Prowler

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The prowler is a classification of stealth-capable corvettes within the UNSC Navy. Most prowlers are crewed by Naval Intelligence personnel, serving under the Prowler Corps, with only a few ships operated by the conventional fleet.

Although most prowlers are conventionally classified as corvettes, the term can be used to refer to a stealth ship of any size; the stealth cruiser Point of No Return was noted as being the largest prowler-class vessel ever built.

Role
The prowler is used to gather electronic intelligence. Its primary role is to stay hidden while safely gathering such intelligence; it must not charge into battle, as doing so would invariably be a fatal tactic due to its light weapons and armor. Because of its tactical value and potential to change the outcome of any given combat situation, every UNSC battle group has at least one prowler assigned to its ranks.

The prowler's only combat role, besides active combat monitoring and recording, is discreetly laying stealthed fields of HORNET nuclear mines in orbital regions. Enemy ships that unknowingly enter these minefields can be destroyed by a single prowler, allowing the remainder of the UNSC forces to move in and finish off the survivors with Magnetic Accelerator Cannons and Archer missiles. This stratagem allowed Battlegroup Stalingrad to wage a short but devastating battle against the Covenant at Onyx, destroying significantly more ships than their own number, an extremely rare outcome among UNSC-Covenant engagements.

Stealth systems
The prowler's stealth systems mask the ship from both visual and sensor detection. The outer hull is coated with stealth ablative coating, which hides the ship's radar signature and doubles as active camouflage when working in concert with the ship's texture buffer. Other systems on the ship include ablative baffles and various counter-electronic systems.

The active camouflage systems in prowlers are rather crude in comparison to Covenant active camouflage. For example, the 's active camouflage systems were fairly unstable, making the ship waver to and from visibility uncontrollably.

Trivia
SPARTAN Gray Team was able to pilot a prowler, suggesting that a prowler could be piloted by a crew of only three people.

List of appearances

 * Halo: The Fall of Reach
 * Halo: First Strike
 * Halo: Ghosts of Onyx
 * Halo: The Cole Protocol
 * Halo: Evolutions - Essential Tales of the Halo Universe
 * The Mona Lisa
 * The Impossible Life and the Possible Death of Preston J. Cole
 * Halo Wars: Genesis