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Identification: |
UNSC Three-letter code: CPV[1][2] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Sinaris-pattern heavy destroyer[3] (UNSC three-letter classification: CPV-class heavy destroyer) is one of several destroyer-type warships used by the Covenant and its remnants.[1][7]
Overview
Design details
The Sinaris-pattern heavy destroyer features a roughly teardrop-shaped fore section that droops downward, forming a bulbous protrusion housing the excavation beam; the dorsal surface of this section contains a recessed area known as "the Furnace," a pinch-fusion reactor that powers the beam during operation.[2] Near the aft, the hull splits into six sleek, wing-like structures, with at least two engines mounted on the junction point. The shortest pair face outward at a slightly upward angle, the mid-sized structures curve upward at an inward-facing angle, and the largest structures curve downward, also facing inward; these two house a single reactor each. Like all Covenant vessels, the hull is made of a lightweight but resilient diamondoid and metal-matrix composite frame covered in a thin layer of nanolaminate laid during the construction process by clouds of programmable nanomachines.[2]
Crew and complement
For normal operations, the Sinaris requires a total of 406 personnel. This includes four Superiors who command the vessel, along with four hundred Menials who man the ship's general systems. Two Huragok are provided for general maintenance duties. Service aboard these ships was frowned upon thanks to the destroyer's single-minded focus on combat and destruction, and as such their disgraced crews are generally considered unstable or unsuitable for other Ministry fleets. Even the shipmasters had their reputation tarnished by disloyalty or disobedience, and have few other ways to return to the rolls of honor.[2]
Sinaris-pattern heavy destroyers carry large complements for ground engagements, including numerous infantry and ground vehicles. They also carry a large number of aircraft, including Seraph exoatmospheric fighters and Banshee attack craft, and Vampire atmospheric fighters.[4] These are supported by 50 Obedientaries; warriors who have started down the path to command and must experience every facet of war. 100 Warriors and 1,900 Thralls support or operate the destroyer's fleet of vehicles and aircraft.[2]
Armament
As an executioner, the Sinaris-pattern heavy destroyer is built for heavy combat. Its main weapon is a ventral-mounted Infernus-pattern superheavy excavation beam (the same model as that found on the Kerel-pattern and Syfon-pattern assault carriers) which is often used in glassing operations.[1][8][9][10] Powered directly by the ship's forward pinch fusion reactor, the Infernus exhibits the same power as the excavation beams on assault carriers.[2] Their focusing arrays allow for a similar level of precision,[2] with the operators of the beam capable of tuning its entwining magnetic fields and plasma to burn sigils into the surface of human colonies or carefully expose detected Forerunner reliquaries.[7]
In planetside attack operations, this is supported by forty Carnax Et-pattern plasma bombardment mortars, with five mounted on either side of the central reactor. As the mortars are occasionally called to attack areas that have Covenant troops operating in them, the gunners are expected to obey all orders without question or mercy. For ship-to-ship combat, two Aljordan-pattern plasma beam emitters are fitted. The destroyer also sports twenty-four Melusean-pattern plasma cannons: two of these weapons are mounted on the vessel's anterior,[1] two more are mounted on the inside of each ventral wing structure,[11] and at least two more are mounted laterally.[2][11] An additional six Jaet-pattern plasma torpedo silos[2] are fitted laterally,[4] which fire powerful guided munitions which are difficult to avoid and can even loop back and hit their targets if they miss. Twenty Gon-pattern pulse laser turrets are carried for destroying incoming fighters and missiles, although their sheer heat allows for a minimal role in ship-to-ship combat.[2][3]
Despite its much larger size and different fleet role, the Sinaris is noted as carrying an identical armaments loadout to the smaller Wik-pattern light destroyer.[6]
