Covenant carrier

A pair of Covenant assault carriers with a number of battlecruisers.

Covenant carriers are a broad type of ship classification of the Covenant fleet and its remnants. Often grand and illustrious, they serve as hubs for administrative and religious activities within their assigned fleets.

Overview

Carriers held a Covenant fleet's clerical authority for religious ceremonies, contained small assembly forges for repairs, and the bulk of the food supply. They were often used to clear operating areas of space fighters allowing other vessels in a fleet to focus on other targets.

Classes

A variety of patterns, with at least one Examiner pattern, fall under the "carrier" moniker. The Covenant sometimes referred to the largest of these patterns as "supercarriers" to distinguish them from lighter carrier vessels that filled support roles.

Class	Image	Length	Tonnage	Source
CAS-class assault carrier		5,347 meters (17,540 ft)	2.7 billion tonnes
Sh'wada-pattern supercarrier		28,950 meters (94,980 ft)	152 billion tonnes
Ruma-pattern light carrier	N/A	3,000 meters (9,843 ft)	272 million tonnes

Unidentified

There is also another model of Covenant supercarrier, which has a length of 32,490 meters (106,593 ft). Very large and powerful warships rarely documented by the UNSC, like other models of supercarrier they are often used as flagships for Covenant fleets, and may be used by Prophets as their personal command ships. One, the Sublime Transcendence, led the Combined Fleet of Righteous Purpose, while another commanded the Second Fleet of Homogeneous Clarity.

There is also an unidentified model of light carrier. Measuring 1,455 meters (4,790 ft) in length, it boasts 13 launch bays that contain a total of 300 Seraph fighters, 200 Banshees, and 34 dropships, and is crewed by more than 4,000 Covenant troops. It is armed with multiple plasma torpedo silos and pulse laser turrets. As it is less common and more powerful than a Covenant cruiser, it is most likely designed to act as a command ship and provide fighter support during engagements.

Service history

Covenant forces have long made use of various carrier classes within their fleets.

Human-Covenant War

For a number of years leading up to the Human-Covenant War, several Covenant carriers were served as support ships and some along with "supercarriers" were assigned in the Second Fleet of Homogeneous Clarity of the defense fleet of High Charity. By April 15, 2526, a Covenant supercarrier Hammer of Faith was under construction at the Ring of Mighty Abundance and above Zhoist, a Covenant-controlled world, and remained incomplete, it was destroyed by two HAVOK tactical nuclear weapons by John-117 and Kelly-087 during the Attack on Zhoist, along with its surrounding fabrication barns. On July 17, 2552, a 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 34 dropships to the surface of the planet to initiate an invasion while hailing the rest of the Covenant fleet.

During the Battle of Installation 05 and the Great Schism, the light carrier Lawgiver assisted Incorruptible during the battle against the Jiralhanae and the Flood. A carrier would also go on assist Covenant forces in the Onyx Conflict later that month.

Post-war

By October 2559, a former Covenant supercarrier was used as part of the Banished occupation fleet on Reach under War Chief Escharum's command, presumably used as a flagship for the formidable armada. It also carried the War Chief's personal intrusion corvette.

Gallery

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  Overview of a CAS-class assault carrier.

List of appearances

• Halo: The Fall of Reach (First appearance)
• Halo: First Strike
• Halo 2
• Halo: Ghosts of Onyx
• Halo: Uprising
• Halo 3
• Halo 3: ODST
• Halo Legends
  • Origins
  • The Package
• Halo: Evolutions
  • Palace Hotel
  • The Return
• Halo: Blood Line
• Halo: Reach
• Halo: Fall of Reach
• Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary
  • Terminals
• Halo 4
  • Terminals
  • Spartan Ops
• Halo: Spartan Assault
• Halo: Initiation
• Halo: Escalation
• Halo 2: Anniversary
  • Terminals
• Halo: Spartan Strike
• Halo: Fleet Battles
• Halo: Shadow of Intent
• Halo Wars 2
• Halo: Rise of Atriox
• Halo: Silent Storm
• Halo: Shadows of Reach