Task Force Einherjar

Task Force Einherjar was a United Nations Space Command (UNSC) task force detached from Admiral Cole's Third Fleet to raid the Covenant support facilities and supply lines in former UNSC Outer Colony Systems. Based upon lessons learned from earlier operations, Task Force Einherjar would be a 'Supported Wolf-pack' task force formed around three independent forces, led from the UNSC Unryū.
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==Background==
Early in the Human-Covenant war the UNSC Navy enacted a policy of deploying independent 'Wolf-pack' Task Forces of the heavily armed Halberd-class destroyers to harass the Covenant's supply lines in the hope of stalling their attacks into the UEG's Outer Colonies long enough for sufficient UNSC forces to be assembled in order to force the enemy back into its own territory. Some of these efforts would see some success, such as whose efforts during the in 2526 which nearly resulted in the captured of a Covenant Frigate by the UNSC although these efforts would prove unsuccessful.
However, whilst the efforts of these wolf-packs would provide humanity with much need moral boosts, these formations would suffer horrendous attrition rates, with some groups, Pantea included, losing half of the ships assigned to them, whilst a number of Wolf-packs disappearing entirely. This attrition rate would lead to worrying statistic of the life-expectancy of vessels on these missions being measured in just weeks, a grim figure even compared to the losses being incurred by the rest of the Navy.
As a result the UNSC would move to deploy increasingly heavily armed forces to continue raiding operations in the hope of both increasing their effectiveness against Covenant shipping, and extending their range into the more vulnerable enemy rear areas. However, the UNSC would quickly find that these larger Task Forces would prove to be their own undoing as the greater number of vessels and their larger size would make them unable to effectively conduct the intended missions as they were found to be easier to track by the enemy, and required a sizeable support system, which in turn required its own escort and further impacted the supply situation.
The downturn in the success of these forces would lead to the UNSC to halt further operations of this type for an indetermined amount of time, whilst they switched support to lone infiltrations by lone Prowlers which had a significantly lower attrition rate due to the Covenants difficulty in tracking these ships.
===Inception===
By late 2531 the UNSC was struggling to halt the progress of the Covenant as they steadily pushed Humanity back across the Outer Colonies. Initial efforts to interrupt Covenant supply lines by Prowlers had shown that whilst the enemy struggled to counter these efforts, the UNSC found that these forces lacked the firepower necessary to inflict sufficient damage to affect the enemy.
From the reports of these operations and based on the records of the earlier destroyer Wolf-packs Rear Admiral Junko Toshe would propose a new strategy to harass the enemies logistic chain and force the enemy to check its advances and give the UNSC valuable time to reinforce their defences and hopefully better resist the Covenant once their attacks resumed.
The genesis of Toshe's plan would be the creation of a 'Supported' Wolf-pack style force, using a large formation of that had consisted earlier wolf-packs as the primary attack force, supported by a supply formation consisting of a single capital ship which would act as the overall flagship with the ability to facilitate resupply and limited repairs of other UNSC warships and a small escort screen that would further augment the forces supply capacity. Added to this would be a dedicated reconnaissance element of prowlers which would locate and direct the attack force to high priority Covenant targets, along with a mothership that would direct and the primary resupply of this element.
===Formation===
==Operational history==
===First attack===
===Wounded Prey===
==Composition==
Task Force Einherjar would be split into three independent forces:
Name 	Hull Classification Symbol	Class 	Fate 	Notes 		
Harii Force
The main strike elememt of the Task Force, Harii Force would consist of twelve Halberd-class destroyers.	Harii Force
The main strike elememt of the Task Force, Harii Force would consist of twelve Halberd-class destroyers.	Harii Force
The main strike elememt of the Task Force, Harii Force would consist of twelve Halberd-class destroyers.	Harii Force
The main strike elememt of the Task Force, Harii Force would consist of twelve Halberd-class destroyers.	Harii Force
The main strike elememt of the Task Force, Harii Force would consist of twelve Halberd-class destroyers.	Harii Force
The main strike elememt of the Task Force, Harii Force would consist of twelve Halberd-class destroyers.	Harii Force
The main strike elememt of the Task Force, Harii Force would consist of twelve Halberd-class destroyers.
UNSC Rahmat 	DD-299 	Halberd 	 	Commanded by Captain Liam O'Byrne, lead ship of Harii Force. 		
