Paris-class heavy frigate: Difference between revisions

The '''''Paris''-class heavy frigate''' is a classification of [[UNSC frigate|fleet escort ship]] in service with the [[UNSC Navy]].{{Ref/Reuse|EVG}} The ship was introduced only two years prior to the outbreak of the [[Human-Covenant War]], but was considered extremely effective on a tonne-for-tonne basis - resulting in it rapidly becoming one of the most-constructed ships in the navy by the war's end.{{Ref/Reuse|Enc22}} The ''Paris'' saw notable employment in the final battles of the war - the [[Fall of Reach]] and the [[Battle for Earth]].{{Ref/Level|Id=Cairo|H2A|Cairo Station}}

The ''Paris'' follows a design lineage established with its forebears, the {{Class|Charon|light frigate|}} and {{Class|Stalwart|light frigate}}s. The ship is predominantly identified by the two primary booms on its fore, the upper of which containing the ships's primary 65P8V1 [[Magnetic Accelerator Cannon]] - the primary weapon of which the ship is built around. These hull booms are flanked by two horizontal modules which run a third of the ship's length, and each contain the housings and mechanisms for five of the [[M870 Rampart point defense gun|M870 Rampart]] point-defence turrets (three located on the upper hull, two below) and six [[M2950 Harpoon nuclear missile]] silos, respectively.{{Ref/Reuse|Enc22}}

''Paris''-class frigates are more heavily armed than most [[UNSC frigate]]s.{{Ref/Reuse|universe}} Like all frigates in service with the UNSC, the ''Paris''-class' primary armament is a single light{{Ref/Reuse|HFB}} 65P8V1  [[Magnetic Accelerator Cannon]]. For a secondary weapon, the frigate is also armed with twenty-six [[Archer missile|M58 Archer missile]] pods which, while ineffective against [[energy shielding]] and vulnerable to Covenant point defenses, have proven potent against enemy armor. ''Paris''-class frigates have twelve [[M870 Rampart point defense gun|M870 point defense guns]] located across the hull as a tertiary armament.{{Ref/Reuse|EVG}}{{Ref/Reuse|EVGSavannah}}{{Ref/Reuse|EVGGrafton}} The additional firepower afforded by the point-defence guns mean that it can easily handle Covenant fighter craft and can hold its own against small Covenant warships, such as the {{Pattern|Ceudar|heavy corvette}}.{{Ref/Reuse|HRLNoS}} If competently crewed and strategically used, a ''Paris'' is even capable of engaging a ship as large as a {{Pattern|Ket|battlecruiser}} alone - though this is an extremely risky strategy.{{Ref/Reuse|Enc22}}

The ''Paris''{{'}} focus on armaments over cargo capacity leaves it with a minimal capacity for carrying ground troops or [[Space fighter|strike fightercraft]], though this has mattered little for the ''Paris'' - with the frigate proving itself more than adept in facing down ostensibly superior forces in [[space warfare]]. If in the hands of a skilled crew, a ''Paris''-class is capable of taking on and winning against even a [[Covenant cruiser|Covenant battlecruiser]] through a series of strategic feints and attacks.{{Ref/Reuse|Enc22}}

*'''Gorgon specialist battlegroup:''' A large battlegroup used in the later years of the war due to the scarcity of cruisers in the fleet. The Gorgon battlegroup type pairs two ''Marathon''-class heavy cruisers, each supported by a single ''Paris''-class frigate, with two additional Trident frigate formations - for a total of eight ''Paris''-class frigates.{{Ref/Reuse|Formations}}

The ''Paris''-class heavy frigate was the third of the UNSC Navy's prominent Covenant-war era frigate classes to enter into service, first coming online in [[2523]] - two years prior to the outbreak of the war. The ''Paris'' was quick to establish itself as an extremely capable combatant on a tonne-for-tonne basis, especially when compared to [[UNSC starship|other ships]] of the UNSC Navy. As such, by the later years of the war the ''Paris'' was being constructed in huge numbers and dominated the frigate construction yards.{{Ref/Reuse|Enc22}} A ''Paris''-class frigate, {{UNSCShip|Commonwealth}}, was used in one of the [[Battle of Chi Ceti|earliest engagements]] of the war,{{Ref/Reuse|Reach12}}{{Ref/Film|TFoRAS}} though by [[2552]] had been decommissioned and brought to the [[Asźod ship breaking yards]] for final dispensation.{{Ref/Map|HR|Boneyard}} They continued to be used in multiple battles of the war, such as the [[Battle of Camber]].{{Ref/Game|H2A|Terminals (Halo 2: Anniversary)|Terminal 2}}

[[File:HR Condemned FrigateFiring.jpg|thumb|left|250px|A frigate firing its point-defences during the glassing of Reach.]]

