Nanolaminate

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]^[3] Possessing a characteristic opalescent-like shine,^[4] nanolaminate can range in color from purplish to white-blue or silver, while Kig-Yar vessels are generally bluish-black in color.^[5] The plating is very strong and heat resistant, with the support of energy shielding allowing Covenant ships to take more damage.^[6] The amount of nanolaminate plating applied to each ship depends on the class, though Ruma-pattern light carriers have well over thirty meters of armor plating.^[7] As of 2525, nanolaminate plating has not seen use in any human construction.^[8]

Characteristics[edit]

Defensive capabilities[edit]

UNSC Spirit of Fire and Proclamation's Tithe colliding in mid-air at the start of Repairs.

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,^[9] 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.^[10] 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.^[11] A single pack of C-12 shaped charges can easily puncture a large hole through the hull of a Covenant cruiser.^[12] 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.^[13]

However, Covenant weaponry is more effective against nanolaminate plating. The carrier Ascendant Justice was heavily damaged by a single plasma torpedo, with several layers of the armor plating boiling away.^[6]

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[edit]

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.^[6] 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[edit]

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

Gallery[edit]

Renders of the CRS-class light cruiser, with its hull quite visible.
A render of a CAS-class assault carrier, whose hull is reinforced with nanolaminate.
An RCS-class armored cruiser is destroyed after the Infinity collides with it.
The war-torn nanolaminate plating of a CCS-class battlecruiser.
Covenant space fighters, like the Seraph, are armored with nanolaminate plating.
Sangheili combat harnesses featured nanolaminate plating.