Strident-class heavy frigate

The Strident-class heavy frigate is a type of frigate in service with the UNSC Navy. They are used as both escort ships and swift-attack vessels.

Overview
The Strident-class is the most recent addition to the Navy's prevailing ship type, having entered service by October 2552. Up to ten of these ships are stored within the 's underslung sub-vessel deployment bay. After an initial assault, they are deployed en masse to deliver a final, crushing blow and mopping up any stragglers in the process. Notably, these vessels are equipped with energy shields, a significant development over prior UNSC vessels which had to rely on only their Titanium-A battleplate for protection.

Design details
575 meters in length, the ship is fairly narrow on the port-starboard axis. Like on other UNSC vessels, propulsion is provided by a deuterium fusion engine. Like other frigate classes, it possesses port and starboard "wings" and has a laterally split hull. A blister with several viewports is on the dorsal surface near the bow. At least two hangar bays are mounted on either side; these bays are sealed with energy shield doors. The ship's SOEIV deployment bays are mounted on the mid-ventral surface.

Armament
Strident-class frigates primary armament is its Mark IV, heavy coil - 94B1E6/Magnetic Accelerator Cannon. The frigate is armed with an unknown number of M42 Archer missile delivery systems and M870 Rampart 50mm point-defense networks. Additionally, three M4093 Hyperion nuclear delivery systems are located on the frigate.

Service history
At least one of these frigates was used to deploy Orbital Drop Shock Troopers during a battle for an unknown world in October 2552. During the New Phoenix Incident in July 2557, three ships of this class escorted the as part of Battlegroup Dakota. They engaged the Didact's flagship, Mantle's Approach, though they could not prevent him from activating the Composer and killing millions of residents in New Phoenix, URNA.

At the onset of the Second Battle of Requiem, the Infinity's embarked Strident-class sub-vessels were launched to engage the Covenant fleet around Requiem. During the battle Infinity Sub-vessel 3 destroyed a that was sending waves of troops and vehicles at Fireteam Crimson over "Two Giants". Later, as the Infinity was stranded and ambushed at the world of Aktis IV by Jul 'Mdama's Covenant faction with the aid of Catherine Halsey, the flagship deployed its entire fleet of Sub-vessels to ward off the attacking Covenant fleet, which they eventually succeeded in doing.

Ships of the line

 * - The lead ship of the class.
 * Infinity Sub-vessel 3 - One of the internally docked frigates with the Infinity.

Production notes
Low-detail models of the Strident-class are seen in the background on the Halo 4 level Midnight. These ships are intended to appear only in the background, but exploiting a glitch allows the player to examine these vessels up close, along with two other theretofore-unseen classes. 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. This model bears several structural differences to the final model seen in Spartan Ops; it is lighter in coloration, similar to the other ships of Battlegroup Dakota, and the bridge section is sleeker, shorter, and located farther aft. A Strident-class frigate in Halo: Initiation is depicted in the likeness of the lower-quality in-game model rather than the high-detail one in Spartan Ops. Curiously, a campaign-style Strident is shown alongside two canonically designed Stridents at the end of Halo: Escalation #7.

List of appearances

 * Halo 4
 * Spartan Ops
 * Halo: Spartan Assault
 * Halo: Initiation
 * Halo: Escalation