Charon-class light frigate

Charon-class light frigate

Production information
Role:	Escort of capital ships Expeditionary land warfare support
Technical specifications
Length:	490 meters (1,607 ft 7 in)^[1]^[2]
Width:	156 meters (511 ft 10 in)^[1]
Height:	139.2 meters (456 ft 8 in)^[3]
Engine(s):	Naoto Technologies: V4/L-DFR^[2]
Slipspace drive:	Series IV CODEN/SFTE^[2]
Other system(s):	Energy shielding (circa 2558)
Hull:	60cm Titanium-A battle plate ^{[citation needed]}
Armament:	Mark II, Light Coil – 83B6R3/MAC (1)^[2] M58 Archer missile pods (50) 30 missiles per pod^[2] M870 Rampart 50mm point defense guns (4x triple-linked)^[2] Unidentified secondary defense guns (6x quad-linked)^[4] Unidentified tertiary point defense guns (3)^[5] M4093 Hyperion nuclear delivery system (3 silos)^[2]
Complement:	Total: 782^[6] Marines Orbital Drop Shock Troopers D96-TCE Albatrosses (2+)^[7] D77/D79-TC Pelicans (12+) Single Occupant Exoatmospheric Insertion Vehicles (12+) M12 Force Application Vehicles (20+) M808 Main Battle Tanks (4+) AV-14 Hornets
Chronological and affiliation
Affiliation:	UNSC Navy

The Charon-class light frigate is a type of escort ship in service with the UNSC Navy.^[1] Ships of this class are used primarily in fleet escort duties and planetary defense.^[1] The class is named after either Charon, a minor god who ferried the souls of the dead to the underworld in Greek mythology, or after a natural satellite of Pluto.

[edit] Design details

[edit] Hull and complement

At 490 meters in length, the Charon is a rather small vessel. Owing to its enlarged hangar bay, the Charon-class frigate is better suited to landing forces groundside than other frigate classes.^[1] The ship's sublight power plant is a Naoto Technologies: V4/L deuterium fusion reactor. Translight power is provided by a Series IV CODEN Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine.^[2] The Charon has a maximum crew and complement of 782.^[6] It can carry several D77 or D79-TC Pelican dropships as well as around two dozen ground and air vehicles.

By 2558, the UNSC Infinity's ten Charon-class sub-vessels had been refitted with energy shielding derived from Covenant and/or Forerunner technology;^[8] however, it is unclear whether all Charons received this upgrade.

[edit] Armament

The Charon-class frigate's primary armament is a Mark II, Light Coil – 83B6R3 Magnetic Accelerator Cannon. It also boasts fifty M58 Archer missile pods, each of which carries thirty missiles. Two M870 Rampart point defense turrets are mounted on either side of the hull, each of which has three 50mm guns. In addition to the Ramparts, each side of the ship boasts three quad-linked guns of a different type; given their downward-facing orientation, these appear to be designed for both point defense and bombardment akin to the M910 point defense network.^[4] A third type of point defense gun is mounted aft, both on the main hull and on the wings.^[5] Rather than the Shiva-class nuclear missiles carried by most UNSC warships, the Charon sports three M4093 Hyperion silos.^[2]

[edit] Ships of the line

FFG-127
UNSC Aegis Fate (FFG-307)
CMA Arabia
UNSC Forward Unto Dawn (FFG-201)
Iliad (Captured and used by the Eridanus Secundus Insurrectionists)
CMA Vostok
Sub-vessel 3^[9]
Algolis-based frigate

[edit] Production notes

[edit] Halo 4 redesign

Despite maintaining a similar profile, the Charon class, most notably Forward Unto Dawn, was redesigned in Halo 4. The Dawn appears much larger, though it is canonically still 490 meters long. This increase in scale was intended to create a more interesting playspace, much like the dramatic upscaling of the UNSC Pillar of Autumn in The Maw; otherwise, the first level would be cramped and would require a great deal of backtracking. Charons seen in the Spartan Ops cinematics are represented with the proper scale.

The enlarged cargo bay, a defining feature of the Charon class, is greatly reduced in size and is moved farther forward;^[10]^[5] presumably, most of the bay now exists within the main hull. Rather than having two primary engines on the main hull and two secondaries on the "wings", there are only two primary engines with one secondary nestled between them. The port and starboard hangar bays have been reduced from five small bays on either side to one or two much larger bays on either side; they are moved much farther back, remaining with the aft section. The point defense guns have been retconned into three separate models, increased in number, and moved to different areas on the hull.

[edit] Trivia

The Charon class' distinctive, oversized cargo bay resembles that of the eponymous Firefly class from the television series Firefly. The resemblance is rendered moot in Halo 4, as the cargo bay is no longer externally visible.