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UNSC starships were Human starships operated by the United Nations Space Command. The UNSC operated these starships through several different branches.

Insurrection
The time of the Insurrection saw a number of class additions and developments to the UNSC's fleet. In 2493, the entered service. Though serious cost problems over five years cast doubt in the class' future. At some point in the Insurrection, a new carrier, the, was built to help with ground operations. One of the last known class additions during the Insurrection was the. In 2510, the class first entered service.

CAA and CMA Absorption
In 2525, the UNSC would strip away the CMA's naval resources and give them to NAVCOM. As well, the UNSC would begin to take over the Colonial Administration Authority in the midst of the Human-Covenant war. With these additions, the UNSC received several different types of ships. This included the CAA's  and the  from the CMA. Both of which would be brought back to service or continued service such as with the and the.

Final year of the war
With 152 ships present at the of Battle of Reach, a large number of these ships were destroyed. This included many capital ships such as the, the flagship of the Epsilon Eridani Fleet and pride of the Navy.

Starting September 5, 2552 all remaining UNSC starships and their fleets were consolidated under a single command grouping under the UNSC Home Fleet. By the end of the war, the plethora of UNSC starships had been reduced to only a few hundred.

Post-war
Following the Human-Covenant war, the surviving UNSC starships were brought back to Sol to be repaired, refitted and counted.

A variety of starship classes and several ship improvements that were created during the war finally became commonplace. The, the and the  were all added to the fleet. All three have shielding, an unprecedented addition to UNSC ships.

As part of ongoing offenses, UNSC Strident-class frigates and s were being deployed to the Outer Colonies to route out Covenant remnant occupiers.

The Reclamation
At the beginning of the Reclamation, many UNSC starships were disabled by Guardian Custodes under the control of the Created. Some ships, were ripped out of Slipstream Space with the activation of the Guardians, like the.

Management
In the UNSC, ships can also be operated by different departments and branches. Warships like the were often operated by the UNSC Navy. In the case of the, it was operated by the Incident Response and Investigation division of the UNSC.

Smaller craft were often operated by other branches or were overlapped with another branch. The F-41 Exoatmospheric Multirole Strike Fighter, for example, was operated by the UNSC Air Force. The UNSC Department of Commercial Shipping also operated a number of Freighters.

Tactical Groupings
UNSC ships were organized into fleets and further down into Battlegroups.

Identification
There were a few known ways of identifying UNSC ships. There was the Hull classification symbol, which gives each ship a letter classification and a number. There was the ship emblem, which was a unique image that was special to each ship.

Some warships also used the UNSC REG system, which was also a special serial number. There was also the UNc system, which had an unknown meaning.

The UNSC Department of Commercial Shipping operated its own identification codes for freighters that were primarily used in COM transmissions.

Leadership
The leader of a UNSC starship, like other human starships, is referred to as a Captain regardless of actual rank. Common ranks of this position include Commander (ex: Miranda Keyes, Richard Lash) and Captain (ex: Jacob Keyes, James Cutter).

Design
A number of corporations helped construct UNSC ships. Some of these manufacturers include Sinoviet Heavy Machinery, Aerofabrique SA and TanSec AB.

Design guidelines for ships emphasize that the command crew should have visibility of the surrounding exterior area of the ship. This is usually achieved through windows on the bridge.

UNSC ships have an internal deck naming structure. On most ships, the Hangar deck is considered Zero Deck. Decks below that are "belowdeck" and are numbered in descending order starting at First Deck. Everything above the hangar deck is a "level", starting at Level One and going in an ascending order.

AI
UNSC Starships were often given a Ship Director, an AI who could manage much of the ship's tasks with the Captain's authority. Generally, these AI were "Smart".

MACs
MACs are massive coil guns that are used to accelerate projectiles ranging in mass from 600 tons to 3,000 tons, at extremely high velocities. These projectiles are composed of Titanium-A, depleted Uranium, and/or Tungsten with a ferrous (iron) core. They also super heat the metal slugs to make it easier for them to penetrate a target. Super MAC platforms accelerate MAC rounds to over "point four-tenths" the speed of light (120,000 kilometers per second) with twenty-three linear accelerator coils, while ship-based MACs have a lower velocity. Super MAC platforms can also reload a round in 5 seconds, where as the smaller capital ships will need several minutes.

The UNSC frigate is quoted as firing a 600-ton round at 30 kilometers per second. Before Reach fell, was equipped with a modified MAC that could quickly fire three lighter projectiles in succession instead of just one heavier projectile. It was originally intended to allow Pillar of Autumn a better chance of disabling a Covenant ship, which was a feature required for a mission that was later scrubbed following the Fall of Reach.

UNSC Infinity has miniature MAC guns along its hull, to compliment its built in, larger MAC guns.

Missile batteries
UNSC ships generally carry an array of missile batteries. Most UNSC ships carry Archer Missiles in one of many pods. These include the M58 Archer Missile Delivery System and the M42 Archer Missile Delivery System. These were complemented with Fusion rockets.

A common tactic among UNSC ships was to disable the target's shields with MAC rounds and then pummel it with Archer missiles.

Point defense batteries
Point defense batteries were common on UNSC warships. Some of these batteries include the M910 Rampart, the M870 Rampart, the M710 Bulwark, and the Mark 57 Arena.

Nuclear weapons
UNSC warships usually contain nuclear weapons of some sort. Generally they were the. Though, in the post-war era, UNSC ships generally use the M4093 Hyperion nuclear delivery system.

Starfighters
The UNSC operates several types of starfighters. The most common being the GA-TL1 Longsword-class Interceptor. The YSS-1000 Sabre was a secretive starfighter that was mostly used in the Inner colonies. The F-41 Broadsword XMSF was a mainline starfighter that lacked the technology of the Sabre. The S-14 Baselard was also another type of starfighter used by the UNSC.

Dropships


The most common dropships in the UNSC were the Pelicans. This included the D77-TC Pelican, D78-TC Pelican and the D79H-TC Pelican. Heavier dropships were also used such as the D81-LRT Condor, the D82-EST Darter, and the D96-TCE Albatross. The largest of which was the D20 Heron. The UNSC also had dropship escape pods, the Class-3 Bumblebee.

Colony starships
The UNSC also operated a colony ship class, the.

Support starships
Several types of support ships that were used include the stealthy Prowler and its subtypes. Other stealth ship classes existed including the. There was also the incredibly small sloop. Another type of ship that was used by the UNSC included the. Following the UNSC's take over of the CAA, the helped build materiel for UNSC forces.

Warships
The UNSC employs a number of warships including frigates, destroyers and cruisers. The was unique as it was a Battleship, an uncommon warship in UNSC ship design and classification.

Other
ONI's Reverse Engineering and Prototyping–Xenotechnology department have recovered, refit and begun testing on multiple Covenant starships.

List of UNSC starships
The following is a list of the starships that belong to and are used by the United Nations Space Command. Carriers

Carriers
Cruisers

Cruisers
Destroyers

Destroyers
Frigates

Frigates
Prowlers

Prowlers
Corvettes

Corvettes
Colony ships

Colony Ships
Cargo/Transportation

Cargo and Transportation Ships
Other

Other Ships
Non-Canon