Kerel-pattern assault carrier

Assault Carrier

The Covenant Assault Carrier, one of the Capital Ships in the Covenant's armadas, is a heavy warship classification within the Covenant Fleet.

Function
From details in Halo 2 and 3 the ship seems primarily designed as a planetary assault ship, with enough shielding and firepower to break through enemy defences then disgorge forces from its mammoth launch bays (which are even big enough to house a UNSC Frigate) and can remain in the same place within a planetary atmosphere.

Background
The Assault Carriers are massive Covenant spacecraft capable of widespread destruction. They are armed with energy beam projectors, and their gravity lifts can also be used as a planetary siege weapon. Two of these crafts, one commanded by the High Prophet of Regret, attacked Earth in October of 2552.

They are larger than s, with three primary bulbous sections as opposed to the two on a CCS-class.

Armament


Due to their mammoth bulk, they are believed to be quite heavily armed. They are possibly armed with at least one energy projector, (As in Halo: First Strike a Spartan mentioned "Energy Projectors, only the big ships have them."), one or more pulse lasers (an Assault Carrier disabled a UNSC over Earth before being itself destroyed by the Master Chief) and an unknown amount of Plasma Torpedoes, one of which is located on the nose of the ship.

Assault Carriers are also armed with a unique gravity lift able to be used as a weapon. This gravity lift is speculated to reverse itself and adjust its reversed power to full strength causing it to decimate any object in its path. However, their assets likely lie in their starfighter and troop compliments, as per their classification as Carriers. It is known that they possess Seraph singleships, Banshees, Spirits, Phantoms, and even Drop Pods, along with many legions of Grunts, Brutes, Jackals, Drones, Elites, Hunters, Ghosts, Spectres, Wraiths, Shadows, and other ground units.

Characteristics
Assault Carriers, like the vast majority of other Covenant ships, are characterized by their bulbous silhouette. However, they also tend to be characterized by their unique swollen and bulbous "hook" shaped nose that is similar to that of the head of a whale.

As a dedicated carrier ship, the ship's docking/launch bays are significantly larger than the smaller CCS-class ships. The assault carrier contains at least one bay that is capable of comfortably holding a UNSC Frigate within, with enough room left over for smaller ships to fly through.

They also appear to have a slightly exposed deuterium/tritium fusion reactor (The slit opening that continuously emanates a unique deep violet glow). Assault carriers seem to possess three rather large engines directly beneath the tail of the ship which would be necessary to propel such a massive ship through space or a planetary atmosphere.

Known Carriers

 * Shadow of Intent

Appearances

 * There were two Assault Carriers in the First Battle of Earth - one was the Prophet of Regret's personal starship and the other was destroyed by SPARTAN-117
 * In the Halo 3 preview, the only Covenant capital ships present in the "excavation force" at the site of the Forerunner artifact appear to be Assault Carriers. This is most likely due to the importance of the holy site to the Covenant.
 * Assault Carriers appear several times in Halo 3. The first carrier is shown holding position above the Ark excavation site during the levels Tsavo Highway and The Storm. The Elite fleet that arrives at Earth during Floodgate is led by the carrier Shadow of Intent, which later engages a Covenant Loyalist Fleet above the Ark containing at least 2 Assault Carriers.