Zanzibar

One of the more versatile ships of the One Year War, the Zeon's Zanzibar heavy cruisers were some of the few ships capable of both entering and exiting Earth atmosphere on their own. Significantly more bulky than a Musai, the Zanzibar carries more weapons and a larger hangar than its smaller bretheren. Although not quite as good as the Pegasus carriers fielded by the Federation, the Zanzibar is much more cost-efficient. The main drawback is the lack of an M-Craft compressor: Like a fighter aircraft, the Zanzibar can only fly in atmosphere as long as its fuel supply lasts, while a Federal Pegasus can float about for a nearly unlimited amount of time. That aside, Zanzibars are excellent combat vessels. An optional booster can be attached to the Zanzibar's backside to enable it to reach orbit by itself, and several high-candlepower floodlamps near the Zanzibar's main cannon can temporarily blind enemy gunners when at close range. Some Federal crewmen have gone as far as to compare an airborne Zanzibar to a giant aircraft, thanks to its large atmopsheric-use wings. Sometime during the course of the war, Zeonic engineer Ghninius Sakhalin acquired a Zanzibar of his own, which he used to power his hidden base in the Tibetan plateau. Sometime later, after having discovered the base's location, Ayna Sakhalin convinced her brother to evacuate the base's staff, workers, and soldiers onboard the Zanzibar, which ultimately proved to be her undoing.