Prowler
From Halopedia, the Halo wiki
Template:Ship Class Infobox The prowler is a stealth corvette classification within the United Nations Space Command.[1] Prowlers are used exclusively by the Office of Naval Intelligence and are crewed by select Prowler Corps personnel.[2]
Role
In a similar role to its namesake, 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.[3]
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.[4] 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 Template:UNSCship's active camouflage systems were fairly unstable, making the ship waver to and from visibility uncontrollably.[5]
Known prowlers
Trivia
- SPARTAN Gray Team was able to pilot a prowler,[6] suggesting that a prowler could be piloted by a crew of only three people.
Gallery
- Prowler-Halo Wars-Genesis.jpg
The UNSC Last Gleaming.
The Red Horse navigates an asteroid field.
The Red Horse releases a Pelican dropship from its ventral launch bay.
A rear view of the UNSC Red Horse
File:ONI PRO-49776.PNG|The UNSC Prowler "ONI PRO - 49667" Decloaking
List of appearances
- Halo: The Fall of Reach (First appearance)
- Halo: First Strike
- Halo: Ghosts of Onyx
- Halo: The Cole Protocol
- Halo: Evolutions - Essential Tales of the Halo Universe
- The Mona Lisa
- Halo Wars: Genesis
Sources
- ^ Halo: The Fall of Reach, page 281
- ^ Halo: The Fall of Reach, page 162
- ^ Halo: Ghosts of Onyx, page 329
- ^ Halo: Ghosts of Onyx, page 291
- ^ Halo: Evolutions - Essential Tales of the Halo Universe, "The Impossible Life and the Possible Death of Preston J. Cole", page ???
- ^ Halo: The Cole Protocol, page 353
