Titanium-A armor: Difference between revisions

Titanium-A has numerous uses throughout the UNSC due largely to titanium being lightweight and extremely strong, with a high tolerance to heat. Its primary use is armor for ships. Typically, as much as one-third of a standard UNSC military vessel's mass is the Titanium-A plating.<ref name="enc315"/> [[UNSC frigate]]s have sixty centimeters of plating on their hull, [[UNSC destroyer]]s have up to two meters of plating and [[UNSC carrier]]s have thirty-six centimeters of Titanium-A plating.<ref>'''Halo Encyclopedia''', ''page 259''</ref> {{Class|Marathon|heavy cruiser}}s have 191 centimeter-thick layers of Titanium-A armor, allowing them to sustain far greater damage.<ref name="EVG">'''[[Halo: The Essential Visual Guide]]''', ''page 42''</ref> [[D77-TC Pelican]]s<ref>'''[[Halo: First Strike]]''', ''page 18''</ref> and [[GA-TL1 Longsword]]s<ref>'''Halo: First Strike''', ''page 40''</ref> are both covered in Titanium-A armor to provide additional protection in dogfights. [[Slipstream space probe]]s are almost solid Titanium-A to allow them to survive the stresses of frequent [[slipspace]] entries and exits.<ref>'''Halo: First Strike''', ''page 356''</ref> [[Long Range Stealth Orbital Insertion Pod]]s are given additional Titanium-A plating to allow the pods to be launched from slipspace.<ref>'''Halo: Ghosts of Onyx''', ''page 13''</ref> [[Refit station]]s<ref>'''[[Halo: The Fall of Reach]]''', ''page 156''</ref> and construction platforms, such as [[Station Delphi]], are essentially slabs of Titanium-A armor plating.<ref>'''Halo: Ghosts of Onyx''', ''page 51''</ref>

Prior to the [[Human-Covenant War]], a single [[Magnetic Accelerator Cannon]] slug was capable of penetrating any vessel's Titanium-A armor plating.<ref>'''[[Halo: Contact Harvest]]''', ''page 119''</ref> The armor took a newfound importance after the beginning of the Human-Covenant War: to contend with the [[Covenant]]'s [[plasma weaponry]], [[human]]s needed armor that would withstand the heat of the directed plasma. Despite its strength and resistance to heat, however, the Titanium-A plating is usually boiled away within seconds on contact with Covenant [[plasma torpedo]]es, and does not effectively dissipate the plasma. [[Energy projector]]s are able to pierce dozens of centimeters with relative ease.<ref name="enc315"/> [[Pulse laser turret]]s can reduce the hull of a {{Class|Paris|heavy frigate}} to about four centimeters in a single hit.<ref>'''Halo: The Fall of Reach''', ''page 129''</ref> Even [[Type-1 energy sword|energy swords]] can do significant damage to Titanium-A armor.<ref>'''Halo: First Strike''', ''page 94''</ref> During the [[Fall of Reach]], the {{UNSCShip|Grafton}} was destroyed by a single shot from the ''[[Long Night of Solace]]'''s energy projector.<ref>'''[[Halo: Reach]]''', campaign level ''[[Tip of the Spear]]''</ref> Despite being armored with the stronger Titanium-A3 armor, the {{UNSCShip|Infinity}}'s hull was pierced by a [[Vata 'Gajat's mercenary group|Covenant mercenary]] [[Oth Lodon station|space station]]'s glassing cannon.<ref>'''[[Halo: Escalation]]''', ''Issue 5''</ref> After three hits from the cannon, the ''Infinity'' was nearly destroyed.<ref>'''Halo: Escalation''', ''Issue 6''</ref> However, the {{UNSCShip|Savannah}} was able to hold its own for a while against the much larger ''[[Ardent Prayer]]'', despite being severely outgunned.<ref>'''Halo: Reach''', campaign level ''[[Long Night of Solace (level)|Long Night of Solace]]''</ref>