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UNSC frigate

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Looking for one of the variants of the frigate: the Charon, Paris, Stalwart, or Midsummer Night class?

Template:Ship Class Infobox

Frigate (hull classification symbol FFG) is a light capital warship classification in the UNSC Navy. Although they significantly lack the amount of armor, armament, and firepower compared to its larger cousin, the UNSC destroyer, frigates are lighter and more maneuverable. They are also cheaper to produce, allowing greater numbers to be fielded against the Covenant.

Background

With current human technology, UNSC frigates are barely considered a match for even the smallest of Covenant warships. Its armor is susceptible to enemy point-defense pulse lasers and plasma torpedoes, and it is outfitted with substandard weaponry. Only en masse does the UNSC frigate give any UNSC fleet element an advantage against even inferior numbers of Covenant capital ships.

The frigate's speed and maneuvering are its advantage, however, allowing UNSC frigates to provide fire support to other UNSC fighter craft such as Sabres or Longswords and engage both multiple enemy single ship fighters, such as Banshee interceptors or Seraphs, and light enemy warships simultaneously; its speed allows it to put down fire on an enemy ship while being able to avoid a large amount of fire from largely superior Covenant weaponry.[1]

Layout

While details between the various classes of UNSC frigate vary, all share the same overall design and layout.

Bridge

The bridge of the frigate is located in the uppermost part of the ship, in the section at the stern-most tip of the MAC gun shaft. The commanding officer's chair is located behind the two primary consoles within the bridge. There also are numerous other consoles located at the sides of the room. There are four bridge stations: Navigation, Operations, Weapons, and Communications. There are universal docking rings on both sides on the bridge.[2] On top of the bridge is a maser dish for short-range communication.

Midsection

The forward midsection of the ship has numerous single ship hangar bays for Pelicans or fighter craft like Longswords on both sides. A UNSC frigate also possess 12 SOEIV bays, located in the rear of the ship, which facilitate the deployment of Orbital Drop Shock Troopers. Also, spread throughout the frigate's structure are a number of its many escape pod bays.[2]

Main hangar

Some frigate classes, namely the Charon-class, also have a large loading elevator in their rear section which is capable of extending out of the ship's ventral side to deploy vehicles or cargo directly to the ground.[3][4] The Template:UNSCship featured a large rear section which had the capacity of holding several Pelicans in addition to numerous ground vehicles. These hangar floor elevators have been seen operating in two different modes; the single-sided hinges on the elevator are able to swing down 90° in order to allow aircraft like Pelicans to drop vertically out of the hangar for quick deployment.[4] So far the frigate is the only UNSC warship that has been seen landing and deploying vehicles directly to the surface of a planet (or Halo installation in the Dawn's case).

Variants

There are multiple different variants of the UNSC frigate, each with different armament and appearance.

  • The Paris-class heavy frigate boasts additional titanium-A armor plating and a larger number of point-defense guns than standard frigates, giving it greater capabilities as a fleet support vessel. Also, the size of the main hangar on the underside of the vessel is considerably smaller than other frigate variants.
  • The Stalwart-class light frigate is best suited for planetary defense, fleet escort duties, and troop deployment. It has a smaller complement of vehicles than the Charon class, and less armament than the Paris class, effectively balancing it between troop transportation and fleet support.
  • The Charon-class light frigate has a large complement of fighters, troops, and vehicles. It is not as heavily armed or armored as other escort vessels of similar design. This implies a role as fleet support and troop carrier, although it is still capable of ship-to-ship combat.
  • The Midsummer Night-type light frigate fills a role similar to a prowler's. It is used primarily on information gathering missions and for covert ops. It is presumably not as combat capable as the other frigate variants.

Specifications

Propulsion

Like other human ships, the UNSC frigate is powered by thermonuclear fusion reactors which use deuterium (a stable hydrogen isotope) as fuel. The engines almost certainly use the energy obtained from this process to heat some form of reaction propellant which is expelled out of rear-facing exhausts to generate thrust. There are four exhausts visible on frigates; two large and two small. In addition, the frigate has two sets of forward maneuvering thrusters near the front.[2]

UNSC frigates are capable of hovering in an atmosphere and even landing. This is likely accomplished through the use of anti-gravity generators, although the technology involved has never been elaborated upon.

For interstellar voyages, the frigate carries a Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine.

Armament

The MAC barrel on a UNSC frigate.

A typical UNSC frigate carries the following armament:

  • 1 Magnetic Accelerator Cannon which is able to fire one round per charge. The MAC runs between one- and two-thirds of a Frigate's total length.
  • 3 Shiva-class nuclear missiles serve as heavy ordnance.
  • 40 Archer missile pods which carry around thirty missiles per pod, adding up to a total of 1200 missiles.
  • 4-12 50mm point defense guns function as the last line of defense against single ships and incoming missiles, with the ability to later retract into the vessel. They are used for aerial bombardment on occasion. The amount of guns possesed on each ship varies by variant of frigate.

