Boarding Party

A Boarding Party is a group of Naval Infantry (also known as "Marines") assigned to capture an enemy ship or station by killing or capturing its crew.

Wartime
Boarding, in its simplest form, refers to the insertion onto a ship's deck of people. However, when it is classified as an attack, in most contexts, it refers to the insertion of personnel that are not members of the crew by another party. Boarding may be carried out during wartime by naval infantry in an attempt to seize and possibly destroy the vessel, or it may occur in peacetime by pirates and other criminals, or as a means of inspection by a nation's coast guard (or navy) to prevent piracy and smuggling.

Peacetime
In peacetime, boarding allows authorized inspectors of one nation or group, such as a Coast Guard or an international policing fleet to examine a ship's cargo in a search for drugs, weapons,passengers which are unrecorded on the ship's manifest, or any other type of contraband that could possibly have been carried aboard. A nation's Coast Guard could also board any suspicious ships that have been overfishing in such a nation's territorial waters or space.

Purpose
Boarding is used in wartime as a way to seize a vessel without destroying it, or to remove its cargo (people or goods) before it is destroyed. It can also be used to aid in the collection of naval intelligence, as soldiers boarding a sinking, crippled, or surrendered vessel could possibly recover enemy plans, cipher codebooks or machines. For a boarding to be successful, it must occur without the knowledge of the crew of the defending ship, or the ship's defenses must be suppressed.

It could also be known as boarding by military forces may involve the use of dropships or fighters to carry troops to the deck of the ship, or may simply be carried out by naval infantry using pressure-sealed suits scaling the sides of the ship.

Covenant
Covenant Naval commanders utilize this tactic, to attempt to capture enemy vessels and their technology whole, or to avoid a space battle that could damage both their ships and their enemy's vessel, the destruction of which would deprive the Covenant of valuable intelligence on the United Nations Space Command. Up until the Great Schism of November 2552, Covenant Naval boarding parties were only composed of Sangheili, Unggoy, and sometimes Yanme'e, and Kig-yar infantrymen. Though, because of the Covenant civil war, the High Prophets replaced the Sangheili officers with the Jiralhanae. The Covenant Boarding Craft is a vessel designed for this purpose.

United Nations Space Command
Currently, little is known about Human boarding tactics during the Human-Covenant War. In some cases, they are known to use D77-TC and D77H-TCI Pelican dropships to ferry Marine forces from ship-to-ship. This insertion method was used when UNSC Marines boarded the during the Harvest Campaign. During the Battle of Earth, a large ODST unit was intending to board the Prophet of Regret's Flagship using SOEIV pods, but failed when the carrier jumped into Slipspace.

Another possibility is using "Bumblebee"-class lifepods with landing gear to land in the hangar of an enemy vessel. These vehicles are extremely fast and can carry two Fire Teams (8 men total) of Marines with all of their weapons and gear.

The Open Frame 92/Extra-Vehicular Activity is a UNSC vehicle designed for boarding Covenant vessels. With specialized weapon systems, it is able to rip small holes in a ship's energy shields and then pierce then hull with a Gauss Cannon. These vehicles have no sealed cockpit, and a pressurized suit must be worn.

Related Articles

 * UNSC Marine Corps
 * The boarding of the UNSC Pillar of Autumn.
 * The boarding of the Truth and Reconciliation.
 * The boarding of the ODP Cairo.