Battle of Loum

## Commanders and Leaders

* Admiral McFati Tianem

Major General/Rear Admiral Kycilia Zabi* Colonel Erika Lynne

## Strength

* 118 Lepanto Class Missile Frigates
* 84 Colombus Class Cruisers
	+ 60 Assorted models of Saberfish Fighters
* 12 Chivvay II Class Heavy Cruisers
	+ 60 MS-05B Zaku II
	+ 84 MS-06 Zaku II
* 20 Chivvay Class Heavy Cruisers
	+ 160 MS-05B Zaku II
* 27 Musai-Class Early Production Light Cruisers
	+ 100 MS-05B Zaku I
	+ 62 MS-06 Zaku II
* 19 Musai-Class Light Cruisers
	+ 114 MS-06 Zaku II
* 30 Papua-Class Transport Ships
	+ 528 MS-06 Zaku II
	+ 192 Gattle Fighters
* 20 Zanzibar-Class Carriers
	+ 120 MS-06 Zaku II
* 34 Jicco-Class Assault Boats

## Casualties and Losses

* 112 Salamis-Class Destroyed
* 10 Salamis-Class Heavily Damaged
* 19 Salamis-Class moderately damaged
* 93 Lepanto-Class destroyed
* 5 Lepanto-Class heavily damaged
* 12 Lepanto-Class heavily damaged
* 5 Lepanto-Class lightly damaged
* 82 Columbus-Class destroyed
	+ 52 Saberfish destroyed
* 2 Columbus Class heavily damaged
	+ 8 Saberfish heavily damaged
* 3 Chivvay II Class Heavy Cruisers destroyed
	+ 2 MS-05B Zaku I destroyed
* 2 Musai-Class Early Production Light Cruisers destroyed
* 1 Musai-Class Light Cruisers destroyed
	+ 2 MS-06 Zaku II
* 2 Chivvay II Class Heavy Cruisers heavily damaged
* 12 Musai-Class Early Production Light Cruisers heavily damaged
* 2 Jicco-Class Assault Boats heavily damaged
* 14 Chivvay Class Cruisers moderately damaged

After the failure of Operation British, Zeon forces attacked Side 5, also known as Loum, on January 15, UC 0079. The exact goal of the Zeon forces is debated, as some sources say the fact Zeon planned another Colony drop was simply misdirection to draw the EFSF into battle, while others say it was a genuine attempt at a second colony drop, nonetheless, the operation quickly turned into a full scale fleet battle when the majority of the surviving Earth Federation Space Forces, divided into three fleets commanded by General Revil, Major General Rodney Kaningan, and Admiral Tianem counterattacked. Zeon used nuclear weapons in this battle, causing horrific loss of life not only among the combatants, but resulting in the complete destruction of Side 5 as well. The Earth Federation managed to halt the attempted colony drop and inflict significant losses on the Zeon forces but they were unable to prevent the destruction of Side 5. While the EFSF were able to evacuate a few million Side 5 inhabitants before the battle began, in the end their forces were annihilated during the battle. The Battle of Loum marked the first time that mobile suits showed their true potential in combat, proving to be terrifyingly effective against the Earth Federation fleet. General Revil was captured by the Black Quad-Stars and several other Zeon pilots (most notably Char Aznable, Shin Matsunaga, Ramba Ral, Ryan Sahalin, and Johnny Ridden) first made a name for themselves as mobile suit aces.

During the battle, a massive railgun designated the QCX-76A Jormungand was deployed. Initially not a part of the battle plan, a chance encounter between Lt. Ryan Sahalin of the Black Quad-Stars and Engineering Lieutenant Oliver May of the 603rd Technical Evaluation Unit - responsible for the Jormungand - led to Ryan providing the much needed Jormungand. The usage of the Jormungand led to devestating losses for the EFSF, as well as preserved much of Zeon's power during the battle. Nonetheless, the Jormungand and *Nereid* under the command of Rodney Kaningan destroyed each other at the conclusion of the battle, this move would become known as Kaningan's Kamikaze, and a Jormungand-Class railgun wouldn't be deployed again until the First Neo Zeon Conflict.