Regarding my earlier aruments FOR Minerva's speed, I realised that I made an error. I was suppose to be depicting a space scenario yet I used data evidence based on an atmospheric situation.

Strike Freedom, I think I erred in bringing up the whole speed thing. In this battle, they won't need speed any more since they already encoutnered one another.

I think the argument should shift to MANERUVERABILITY, not speed.

Remember that both AA and Minerva suffer from a design flaw that focuses all weapons in front. Except for missle launchers and CIWS, they have pratically no weapons in the aft section nor do they have any underneath their bellies as well. So now its a battle of who can shoot each other's backside or belly.

Extrapolating Archangel's performance in atmosphere, i would like to point out the battle over the Red Sea during phase 23, or 24 of GS. The Archangel can roll over even in atmosphere in order to bring its Gottfried guns to shoot into the ocean. And in the battle of Alaska, the Archangel can dodge missle barrages in an instant.

More recently in phase 34, the Archangel dodged a near point blank range shot of Minerva's Isolde shell cannons by "Leap frogging" over the Minerva. Remember that this was when they were barely a few hundre meters fromeach other.

Minerva has not shown any of fantastic maneuvers such as the ones I cited above as far as I can remember. Well, they did dodge the positron cannon back in the desert so i guess its doesn't skimp on maneuverability. More recently in Phase 42, the Minerva always seem to be able to get behind Archangel. This may be the reason why Maryu chose to submerge the AA, where the AA can attack with impunity at the Minverva.

Now I know in space, most of the friction and difficulty in maneuvering a ship becomes different and disappear since in vacuum, there is no friction. But I'm using their atmosphere capabilities to get a gauge of their maneuverability.

One last comment about the speed comparison between Minerva and Archangel. Archangel since GS, is said to be slower than a Nazca Class Cruiser. Minerva is built to be the fastest ship in ZAFT, meaning its faster than the Nazcas. Which means it is faster than the AA unless AA does some serious upgrading. But AA's only upgrade in GSD is the submersible abilities.

Let's put in another factor into the battle: their respective Executive Officers.

Archangel: Amagi

The former EXO of Takemikazuchi who served Todaka. Almost zero is known about him but he instantly adapted from being a carrier EXO to a battlehsip (AA) EXO. He is first seen as the EXO of AA during the hunting of AA by ZAFT forces in episode 34. He demonstrated excellent knowledge of the AA abilities, using appropriate weapons and remaining cool under pressure despite being outnumbered, outgunned and moreover adopting the NO KILL policy of the AA crew.

Minerva: Arthur Trine.

First of all, I would like to note that as EXO, he hasn't really done anything wrong. He follows his orders, uses the Minerva's weapons to the best of its capabilities (as demonstrated in episode 42 where he nearly scored a shot on the AA using the Parcifal missles if not for the intervention of Mwu La Flaga) and hasn't really panicked in battle.

But for the love of God, are you all sick of his Naruto like expressions whenever something suprising happens? All the "HHHHHHHHUUUUUUUHHHHHH"!!!!! WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!! SO NA, BAKANA!!!! AAAHHHHHH!!!!! Also the guy can't think beyond his small mind, like when Asuran Zala was planning the attack on the desert stronghold. He actually dared to imply that Asuran was afraid or couldn't fly down into the caves to attack the positron cannon RIGHT IN FRONT OF EVERYBODY. What kind of idiot questions his superior officer? To the idiot, he just happens to think Asuran is a turncoat who came back and can't be trusted, and he could never really accept Asuran back into ZAFT.

None of this is relevant to the battle above, I just wanted to complain about the dickhead Arthur. In Episode 45, he also annoyed me greatly by giving the BIG EXCLAMATION when he announced minerva's mission to attackt he moon base. Oh please, you are still suprised that you are given dificult missions. Please pilot a GINN and get shot please. And I'm talking about the first GINN in Gundam Seed.