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Nanolaminate

From Halopedia, the Halo wiki

Nanolaminate plating provides both aesthetic and protective functions for Covenant technology.

Nanolaminate is a type of material used as battle plating for Covenant warships[1] and Sangheili combat harnesses.[2] Possessing a characteristic opalescent-like shine,[3] nanolaminate can range in color from purplish to white-blue or silver, while Kig-Yar vessels are generally bluish-black in color.[4] The plating is very strong and heat resistant, with the support of energy shielding allowing Covenant ships to take more damage.[5] The amount of nanolaminate plating applied to each ship depends on the class, though CSO-class supercarriers have well over thirty meters of armor plating.[6] As of 2525, nanolaminate plating has not seen use in any human construction.[7]

Characteristics

Defensive capabilities

A CPV-class destroyer collides with the Spirit of Fire, with the former vessel taking little damage.

Nanolaminate hull plating allows ships to be resilient to most UNSC weaponry. UNSC point-defense guns are not powerful enough to do significant damage to the plating,[8] Archer missiles prove to be very effective against the unshielded hull of a Covenant vessel, causing the ship to become very vulnerable following the resulting explosions of the missiles.[9] Magnetic Accelerator Cannons are often used to disable and destroy Covenant vessels after the energy shielding fails, being powerful enough to pierce the nanolaminate hull plating of most ships with a single round.[10] A single pack of C-12 shaped charges can easily puncture a large hole through the hull of a Covenant cruiser.[11] Some Covenant cruisers are capable of taking a direct hit from a mass driver at near point-blank range with only minor structural damage done to the nanolaminate plating, but a second hit in the same spot will puncture the vessel.[12]

However, Covenant weaponry is more effective against nanolaminate plating. The supercarrier Ascendant Justice, one of the most powerful vessels in the Covenant fleet, was heavily damaged by a single plasma torpedo, with several layers of the armor plating boiling away.[13]

The Sangheili continued to improve their ships' nanolaminate plating and other onboard technologies in the wake of the Human-Covenant War. Following a joint anti-piracy operation with the UNSC Navy in a Joint Occupation Zone in 2557, ONI analysis noted improvements to the hull plating of the assault carrier Shadow of Intent.[1]

Heat resilience

The nanolaminate plating is very heat resistant, allowing Covenant vessels to enter extreme atmospheres or absorb the long-range damage from human nuclear weapons. Upon entering the gas giant Threshold's atmosphere shield-less, the hull of Ascendant Justice heated to three hundred degrees Celsius, with no actual structural damage done to the ship.[5] Only when the ship reached temperatures of over seventeen hundred degrees Celsius did minor hull tearing and conduit melting occur.[14] However, at such high temperatures, the superstructure of the vessel becomes considerably softened.[15]

Trivia

The shield used by the Covenant's Mgalekgolo soldiers is made up of starship-grade nanolaminate alloy.[16]

Gallery

  • Renders of the CRS-class light cruiser, with its hull quite visible.

    Renders of the CRS-class light cruiser, with its hull quite visible.

  • Reach - Supercarrier.png

    A render of a CSO-class supercarrier, armored with over 30 meters of nanolaminate plating.

  • An RCS-class armored cruiser is destroyed after the Infinity collides with it.

    An RCS-class armored cruiser is destroyed after the Infinity collides with it.

  • The war-torn nanolaminate plating of a CCS-class battlecruiser.

    The war-torn nanolaminate plating of a CCS-class battlecruiser.

  • Covenant space fighters, like the Seraph, are armored with nanolaminate plating.

    Covenant space fighters, like the Seraph, are armored with nanolaminate plating.

  • Sangheili combat harnesses featured nanolaminate plating.

    Sangheili combat harnesses featured nanolaminate plating.

Sources

  1. ^ a b Halo Waypoint: Catalog Interaction - Page 14
  2. ^ Halo Waypoint - Community Update (07/29/16): The Finals Countdown
  3. ^ Halo: The Fall of Reach, page 119
  4. ^ Halo: Contact Harvest, page 26
  5. ^ a b Halo: First Strike, page 79
  6. ^ Halo: First Strike, page 266
  7. ^ Halo: Contact Harvest, page 176
  8. ^ Halo: The Fall of Reach, page 272
  9. ^ Halo: The Fall of Reach, page 179
  10. ^ Halo: The Fall of Reach, page 297
  11. ^ Halo: Evolutions - Essential Tales of the Halo Universe, "Blunt Instruments", page 202
  12. ^ Halo: Contact Harvest, page 342
  13. ^ Halo: First Strike, page 76
  14. ^ Halo: First Strike, page 84
  15. ^ Halo: First Strike, page 223
  16. ^ Halo Waypoint: Lekgolo
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