Usage
The Sinaris-pattern heavy destroyer was the predominant offensive ship of the Covenant's now-defunct naval forces, used primarily for ship-to-ship warfare and glassing operations. These destroyers are deployed aggressively, often being the first ships in a fleet to engage the enemy.[1] They were used to crush enemy resistance and as part of the Covenant's "scorched earth" policy of glassing hostile worlds - in contrast to the lighter Wik destroyers used for escort and scouting duties.[6]
Within the Covenant's naval schema, Sinaris-pattern ships are considered part of the executioner category of naval vessels. While extraordinarily powerful ships in their own right, their existence was deemed too dangerous to High Charity to be constructed in large numbers in peacetime. As such, at the onset of the Human-Covenant War, these ships numbered relatively few in number. The concept of a vessel like the Sinaris - one with no other purpose but warfare - was considered distasteful to the Hierarchs and kept at arms-length from High Charity. As such, those heavy destroyers that served in the forces of the various ministries were largely assigned to crews deemed unfit for service aboard other ships, who had been condemned for disloyalty or disobedience, but whose actions did not warrant execution as heretics. These individuals hoped to earn redemption through service for themselves and their families and were given little other opportunity to redeem their failings.[2][3]
Most glassing operations were undertaken by heavy destroyers, as the work was considered distasteful or suicidal by other shipmasters, and human colonies attacked by the Covenant are littered with the wreckage of Sinaris-pattern heavy destroyers eliminated by the UNSC Navy during these engagements. Heavy destroyers were also assigned to combat human forces that a Supreme Commander considered beneath his notice.[7] Even escorting Zanar-pattern light cruisers were unenthusiastic about protecting their assigned ships, and could never be counted on to do more than their basic defensive tasks.[2]
Late in the Human-Covenant War, the crews of heavy destroyers had developed a kind of mercenary culture of their own, with many shipmasters offering their services to various ministries to secure artifacts and relics from conquered human worlds, working alongside or in opposition to artifact retrieval teams.[7] This mercenary adapted into the postwar era with surviving Sinaris crews offering themselves to remnant warlords as mercenary crews, enacting violence upon the targets of their commanders.[3]
Heavy destroyers are sufficiently equipped to serve as occupation vessels during planetary assaults, in lieu of the more occupation-centered Ket-pattern battlecruiser and Kerel-pattern assault carrier.[1]
Ships of the line
Operational history
Human-Covenant War
After the Covenant cruiser Rapid Conversion began destroying Harvest's population centers in February 2525, many Sinaris-pattern heavy destroyers were deployed to continue glassing the planet.[8][17] Sinaris-pattern heavy destroyers were deployed throughout the Harvest campaign, which lasted from 2526 to 2531. During the Covenant's counterattacks in the early years of the campaign, these destroyers were used to glass areas that had been secured by the United Nations Space Command, eradicating most of the human presence on Harvest; this cycle continued until the planet's liberation in February 2531.[8]
Near the end of the Battle for Arcadia, several Sinaris-pattern heavy destroyers arrived to do battle with the counterattacking UNSC forces, of which at least five were present. During this engagement, then-Captain Terrence Hood confronted at least one of these destroyers in a direct attack and was ultimately forced to retreat after finding himself outgunned. Around this time, UNSC Spirit of Fire pursued a Covenant ship to a mysterious planet, which was later revealed to be a Forerunner shield world.[18] A destroyer, Proclamation's Tithe, was present at the shield world; there it engaged Spirit of Fire after a midair collision between the two ships. The destroyer dispatched several large boarding parties, supported by Banshees, Vampires, and plasma turret fire, in an effort to disable the human vessel, though the attack was repelled.[19] UNSC Battle Group Sierra-3 was nearly destroyed by a Sinaris-pattern destroyer at the Battle of 18 Scorpii in 2543, but were saved by the sudden arrival of, and subsequent assistance by, a large independent fleet led by the heavily modified, formerly assumed-destroyed Insurrectionist frigate Bellicose. With the help of the Insurrectionist reinforcements, the UNSC battle group was able to destroy the opposing Covenant vessel.[20]
