United Nations Pacific Fleet

This page contains information on the United Nations Pacific Fleet as depicted in the original Neon Genesis Evangelion. For information on the actual warships depicted, see Warships in Evangelion.

Over the Rainbow and Eva-02 getting into trouble

The United Nations Pacific Fleet is seen escorting Eva-02 (And secretly transporting the Adam embryo as well) from Sasebo to New Yokosuka in Episode 08, where it suffers severe losses during the attack of the Sixth Angel, Gaghiel.

While real-world United Nations forces are actually under the control of their member nations and not directly under the U.N., it is not clear if this is the case in Neon Genesis Evangelion post-Second Impact. Although the warships of the Pacific Fleet are referred to by the countries that built them, as evidenced in Episode 14, the Fleet as a whole appears to be in the command of the U.N. itself. The Commanding Officer of the aircraft carrier Over the Rainbow refers to the fleet as the "U.N. Navy".

The combined United Nations Pacific Fleet contains vessels from both Western bloc and Eastern bloc nations, including four American Iowa-class battleships, at least one Kirov-class battlecruiser, an Admiral Kuznetsov-class aircraft carrier and multiple Nimitz-class aircraft carriers. Smaller vessels include Oliver Hazard Perry class Frigates and Alreigh Burke/Kongo class guided missile destroyers. Although some vessels carry their old names (Kirov is unusual in retaining its Soviet name, considering it had been renamed Admiral Ushakov after the fall of the Soviet Union), most have been renamed, such as the Over the Rainbow itself (Formerly USS Harry S. Truman-see notes) and several other ships named after Shakespeare's plays.

Over the Rainbow

Over the Rainbow is a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, "pride of the United Nations Forces". It served as the command ship for the massive naval convoy formed from the UN Pacific Fleet which escorted Evangelion Unit-02 as it was being transported from Germany to Japan in Episode 08. According to Kensuke, it was built before Second Impact in 2000. The carrier serves as the power supply for Eva-02 in the episode and, to the dismay of its Captain, briefly as a battleground as well.

Notes

• The warships in the United Nations Pacific fleet that form the naval convoy escorting Unit 02 are all codenamed after plays by William Shakespeare, such as Titus Andronicus, Othello, Cymbeline (destroyed by Gaghiel), and The Tempest. The nuclear-powered aircraft serving as a command ship, however, is named "Over the Rainbow" (and implied to actually be USS Harry S. Truman, renamed after Second Impact). The fleet consisted of 5 aircraft carriers and 4 battleships, plus other smaller vessels. Judging from markings on its interior, Othello, which Eva Unit 02 was transported on, was a vessel from the Russian navy.
  • The computer display of the UN Pacific Fleet designates the aircraft carrier as "CVN 075 Over the Rainbow". "CVN-75" is the real world designation of the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman, and thus it would appear that in the timeline of Neon Genesis Evangelion, when the militaries of the world's nations were placed under the unified command of the United Nations after Second Impact, USS Harry S. Truman was incorporated into the United Nation's fleet as their flagship and renamed "Over the Rainbow". Harry S. Truman was actually the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier under construction from November 1993 through September 1996, while Neon Genesis Evangelion was being produced. Kensuke describes Over the Rainbow as "the pride of the United Nations forces", so it is possible that no later i.e. more advanced aircraft carriers were built after Second Impact occurred in 2000, due to the resulting global economic shortfalls, etc. Harry S. Truman was indeed the last Nimitz-class aircraft carrier completed before 2000; the following ship in the line, USS Ronald Reagan, was not completed until after 2000.
    • Over the Rainbow is, of course, a reference to the song from The Wizard of Oz. In addition, in episode 133 of Urusei Yatsura, "Operation Over the Rainbow" is launched from a secret underground base belonging to a character named Asuka Mizunokouji. NGE's association of Asuka with a ship of this name is in all probability a reference.

• The two battleships in the UN escort fleet which Misato sacrifices to destroy Gaghiel are the Iowa-class battleships Illinois (BB-65) and Kentucky (BB-66), which were never actually completed in real life: both were only partially completed when following the end of World War II their construction was canceled (in 1945 and 1947, respectively) and they were subsequently scrapped. In the timeline of Neon Genesis Evangelion, they were apparently not scrapped, but finished (possibly as part of President Reagan's "600 ship navy" initiative to bolster the US navy in the 1980's) and upgraded with modern military technology (as fellow Iowa-cass battleships Missouri and Wisconsin were also upgraded over the years).

• More than once, the vessels of the UN Fleet are far closer together than is normal in an actual military operation. Typically, carrier battlegroups have carriers and battleships at the center, cruisers and destroyers forming an inner ring, and other destroyers and frigates forming an outer ring. Carrier forces are always shadowed by attack submarines, of which none are known to be in the formation depicted.