Ruma-pattern light carrier

The DDS-class carrier is a heavy warship within the now-defunct Covenant fleet that served as a force deployment and occupation warship.

Superstructure and hull
The DDS-class carrier, unlike the larger and more powerful, is a less frequent, but powerful, warship within the Covenant fleet. The primary role of the DDS-class carrier is to support fleet actions in space, or as an infantry deployment platform. The DDS-class carrier has three bulbous sections; its swollen center boasts a total of thirteen launch bays on both sides of the ship. It is used for command and control of large numbers of deployment waves of space fighters, dropships, and interceptors. Like all warships, these ships come in a variety of classes and sizes, though military observers note there are variance of weaponry, length, and estimated tonnage.

The carrier's hull is reinforced with over thirty meters of nanolaminate hull plating and equipped with energy shielding. A single plasma torpedo is capable of causing several layers of the hull to boil away. The shieldless hull of a DDS-class carrier is capable of withstanding heat of up to three hundred degrees Celsius, with no actual damage done to the carrier's structure. Only at extreme temperatures of over seventeen hundred degrees Celsius does minor hull tearing and conduit melting occur. However, at such high temperatures, the superstructure of the vessel becomes considerably softened.

Complement and crew
The DDS-class carrier boasts three hundred Type-31 Seraph starfighters, divided into three different squadrons, two hundred Type-26 Banshees, and thirty-four dropships—either Type-25 Spirits or Type-52 Phantoms—that can be launched at any given moment from the thirteen launch bays located along the center sides of the ship.

The DDS-class carrier holds a crew of three to four thousand Covenant infantry, most of which were Huragok in the case of Ascendant Justice, with a light company of Unggoy and only a hundred Sangheili. The crew was available for deployment on a moments notice via the ship's gravity lift when close to a world's surface.

Armaments
Like other ships within the Covenant fleet, the DDS-class carrier boasts a vast array of energy weapons. The DDS-class carrier is armed with seven plasma torpedo launchers, numerous pulse laser turrets, and anterior plasma cannons. The "S", or Salvation, in the carrier's three-letter classification code, "DDS", indicates that the DDS-class carrier is a dedicated warship capable of destroying its opponents with energy projectors.

Operational history
For a number of years leading up to the Human-Covenant War, the DDS-class carrier served as a support ship in and around the defense fleet of High Charity. On July 17, 2552, a DDS-class carrier, escorted by a pair of Covenant frigates and a destroyer, attempted to seize control of the human colony world Sigma Octanus IV. When the destroyer and the two frigates were destroyed by Captain Jacob Keyes, the carrier retreated until reinforcements arrived. However, the carrier did succeed in deploying thirty-four dropships to the surface of the planet to initiate an invasion.

A short month later, multiple DDS-class carriers participated in the invasion of Reach and subsequent destruction of the planet. At least one, Ascendant Justice, was assigned to the Fleet of Particular Justice and pursued to Installation 04 after the battle. Following the Battle of Installation 04, Ascendant Justice was captured by UNSC forces and captained by Vice Admiral Danforth Whitcomb, until its destruction during Operation: FIRST STRIKE. During the Battle of Installation 05 and the Great Schism, the DDS-class carrier Lawgiver assisted Incorruptible during the battle against the Jiralhanae and the Flood. A DDS-class carrier would also go on assist the Covenant in the Battle of Onyx later that month.

Ships of the line

 * Ascendant Justice – Participated in the Battle of Installation 04 and was destroyed during Operation: FIRST STRIKE
 * Lawgiver – Participated in the Battle of Installation 05

Production notes
In Halo: Ghosts of Onyx, the Incorruptible, a 3,000-meter long, took cover behind the carrier Lawgiver. However, the Halo Encyclopedia erroneously listed the carrier's length as 1,455 meters, rendering the Lawgiver too small to serve as the Incorruptible's cover. This was later fixed with Halo: The Essential Visual Guide, in which the carrier's length is said to be 3,000 metres, making both ships to be around the same length.

List of appearances

 * Halo: The Fall of Reach
 * Halo: The Flood
 * Adjunct
 * Halo: First Strike
 * Halo: Ghosts of Onyx
 * Halo: Fall of Reach
 * Invasion