Public class gunboat

In the fictional Gundam universe, at the outbreak of the One Year War, the Federation navy came face to face with Zeon's mobile suit force, which were unlike any threat the fleets had faced before. The mobile suit was fast, manuverable, highly agile, and in the opening weeks of the war these mobile suits sank most of the Federation's navy. Late in the war, the Federation needed a way to rapidly increase the size of their navy, so they developed the Public class.

The Public class, simply put, is a simple space vehicle (like a shuttle) that was crudly refitted to include room for a pair of torpodeos. The idea behind these units was to get in fast, drop both weapons, then leave quickly, much like the World War II era gunboats. The class proved its value during the Battle of Solomon, when these ships deployed beam dispertion smoke, allowing the Federation's dedicated fighting vessles to close in on the forstress. The Public class was also utalized during the Battle of A Ba Au Quo, although they were less succsessful in their ploy to use beam disruption smoke.

The class was retired at the end of the One Year War.