Crew

No precise figures are available regarding the crew of a frigate, although numbers have been speculated. Like larger ships, a detachment of Marines and possibly ODSTs would be present onboard. The crew number includes deck crews as well as the command crew, Marines, ODSTs, dropship pilots, and technical personnel. The number of personnel a single frigate is capable of housing numbers at least within the thousands.[5] Since many frigates have been seen in ground support roles, it is likely that the complement of Marine and ODST personnel on board is higher in percentage than other ships that are more dedicated to space combat.

In 2552 Sergeant Major Avery Johnson was supposedly able to single-handedly control the frigate Template:UNSCship to aid SPARTAN John-117 and Arbiter Thel 'Vadam on the newly rebuilt Halo, though an auto-pilot function was available with the use of the ship's onboard navigational computer. An AI can monitor and regulate all critical functions without human intervention.

Superstructure

The armor of a frigate is relatively poor compared to that of its larger cousins and counterparts such as the UNSC destroyer, with only 60cm of titanium-A battle plate. However, due to its relatively light weight, the frigate's strength lies instead in maneuverability and speed. The frigate's relatively wide design is supported by structural support ribs, allowing it to perform orbital incursions.[2]

Known frigates

List of known frigates
Name Hull classification symbol Earliest sighting Engagements Status Notable information
Template:UNSCship FFG-307 August 2552 Fall of Reach

Battle of Earth

Operation: BLIND FAITH

Active (presumed)
UNSC Allegiance FFG-??? July 2552 Battle of Sigma Octanus IV Unknown
CMA Arabia CMA-??? 2525 Investigation of Harvest Destroyed - 2525
UNSC Commonwealth FFG-??? November 2525 Battle of Chi Ceti IV Decommissioned some time between 2525 - 2552 Dismantled at the Aszod ship breaking yards on Reach
UNSC Euphrates FFG-??? August 2552 Operation: HYPODERMIC

Fall of Reach

Destroyed (presumed) Attached with an ONI Prowler
UNSC Fair Weather FFG-??? July 2552 Battle of Sigma Octanus IV Destroyed
UNSC Forward Unto Dawn FFG-201 November 17, 2552 Battle of Earth
  • Battle of Tsavo

Operation: BLIND FAITH

Crippled
Lost in space, crashed on Requiem 		Aft section adrift in unknown region of space with Spartan-117 and Cortana aboard.
UNSC Gettysburg FFG-??? July 2552 Battle of Sigma Octanus IV

Fall of Reach
Massacre at Eridanus Secundus
Operation: FIRST STRIKE

Active (presumed) Once coupled with the Covenant carrier Ascendant Justice
UNSC Grafton FFG-318 August 12, 2552 Fall of Reach Destroyed - August 12, 2552 Heavy frigate
UNSC In Amber Clad FFG-142 April 2550 Battle of Earth

Battle of Installation 05

Battle of High Charity

Damaged - November 3, 2552
Destroyed in late 2552 		Commandeered by the Flood
UNSC Journeyman FFG-??? September 2517 Unknown Was patrolling the Eridanus system in 2517
UNSC Meriwether Lewis FFG-??? Before 2552
UNSC Midsummer Night FFG-209 2535 Battle of the Rubble Unknown Light frigate
Temporarily captured by Insurrectionists
UNSC Paris FFG-??? October 2552 Battle of Earth Unknown
Template:UNSCship FFG-??? February 13, 2526 Battle of Bliss Destroyed - 2526
UNSC Providence FFG-334
UNSC Ready or Not FFG-??? 2535
UNSC Redoubtable FFG-??? October 20, 2552 Battle of Earth Unknown
Template:UNSCship FFG-??? August 12, 2552 Fall of Reach
  • Battle of Viery
 Unknown Heavy frigate
Template:UNSCship FFG-371 August 13, 2552 Fall of Reach
  • Operation: UPPER CUT
 Destroyed - 2552 Heavy frigate
UNSC Tannenberg FFG-??? January 2531
UNSC Tripping Light FFG-??? 2547 Decommissioned and dismantled - September 4, 2547
CMA Vostok CMA-??? February 2525 Investigation of Harvest Destroyed
Unidentified UNSC frigate (Home Fleet) FFG-127 October 20, 2552 Battle of Earth Destroyed
Unidentified UNSC frigate (Non-canon) FFG-??? Unknown date Cronkee (Non-canon) Crashed

Gallery

List of appearances

Sources

  1. ^ Halo: Reach, campaign level Long Night of Solace
  2. ^ a b c d Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named art
  3. ^ Halo 2
  4. ^ a b Halo 3, campaign level The Ark
  5. ^ Halo: First Strike, page 220

External

Template:UNSC Ships

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