proved capable for mobile suit operations would be the mainstay for a long time. After the Gryps War and First Neo Zeon war, construction finally began on spacecraft designed for operating mobile suits. In the early U.C.0090s, the Cailum-class and Clop-class were deployed in combat as replacements for the Salamis-class.

The Cailum-class and Clop-class are two ships that were at the forefront of the Second Neo Zeon War. The Ra Cailum, the first ship of the Cailum-class, became the flagship for the Earth Federation Forces auxiliary organization called Londo Bell and following the first ship of the Clop-class the Clop, the Ra Chutter, Ra Zyme and Ra Kiem were introduced. The ship is a scaled down version of the Cailum-class and the design concept for the weaponry and equipment are based on the Ra Calium.

Even before Char’s Rebellion, other ships were in active duty for Londo Bell. Early in Londo Bell’s formation, in U.C.0091, the Ra Gills is in pursuit of Neo Zeon who are transporting Mineva Lao Zabi. The ship carries several RGM-86R GM III and the MSZ-010A1 Theta Plus as part of its defense forces.

In U.C.0093, during the disarmament of the Neo Zeon Forces, the first ship of the Clop-class, the Clop, is heavily damaged. The bridge is destroyed and the main crew along with Vice Minister Adenauer Paraya are killed. The ship manages to limp back to the Ra Cailum and the others. In the final battle over Axis, the Ra Chutter is sunk acting as a shield for the Ra Cailum. Depending on the setting material, the Ra Caym and Ra Guillem are confirmed, but the script says Ra Kiem. In the novel Beltorchika’s Children, all ships accompanying the Ra Cailum are depicted as being sunk with the Ra Elm being the last one shot down following the Ra Zyme (which acted as a shield instead of the Ra Chutter).

The Ra Zyme also appears in the novel Hi-Streamer. Amuro Ray is on board before transferring over to the Ra Cailum. As a result of the ship entering into Sweetwater and engaging in battle with the anti-Federation sect EGUM, it causes a scandal and takes a toll on the citizens there. This version of the Clop (depicted further down) is vastly different from the original model due to the illustration by Yoshinori Hoshino.

U.C.0094.06.15. Two Federation Forces Clop-class cruisers, the Unkai and Ra Dels, came under attack by Neo Zeon Forces during a transport mission and the cargo they were transporting, the Sinanju Stein, was seized. Both ships were shot down by one mobile suit and nearly all of the 400+ crew members perished. The incident is regarded as the greatest armed conflict with the Neo Zeon that occurred following Char’s Rebellion.

In April U.C.0096, the Carrot is in pursuit of the Garancieres as it heads for Industrial 7 and suffers its first loss to the Sleeves. On U.C.0096.05.08, at 12:15 the Carrot (now a part of the 16th Task Force 3rd Group) and Tenenbaum are destroyed by Full Frontal in the Sinanju while pursuing the Garanceries.

SCC-180926 (Ra-Gills)

Lieutenant Commander Macias Testa (Ra Zyme)
Lieutenant Commander Macias Testa (Ra Caym)
Lieutenant Commander Macias Testa (Ra Zyme)
Lieutenant Commander Macias Testa (Ra Chutter)
Blanco Ducola (Calfa)
Lauro Batik (Ra Gills)

While the antenna has gone from two to a single one, the bridge section is the same as the Cailum-class. The standard bridge, escape pods, as well as the combat bridge are all the same as well.

While the Clop-class is only equipped with two sets of mega particle cannons, they’re the same type as those on the Cailum-class.

The Clop-class has a total of fourteen anti-air machine gun turrets across the craft. Two twin-barrel anti-air machine guns are position on either side of the bridge and six single barrel guns are positioned along either side of the hull.

The Clop-class lacks the mega particle cannons positioned behind the bridge and for that, an 8-tube missile launcher is installed. There is a second one positioned between the engine blocks. They’re capable of carrying the standard missile, a short missile and even a nuclear missile as depicted above. The same missiles are also utilized in the six tubes located in the bow of the ship.

Shown above is the schematics for the missile launches from both the Cailum-class and Clop-class.