UNSC frigate

UNSC Frigate

The UNSC Frigate is a starship classification in the UNSC Navy. Although it is significantly weaker in armor and armament compared to its larger cousin, the UNSC Destroyer, the Frigate is smaller and thus more maneuverable. It is cheaper to produce, allowing greater numbers to be fielded against the Covenant. It is important to note that there is probably more than one class of UNSC Frigates, but this has yet to be mentioned in the Halo universe.

Background
With current human technology, the UNSC Frigate is barely a match for even the smallest Covenant vessel. It is outrun by even larger Covenant ships, its armor susceptible to enemy pulse lasers and plasma torpedoes in addition to substandard weaponry. Only en masse does the UNSC Frigate give any United Nations Space Command fleet element an advantage in the war against the genocidal Covenant. Needless to say, a Covenant Frigate is more than a match for its UNSC counterpart.

Layout
The bridge of the Frigate is located in the uppermost part of the ship, in the section at the stern-most tip of the MAC gun shaft (in the case of the only seen version of the UNSC frigate, there is another layout variation similar in appearance to the UNSC Halcyon-class Cruiser, Pillar of Autumn). The Commanding Officer's chair is located behind the two primary consoles within the bridge. There are numerous other consoles located at the sides of the room. According to Halo: Fall of Reach, there are four stations for Lieutenants: Navigation, Operations, Weapons, and Communications.

UNSC Frigates also possess at least one HEV Bay which facilitates the deployment of ODSTs.

As demonstrated in Halo 2 and 3, UNSC Frigates (specifically the Forward Unto Dawn, In Amber Clad and Aegis Fate) are capable of hovering in an atmosphere and possibly landing. They also have either a garage or cargo bay in their rear section which is capable of extending out of the ship's ventral side to deploy vehicles or cargo directly to the ground.

Dimensions
A typical Frigate appears to be around 478 meters (1568 ft) long, 151 meters (498 ft) wide and 112 meters (396 ft) tall. It is one of the smallest UNSC warships seen so far in the Halo universe.

Propulsion
Like other human ships, the UNSC Frigate is equipped with two nuclear reactors which initiate the process of fusion of deuterium fuel. The reactors then channel the output into exhausts at the vessel's rear. There are four exhausts visible on the craft; two large ones and two small ones. For translight speeds, the Frigate carries a Shaw-Fujikawa Slipspace drive. There are probably multiple maneuvering thrusters to adjust the vessel's attitude in pitch, roll and yaw. Lastly, Frigates are equipped with vertical engines which allow it to hover in an atmosphere; an advantage of its small size and mass.

Armament
From examining various cutscenes, information from the novels and using the Camera out of Sandtrap glitch, one can piece together the armament of a typical UNSC Frigate.
 * 1 MAC Cannon which would require one charge per shot and store around 50 rounds.
 * 3 Shiva Nuclear Missiles which would function as the ship's heavy nuclear ordnance.
 * 16 Archer Missile Pods which would carry around thirty missiles per pod, adding up to a total of 480 missiles. They can be seen dotted across the hull in Halo 3.
 * 8  50mm point defense guns which would function as the last line of defense against incoming missiles or single ships. They are visible in several cutscenes and when using the Camera out of Sandtrap glitch.

Crew
No precise figures are available regarding the crew of a Frigate, but it is likely relatively small, (maybe a few hundred would be stationed in a Frigate). Like larger ships, at least one battalion of conventional Marines and sometimes ODSTs would be present onboard. The crew number includes deck crews as well as the command crew, Marines, ODST's, Longsword and Pelican Pilots and technical personnel.

However, in Halo, First Strike, John-117 looks at the UNSC Frigate Gettysburg and he said. "If not for the thousands of dead naval personnel undoubtly on board, he might have christened the ship 'lucky'" This suggests that the UNSC frigate may have thousands of naval personnel, but only a couple of hundred of marines.

Superstructure
The armor of a Frigate is relatively poor compared to that of its larger cousins and counterparts such as the UNSC Destroyer with just 60cm of battle plate. However, due to it being relatively lightweight and frivolous (4000 tons), the Frigate's strength lies instead in maneuverability and speed. It should be noted that there are multiple classifications of Frigates, as mentioned once that the In Amber Clad was a 'Heavy Frigate', which could specify that there are Light, Medium, Heavy and more Frigate Classifications that could have more or less armor. In addition, over the decades that the war has gone on, Frigates needed refits and they could have been given more armor overtime. The Forward Unto Dawn and the In Amber Clad look very different from many angles but are still classified as Frigates.

Links

 * Stephen Loftus's extensive analysis of the UNSC frigate