Able-class heavy destroyer

Heavy destroyer
Class attributes
Operators:	UNSC Navy
In service:	Prior to 2499 - at least around 2535
General characteristics Type: Heavy destroyer Power plant: 2 fusion reactors (1 primary, 1 secondary) Slipspace drive: Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine Crew: 1 artificial intelligence Armaments: Magnetic Accelerator Cannon At least 8 Archer missile silos M810 Helix point defense guns Air wing: At least seven Pelican dropships

This unnamed heavy destroyer is a classification of heavy destroyer

Overview

Design details

The heavy destroyer's bridge is designed with a raised platform in the centre, housing a padded chair for the ship's captain to sit in. The bridge crew stations surround this platform. The ship is capable of supporting an on-board artificial intelligence.

Armaments

The unnamed heavy destroyer class stocks at least eight Archer missile silos, alongside a complement of Helix point-defence guns for close-in defence. Perhaps the most notable feature on the ship is the introduction of the Magnetic Accelerator Cannon: while various classes of carrier had carried shipborne MACs since at least the 2470s, with cruisers and corvettes employing them at least by the 2490s, these ships were the first heavy destroyers to begin employing the weapons. UNSC Gorgon became the first heavy destroyer to mount a MAC system during the 2490s, with the CMA Navy counterpart Hillsborough-class heavy destroyers later coming in 2499.

The MAC on the Gorgon had an extremely limited ammunition pool, when compared to later vessels. The Gorgon's cannon was only capable of stocking and firing three MAC shells, possibly indicating the MAC to be an "outrigger" MAC system similar to those found on the Diligence-class light destroyer refits.

Ships of the line

• UNSC Gorgon

Operational history

Insurrection

These heavy destroyers entered service some time prior to 2499, and became the first heavy destroyer classification to be equipped with a Magnetic Accelerator Cannon - beginning with UNSC Gorgon, captained by Captain Preston Cole. Cole took up captainship of the Gorgon in around 2499, after five years of captaining a corvette following the Callisto Incident in 2494. While commanding the vessel, Cole led a mostly-successful counterinsurgency campaign against the Insurrection, with the notable exception of the Bellicose - a stolen UNSC frigate which came into conflict with the Gorgon and was able to escape numerous times. By 2503, Cole was removed from command of the Gorgon due to the unveiling of his relationship with Lyrenne Castilla - an Insurrectionist leader and captain of the Bellicose who had used her relationship with the Captain to feed information to the rebellion, including details on the Gorgon's MAC. On January 2, 2504, Battle Group Tango, comprised of four heavy destroyers, were believed to successfully hunt down and destroy the Bellicose - albeit at the cost of heavy damage to two vessels of the battle group.

Human-Covenant War

Ships of the heavy destroyer class remained active well into the Human-Covenant War. The Gorgon was one of many vessels retained under the command of now-Vice Admiral Cole following his victory in the Harvest campaign in 2531. For at least five years throughout the 2530s, the Gorgon accompanied Cole's fleet during the Massacre of the Outer Colonies successfully.

List of appearances

• Halo: The Fall of Reach (Indirect mention) (Definitive Edition)
• Halo: Evolutions - Essential Tales of the Halo Universe
  • The Impossible Life and the Possible Death of Preston J. Cole (First appearance)