Dai-Gunten

A fortress-type Gunmen, the flying Dai-Gunten (ダイガンテン, Daiganten) is Cytomander's flagship.

Appearance
The Dai-Gunten is a giant airship aesthetically resembling an aircraft carrier with four runways - two long ones and two shorter ones on the side. The long runways flank the bridge, designed in the shape of a maniacal face. Two massive missiles can be seen under the long runways.

Armaments and capacities
The Dai-Gunten uses a pair of levia-spheres to remain afloat. Being a very heavy aircraft, it is not very manoeuverable.

The craft's primary function is to act as a carrier for smaller Gunmen aerial fighters and bombers. However, the Dai-Gunten itself is also equipped with bombs (against ground targets) and homing rockets (against aerial attackers). As a desperation move, the carrier can also fire its two gigantic homing missiles for devastating damage, though it seems their effectiveness against smaller targets is limited.

Role in the show
The Dai-Gunten made its debut during Cytomander's campaign against the Dai-Gurren. As the battle wore on, Simon and Yoko in Gurren-Lagann found their way deep below its decks, where they clashed with Viral's Enkidu and ended up dealing severe internal damage to the ship. Having lost altitude in the process, the Dai-Gunten was eventually damaged by a series of powerful kicks delivered by the Dai-Gurren, which had launched itself into the air using a cliff face. In the process, Team Dai-Gurren managed to snatch one of the enemy airship's two Levia-Spheres for themselves, and used it to safely float back to the ground, while the Dai-Gunten managed to retreat using the remaining one.

A month after the first confrontation, the Dai-Gunten returned in the following episode along Guame's flagship, the Dai-Gundo, as Teppelin's last line of defence against Team Dai-Gurren's invasion. Its forces managed to trap the Gurren-Lagann, after the rest of the Dai-Gurren's gunman forces were forced to retreat and protect it against Guame's offensive, and when the Shuzack was about to finish it, Simon and Rossiu were saved by some unexpected allies who entered the battlefield to aid them. In the end, the Dai-Gunten is destroyed by getting impaled by the flying Dai-Gurren, along with its commander. Pieces of its wreckage fell on the Dai-Gundo, provoking a massive explosion, but was unable to damage the heavily armored flagship.

Trivia

 * Dai-Gunten's design is based on aircraft carriers. This is also refrenced in the show as numerous Gunmen use it as a hanger.
 * The ten in the name can be translated to "sky" or "heaven", referring to it being an aerial unit.
 * The Beastmen that operate the flagship are avian-based creatures, going along with the ship's theme.