Late in the war, vast amounts of ''Paris''-class frigates were employed throughout the [[Epsilon Eridani Fleet]], and were used to defend the [[Epsilon Eridani system]]'s various [[Human colonies|colony worlds]] during the [[Space engagements over Reach|space campaigns]] of the [[Fall of Reach]].{{Ref/Reuse|universe}} Early in the [[Reach]] campaign, frigates {{UNSCShip|Grafton}} and {{UNSCShip|Saratoga}} were used to provide fire atmospheric fire support for ground forces during the [[Battle at Szurdok Ridge]],{{Ref/Reuse|HRToTS}} with another ''Paris''-class - {{UNSCShip|Savannah}} - taking a key role during the pivotal [[Operation: UPPER CUT]]. While the [[Fleet of Valiant Prudence]] were distracted by [[Operation: LEFT JAB]] led by [[Vice Admiral]] [[Michael Stanforth]], ''Savannah''{{'}}s [[slipspace drive]] was removed from the ship and jury-rigged into an improvised bomb used to destroy the {{Pattern|Sh'wada|supercarrier}}, ''[[Long Night of Solace]]''. During the engagement, ''Savannah'' provided overwatch fire support for the [[YSS-1000 Sabre]] strikecraft, and worked to jam the communications of {{Pattern|Ceudar|heavy corvette}} ''[[Ardent Prayer]]'' - though ultimately succumbed to ''Prayer''{{'}}s [[Plasma cannon (starship)|plasma cannons]].{{Ref/Reuse|HRLNoS}} Although planet was ultimately [[Glassing|glassed]], ''Paris''-class frigates continued to operate in the Reach area of operations for several days afterward, with one such vessel continuing to engage Covenant spacecraft over the remains of [[Gamma Station]].{{Ref/Map|HR|Condemned}}

Several ''Paris''-class frigates were able to escape the Fall of Reach relatively intact. One such vessel, {{UNSCShip|Promise of Dawn}}, escaped with the [[Smart AI]] [[Gabriela]] aboard, but ultimately crash-landed on [[Sephune III]] with its crew stranded on the planet - with a signal from the ship only intercepted later in [[2553]].{{Ref/Comic|HLW}} Another ship, {{UNSCShip|Gettysburg}}, was recovered from the debris fields over Reach by [[Blue Team]] and combined with their stolen {{Pattern|Ruma|light carrier}} ''[[Ascendant Justice]]'' to form an improvised vehicle for getting back to human space.{{Ref/Novel|HFS}}{{Ref/Game|H2A|Terminals (Halo 2: Anniversary)|Terminal 15}} During the final months of the war, ''Paris''-class frigates constituted a large portion of the [[UNSC Home Fleet]], and were used to defend [[Earth]] during the opening stages of the [[Battle for Earth]].{{Ref/Reuse|Cairo}}

The [[Post-Covenant War conflicts|post-war era]] saw the introduction of a number of frigate classes to succeed the ''Paris'' - especially with the distinction between "light" and "heavy" frigates having become minimal for the remaining fleets of Earth.{{Ref/Reuse|Enc22}} The {{Class|Mulsanne|light frigate}} has been introduced to take over the ''Paris''{{'}} role in aggressive and swift frigate-scale attack, albeit armed with [[directed-energy weapon]] rather than a MAC system.{{Ref/Reuse|Mulsanne}} Late in the war, the {{Class|Strident|heavy frigate}} was introduced to take over the heavy frigate role, though these ships have yet to entirely replace the ''Paris'' design. As late as [[2556]], vessels such as {{UNSCShip|Cascadia}} were deployed on lone missions on post-glassing worlds,{{Ref/Comic|HE|Issue=17}} with numerous ''Paris''-class frigates later serving as part of [[Expeditionary Strike Group 1]] to escort the UNSC flagship {{UNSCShip|Infinity}} on its [[Battle of Requiem|first deployment]] to [[Requiem]].{{Ref/Film|FUD}}{{Ref/Marketing|H4|The Commissioning}} ''Paris''-class frigates continued to serve alongside ''Infinity'' as late as mid-[[2558]], with vessels of the class deployed to help secure the [[Station at Oth Lodon]].{{Ref/Comic|HE|Issue=6}}

The concept work for the frigate produced labels the subject spacecraft as the UNSC ''Andraste'', and provides a number of labels and notations to various features on the ship. This artwork displays a number of correlating details with the final design, though also several differences with established canon such as the presence of [[railgun]] turrets. The presence of the Harpoon missiles mentioned in the art was later canonised in the ''[[Halo Encyclopedia (2022 edition)]]'', as the [[M2950 Harpoon nuclear missile]].{{Ref/Reuse|Enc22}}

''Halo: Reach'' also retroactively confirmed the class of the {{UNSCShip|Commonwealth}}, a vessel featured in the original ''[[Halo: The Fall of Reach]]'' novel but never given a specific class. Curiously, the novel (and its [[Halo: The Fall of Reach - The Animated Series|animated adaptation]]) feature the ship deploying a squadron of [[GA-TL1 Longsword]] fighters, and indicating that the ship is storing a number more. With the model provided in-game, this would be impossible, as there are no single points on which the 60 metre wingspan Longsword is capable of fitting anywhere inside the frigate. This is an example of [https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/EarlyInstallmentWeirdness "Early Installment Weirdness"] - in which details established in an early work do not correlate with details solidified in its successors. The ''Commonwealth'' in the original novel was not written with the 2010 game's design in mind, and this this detail does not fit. The animated series does depict the Longswords launching what appears to be downward from the rear lower mast, though the visual accuracy of the series is suspect. It may be possible that in canon, the Longswords were simply externally docked to the ''Commonwealth''.

-The class' name could be a reference to the city of [[Wikipedia:Paris|Paris]], the capital of France. Alternatively, it could be named in reference to [[Wikipedia:Paris (mythology)|Paris]], a major figure of the Trojan War. In-universe, it may also be a reference to the human colony world of [[Paris IV]] or the city of [[New Paris]], on [[Mars]].

 

-According to [[Eric Nylund]]'s book [[First Strike]], a Paris-class heavy frigate has 17 [[Wikipedia:coilgun|magnetic coils]] along its MAC gun.