Charon-class light frigate

The Charon-class light frigate is a type of escort ship in service with the UNSC Navy. Ships of this class are used primarily in fleet escort duties and planetary defense. The class is named after either Charon, a minor god who ferried the souls of the dead to the underworld in Greek mythology, or after a natural satellite of Pluto.

Hull and complement
At 490 meters in length, the Charon is a rather small vessel. Owing to its enlarged hangar bay, the Charon-class frigate is better suited to landing forces groundside than other frigate classes. The ship's sublight power plant is a Naoto Technologies: V4/L deuterium fusion reactor. Translight power is provided by a Series IV CODEN Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine. The Charon has a maximum crew and complement of 782. It can carry several D77-TC or D77H-TCI Pelican dropships as well as around two dozen ground and air vehicles.

Armament
The Charon-class frigate's primary armament is a Mark II, Light Coil – 83B6R3 Magnetic Accelerator Cannon. It also boasts fifty M58 Archer missile pods, each of which carries thirty missiles. On the hull are mounted four pairs of twin-linked M870 Rampart 50mm point defense guns. Rather than the s carried by most UNSC warships, the Charon sports three M4093 Hyperion nuclear delivery systems.

Ships of the line

 * FFG-127
 * (FFG-201)
 * (FFG-307)
 * CMA Arabia
 * CMA Vostok
 * Algolis-based frigate

Trivia
The Charon class' distinctive, oversized cargo bay resembles that of the eponymous Firefly class from the television series Firefly. The resemblance is rendered moot in Halo 4, as the cargo bay is no longer externally visible.

List of appearances

 * Halo 3
 * Halo Wars: Genesis
 * Halo Legends
 * Origins
 * Prototype
 * Halo: Helljumper
 * Halo 3: ODST
 * Halo: First Strike (2010)
 * Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn
 * Halo 4