Prowler

You may also be looking for the Jiralhanae Prowler by a similar name.

The UNSC Prowler is a Corvette classification within the United Nations Space Command. They were used exclusively by the Office of Naval Intelligence, and were often crewed by select ONI crews.

This is most probably the UNSC equivalent of the Covenant Stealth Corvette.

Role

In a similar role to its namesake, it is used to gather electronic intelligence, and its primary role is to stay hidden while safely gathering such intelligence, not to charge into battle, as that would invariably be an irreversibly fatal tactic. Because of its tactical value and potential to change the outcome of any given combat situation, every UNSC battlegroup has at least one Prowler assigned to its ranks.

The Prowler's only combat role, beside active combat monitoring and recording, is discreetly laying minefields of stealthed nuclear HORNET mines in orbital regions. Enemy ships that unknowingly enter these minefields can be destroyed by a single Prowler, allowing the remainder of the UNSC forces to move in and finish off the survivors with MAC strikes and Archer missiles. This stratagem allowed Battle Group Stalingrad to wage a short but devastating battle against the Covenant at Onyx, destroying significantly more ships than their own number, an extremely rare outcome among UNSC-Covenant engagements.

Stealth Systems

Prowler stealth systems are extremely effective, able to conceal the ship from a variety of sensor types using a combination of ablative baffles, counter-electronic systems, Stealth Ablative Coating and Texture buffers. At least one Prowler displayed a Covenant-style active camouflage system, referred to as a "cloak." This may have been a prototype technology.

Known ships

• UNSC Apocalypso
• UNSC Applebee
• UNSC Circumference - destroyed
• UNSC Dusk
• UNSC Lark
• UNSC Point of No Return (Stealth Cruiser)
• UNSC Razor's Edge
• UNSC Tokyo Rules
• UNSC Last Gleaming (Conjecture)

Trivia

• There is a Brute land vehicle with the same name.
• Spartan Gray Team could pilot a prowler, meaning a prowler could be piloted by a crew of only three people.
• There also exists a Stealth Cruiser, the UNSC Point of No Return the size of a destroyer, which seems antithetical to the purpose and methods of stealth.
• A Prowler makes its first onscreen appearance in The Package, marking the first canonical visual appearance of this class of vessel.