UNSC Blücher 	DD-300 	Halberd 	 	 		
UNSC Gorizia 	DD-302 	Halberd 	 	 		
UNSC Louise-Marie 	DD-304 	Halberd 	 	 		
UNSC Baghdad 	DD-310 	Halberd 	 	 		
UNSC Bangkok 	DD-322 	Halberd 	 	 		
UNSC Ilmarinen 	DD-325 	Halberd 	 	 		
UNSC Sejong the Great 	DD-329 	Halberd 	 	 		
UNSC Almirante Didiez Burgos 	DD-341 	Halberd 	 	 		
UNSC Tbilisi 	DD-346 	Halberd 	 	 		
UNSC Kampala 	DD-357 	Halberd 	 	 		
UNSC Mexico City 	DD-365 	Halberd 	Survived	 		
Wuotan Force
 The support and control element of the Task Force, Wuotan Force would remain away from the combat actions to provide resupply and repair for the other two elements.	Wuotan Force
 The support and control element of the Task Force, Wuotan Force would remain away from the combat actions to provide resupply and repair for the other two elements.	Wuotan Force
 The support and control element of the Task Force, Wuotan Force would remain away from the combat actions to provide resupply and repair for the other two elements.	Wuotan Force
 The support and control element of the Task Force, Wuotan Force would remain away from the combat actions to provide resupply and repair for the other two elements.	Wuotan Force
 The support and control element of the Task Force, Wuotan Force would remain away from the combat actions to provide resupply and repair for the other two elements.	Wuotan Force
 The support and control element of the Task Force, Wuotan Force would remain away from the combat actions to provide resupply and repair for the other two elements.	Wuotan Force
 The support and control element of the Task Force, Wuotan Force would remain away from the combat actions to provide resupply and repair for the other two elements.
UNSC Unryū 	CVA-184 	Orion 	 	Task Force Flagship. 		
UNSC Dauntless 	FFG-28 	Stalwart 	 	 		
UNSC Finnmark 	FFG-37 	Stalwart 	 	 		
UNSC Paris 	FFG-81 	Paris 	Survived	 		
UNSC Stuttgart 	FFG-82 	Paris 	 	 		
UNSC Burlington 	FFG-113 	Charon 	Survived	Commanded by Captain Terrance Hood and commander of the escort screen for Woatan Force.		
UNSC Abner Reed 	FFG-125 	Charon 	 	 		
UNSC Bosworth 	FFG-151 	Paris 	 	 		
Valkyrja Force
 The reconnaissance and pathfinding element of the Task Force, Valkyrja Force would operate separate from the rest of the Task Force, locating targets for Harii force and helping to guide in the destroyers for their attacks.	Valkyrja Force
 The reconnaissance and pathfinding element of the Task Force, Valkyrja Force would operate separate from the rest of the Task Force, locating targets for Harii force and helping to guide in the destroyers for their attacks.	Valkyrja Force
 The reconnaissance and pathfinding element of the Task Force, Valkyrja Force would operate separate from the rest of the Task Force, locating targets for Harii force and helping to guide in the destroyers for their attacks.	Valkyrja Force
 The reconnaissance and pathfinding element of the Task Force, Valkyrja Force would operate separate from the rest of the Task Force, locating targets for Harii force and helping to guide in the destroyers for their attacks.	Valkyrja Force
 The reconnaissance and pathfinding element of the Task Force, Valkyrja Force would operate separate from the rest of the Task Force, locating targets for Harii force and helping to guide in the destroyers for their attacks.	Valkyrja Force
 The reconnaissance and pathfinding element of the Task Force, Valkyrja Force would operate separate from the rest of the Task Force, locating targets for Harii force and helping to guide in the destroyers for their attacks.	Valkyrja Force
 The reconnaissance and pathfinding element of the Task Force, Valkyrja Force would operate separate from the rest of the Task Force, locating targets for Harii force and helping to guide in the destroyers for their attacks.
UNSC Phantom of the Opera 	PRO-67444 	Point Blank	 	Commanded by ONI Captain Barney Leyton, command vessel for Valkyrja Force. 		
UNSC Underground Railroad 	PRO-39515 	Sahara 	 	 		
UNSC Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves	PRO-46661 	Sahara 	 	 		
UNSC The Thought Fox 	PRO-37596 	Eclipse 	 	 		
UNSC Twenty Committee 	PRO-58641 	Eclipse