Sinaris-pattern heavy destroyers also appeared in large numbers during the Battle of Sigma Octanus IV and the Fall of Reach in 2552.[21]
Post-war
In January 2557, Rion Forge, captain of the salvage ship Ace of Spades, learned about the Halcyon-class light cruiser UNSC Roman Blue's encounter with the Radiant Perception during the Battle for Arcadia from logs recovered from the Roman Blue's wreck. To her great interest, Rion discovered that Radiant Perception had recovered the Spirit of Fire' log buoy and started a search for the destroyer which was discovered to have crashed on Laconia during the Battle for Arcadia. From the wreckage, Rion and her crew recovered the Spirit of Fire's long-lost log buoy which led them to the Etran Harborage debris field in their search for the missing ship.[22]
After the Human-Covenant War, Sinaris-pattern heavy destroyers were used by forces under the command of both Arbiter Thel 'Vadam and Jiralhanae Chieftain Lydus during the Battle of Ealen IV.[23]
During the Carrow Conflict in September 2558, both Rojka 'Kasaan and Thars 'Sarov had heavy destroyers in their fleets. Rojka's forces managed to destroy both of Thars' heavy destroyers along with four light destroyers and a frigate, but a Jiralhanae faction led by Hekabe joined the fight. Hekabe's fleet, made up of two heavy destroyers and two Varric-pattern heavy cruisers, was equipped with extra armor to make them more resilent so they could take greater damage while firing back upon their enemies.[24] Hekabe's forces helped Thars overpower Rojka's fleet, destroying all of his ships aside from the Unwavering Discipline which crashed on Carrow. Hekabe, who was in fact after the Sharquoi hive on the planet, subsequently turned on Thars, resulting in the destruction of most of Thars' ships and all but Hekabe's flagship, the heavy cruiser Foebane.[25]
Halo: Fleet Battles
Covenant CPV Heavy DestroyerThis element includes a single CPV-class heavy destroyer.
Covenant Supported CPV Heavy DestroyerThis element includes a CPV-class heavy destroyer and one SDV-class heavy corvette.
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Covenant Escorted CPV Heavy DestroyerThis element includes a CPV-class heavy destroyer and one ADP-class escort.
Covenant Defended CPV Heavy DestroyerThis element includes a CPV-class heavy destroyer and two ADP-class escorts.
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Special Rule: Penitents
- Security Details on this Element are considered to have the Assault Specialist (1) Loadout.
Production notes
The CPV-class destroyer was first mentioned in Transmissions - a series of cryptic logs connected to the Cortana Letters in Halo: Combat Evolved's prerelease marketing. These letters were also the source for several other Covenant ship designations including the CCS-class battlecruiser and CAR-class frigate.[12] The vessel was first formally referenced in canon material in the 2009 and 2011 editions of the Halo Encyclopedia, which carried over the CPV designation for the vessels Esteem and Reverence without change.[4][5] This would be continued with the ship's direct namedrop in later 2009's Halo: Evolutions short story The Impossible Life and the Possible Death of Preston J. Cole.[20]
The vessel's visual design was created by Blur Studio's concept artist Sean Mcnally for the cutscenes in Halo Wars.[26] In that game, the destroyer takes a front-and-centre role in the opening "Five Long Years" trailer and cutscene, shown glassing Harvest and later colliding with Spirit of Fire in a climactic sequence in the campaign. The collision with Spirit of Fire was originally intended as the basis for a now-cut level in which the player would take the fight to the destroyer and board it with their army. In the final game, only the levels taking place aboard Spirit of Fire's hull remain.
