UNSC destroyer

UNSC Destroyer The UNSC Destroyer is a warship classification in the UNSC Navy. Fast, maneuverable, and long-endurance, the Destroyer class was intended to escort larger vessels, such as the Marathon and Halcyon-class Cruisers.

Although vessels of this classification are only seven meters longer than a UNSC Frigate, they are almost double the mass. Unlike most ships in the fleet, Destroyers carry no single-ship (Longsword or Shortsword) fighters, their large mass comes rather from the one and a half to two meters of Titanium A armor battle plate covering the ship. Dr. Catherine Halsey once stated that Destroyers are essentially the same as Frigates except for this additional armor. They were used to put down the Eridanus Rebels during Operation: TREBUCHET.

These warships were looked down upon by many in the Navy. The Destroyer class was initially considered too weak against the superior Covenant ships, but in reality, it could receive and dish out a considerable amount of damage for its size, and in groups could prove a match for the larger CCS-class Battlecruisers used by the Covenant. Despite this, many were destroyed in the Human-Covenant War. Captain Jacob Keyes commanded a destroyer, the UNSC Iroquois during a short skirmish over Sigma Octanus 4, where he invented the Keyes Loop as an act of desperation. The Iroquois managed to single-handedly destroy two Covenant Frigates and a Covenant Destroyer.