Canon

Vindication-class light battleship

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Vindication-class
H4-Vindication.png
Class attributes

Operators:

UNSC Navy[1]

Manufacturer:

Martian Metals Shipyards[1]

In service:

2554-present[1][Note 1]

General characteristics

Type:

Battleship[2][1]

Length:

1,580 meters (5,183 ft)[1][2]

Mass:

12 million tonnes[1]

Maneuver drive:

Fusion drives

Slipspace drive:

Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine

Hull:

Titanium-A armor

Shielding:

Energy shielding[1]

Armaments:

 

The Vindication-class light battleship is a capital warship utilized by the United Nations Space Command during the post-war era.[1][2][3]

Overview[edit]

Design details[edit]

The Vindication's hull is rather flat, though the bow slants upward and forward. Several antennae protrude from the fore end. The ship has one large, primary thrust nozzle and four smaller, secondary nozzles.[4] The ship is equipped with experimental energy shielding.[1]

Armaments[edit]

The Vindication-class is designed as a ship-killer, intended to hunt down Covenant carriers and support ships before they can engage. To this end, the Vindication is equipped with two gargantuan Mark X 76G3V5 Superheavy MACs, mounted in a battery. The superheavy MACs have a long charge time, and thus the Vindication requires extensive support from friendly ships to defend itself while preparing a new volley. The MAC armament is supplemented with fifty M58 Archer missile pod and four M60 Sentry naval autocannons - alongside twenty M910 point-defence guns.[1]

Ships of the line[edit]

Operational history[edit]

Post-war[edit]

The Vindication-class was launched from Martian Metals Shipyards at least in 2554.[1][Note 1] At least one Vindication was present at the UNSC Infinity's commissioning ceremony on February 21, 2557.[5] Part of Battle Group Dakota, several assaulted the Mantle's Approach during the Didact's attack on Earth in July 2557.[4] During the Requiem Campaign in early 2558, at least three ships of this class deployed fireteams to the surface in order to find Dr. Catherine Halsey after her abduction at the hands of the Covenant.[6]

Non-canon and dubious canon appearances[edit]

Halo: Collateral Damage[edit]

Several ships resembling the Vindication-class helped to defend Alpha Corvi II from the Covenant in December 2525 during the earliest stages of the Human-Covenant War.[7][Note 1]

Production notes[edit]

  • Two Vindication-class battleships appear in the background of the Halo 4 level Midnight; given their nature they are intended to be seen only from a considerable distance. However, exploiting a glitch allows the player to examine these vessels up close, along with a number of Poseidon-class light carriers and Strident-class heavy frigates. Because these ships are intended to appear only as scenery, they are rendered as brushes rather than level geometry; as such, the player can fly the Broadsword through them without harm. By the same merit the ships' in-game models are not to scale with their canonical incarnations.[2]
  • The Vindication-class battleship and Poseidon-class carrier were to be featured in Halo 4: The Essential Visual Guide but were cut due to space constraints.[2]

Gallery[edit]

Concept art[edit]

Illustrations[edit]

Screenshots[edit]

List of appearances[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d Vindication-class ships can be seen at the Battle of Alpha Corvi II in a hologram in Issue #1 of Halo: Collateral Damage. While this was initially implied to suggest the Vindication had a service history in the Human-Covenant War, the 2022 Halo Encyclopedia established the Vindication as having been first launched in 2554 - retconning this panel as just an example of unreliable comic artwork and also contradicting Halo Mythos: A Guide to the Story of Halo's page 74, which states that Vindication-class light battleship was in service during the Human-Covenant War.

Sources[edit]