The Halo Wars visual design would not be formally connected to the CPV destroyer designation until 2011's Halo: The Essential Visual Guide.[1] The 2009 Encyclopedia feature on the ship only referred to it as a "Covenant destroyer" and provided a length of 1,500 metres (4,921 ft) - [4][5] some later overriden by the EVG and later sources followed its example that further fleshed out the ship's place in the Halo setting. In the 2022 edition of the Encyclopedia, the image used to represent the ship (and featured at the top of this page) is a fan model recreation created by Jared Harris of the Sins of the Prophets mod team. The destroyer is one of several spacecraft renders donated to the Halo Encyclopedia by Sins of the Prophets.[3]
Gallery
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Browse more images in this article's gallery page. |
Concept art and illustrations
Sinaris-pattern heavy destroyers glassing Harvest in Halo Wars: Genesis.
Concept art of a Sinaris-pattern heavy destroyer in space for Halo Wars.
Cutout of the previous artwork.
Several Sinaris-pattern heavy destroyers during the Battle of Sigma Octanus IV in Halo: Fall of Reach.
The UNSC Spirit of Fire pursues several Sinaris-patterns present at the Battle of Arcadia in Halo: Escalation.
Terrence Hood, then-captain of the UNSC Roman Blue, ordering a retreat from a losing battle with the Radiant Perception.
A Sinaris-pattern heavy destroyer in Halo Mythos.
Profile of the Sinaris-pattern heavy destroyer in Halo Mythos.
Sinaris-pattern heavy destroyers in Halo: Rise of Atriox.
Several Sinaris-pattern heavy destroyers punch through the UNSC fleet defending Alpha Corvi II, crippling a Marathon-class heavy cruiser among other vessels.
Screenshots
A group of Sinaris-pattern heavy destroyers glassing Harvest.
A Sinaris-pattern heavy destroyer collides with the UNSC Spirit of Fire, destroying a large portion of the latter vessel's port side.
A Sinaris-pattern heavy destroyer, flanked by several Ket-pattern battlecruisers, deploys invasion forces to the surface of a human colony in Halo Legends: Origins.
A Sinaris-pattern heavy destroyer with Ceudar-pattern heavy corvettes in Halo: Fleet Battles.
Sinaris-pattern heavy destroyers in Halo: Fleet Battles.
List of appearances
Sources
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Halo: The Essential Visual Guide, page 48
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa Halo: Warfleet, page 60-61
- ^ a b c d e f g h Halo Encyclopedia (2022 edition), page 266
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Halo Encyclopedia (2009 edition), page 270
- ^ a b c d e f g Halo Encyclopedia (2011 edition), page 282
- ^ a b c d Halo Waypoint, Covenant Destroyer (Retrieved on Jun 30, 2022) [archive]
- ^ a b c d Halo Waypoint, Canon Fodder - Bulkhead Banter (Retrieved on Aug 12, 2019) [archive]
- ^ a b c Halo Wars marketing, Five Long Years
- ^ Halo Wars: Genesis
- ^ Halo Legends, episode Origins
- ^ a b Halo Wars, campaign level Repairs
- ^ a b c Halo: Combat Evolved marketing, Transmissions
- ^ Halo Encyclopedia (2009 edition), page 275
- ^ Halo Encyclopedia (2011 edition), page 287
- ^ Halo Encyclopedia (2009 edition), page 274
- ^ Halo Encyclopedia (2011 edition), page 284
- ^ Halo Wars: Genesis: back cover
- ^ Halo Wars, campaign level Anders' Signal
- ^ Halo Wars, campaign level Repairs
- ^ a b Halo: Evolutions - The Impossible Life and Possible Death of Preston J. Cole, section 7: The Covenant War: The Battle of Psi Serpentis (2543)
- ^ Halo: Fall of Reach - Covenant
- ^ Halo: Smoke and Shadow
- ^ Halo: Escalation, issue 1
- ^ Halo: Envoy, chapter 1
- ^ Halo: Envoy
- ^ Blogspot, Halo Wars Covenant Destroyer (Retrieved on Jul 11, 2024) [archive]
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