CAR-class frigate

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The CAR-class frigate is an infrequently-seen light that originally saw service exclusively within the . Distinguished by its wide sweeping wings and its small size, the CAR-class frigate is intended to bridge the gap between the and the . In this way, it can provide an impressive escort to high-speed armadas while being capable of acting independently to support group assaults or gather reconnaissance. Well-shielded and decently fast, the CAR is average in all other areas which has prevented widespread adoption in the Covenant.
Introduced during the aftermath of the , when a rise in piracy called into question the effectiveness of their existing police craft, the CAR-class frigate was not wholehearted adopted by the Covenant military at large. Instead, it was almost exclusively used by the and , leading religious cleansing operations and mapping the Covenant's vast territories. Few of these ships would see combat during the , although they proved more than a match for that made up the bulk of the UNSC fleet. Those that were commandeered by were usually decommissioned in a vain attempt to keep their larger, more valuable craft capital ships - an unfortunate waste of the frigate's capabilities.
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Table of Contents
#Variants
##Mortdakan-pattern
##Omus-pattern
#Ships of the Line
#Gallery
== Variants ==
=== Mortdakan-pattern ===
While all patterns of the CAR-class frigate make for decent combat platforms, some in the Covenant began to see its potential in other roles - this saw them commissioning the Mortdakan-pattern logistics frigate. Equipped with assembly fabricators, hangars for surplus strikecraft, and additional storage for consumables, these frigates aren't built to be as powerful as other models of warships. Instead, these ships fulfil a much more important role of supporting the Covenant war machine while they are far from home by conducting repairs, securing their conquests, and even acting as a messenger craft. These assignments rarely take them into combat, which sees many Covenant crews dreading their assignment about them.
=== Omus-pattern ===
The 400-metre long Omus-pattern picket frigate is one of the smallest known configurations of the CAR-class frigate, and the most specialised. Found either in roaming pairs or shadowing larger, better-equipped carriers and cruisers, it is strangely not designed as an effective space combat craft. While it is easily outperformed by other Covenant ships and therefore crewed by lesser species such as the , it still has the same technological sophistication that leaves wary of engaging them alone.
Regardless of its drawback, the role that the Omus-pattern fulfils is a necessary one. Boasting an armament dominated by sixteen Eravaas-pattern pulse lasers, this particular model excels at defeating swarms of smaller attack craft, such as missiles, space fighters, and reconnaissance drones. The cycling on these ball-turreted weapons is incredibly quick, among the fastest within the Covenant, and are tuned by default for maximum range over stopping power. Entire squadrons of even advanced could be destroyed within seconds of an Omus' coming into weapons range of them. However, their sensitive array and considerable speed thanks to its greatly-reduced mass makes them optimal scouts. They are especially prized because they are one of the few ships which can detect the minute inconsistencies given off by sensor distortion screens and photoreactive panels - systems most often utilised by spy vessels. As a result, they were most often seen within -hunting patrols, destroying such vessels with their four Sintra-pattern plasma torpedoes before they could seed confusion and panic throughout their . Outside of these areas, the design is rather typical if weak for a ship of its size, making it vulnerable to many ships other CAR-class patterns could defeat with ease.
Unlike competing scout vessels such as the , Omus-pattern frigates were only found within space either claimed by the Covenant or in close proximity to invasion fleets. Convoy escort is a typical role they fulfil, flanking it from a distance in order to alert them to approaching threats.
== Ships of the Line ==
Name 	Pattern 	Commissioned 	Destroyed 	Notes
 	Omus 	Unknown 	 	Assigned to the .
 	Omus 	Unknown 	2553 	Assigned to the , destroyed by the .
Clergy	Omus 	October 9, 2281 	Unknown 	Participated in the Siege of Chi Rho, missing.
 	Farrx 	April 1, 1944 	September 19, 2552	Participated in the , destroyed during the .
 	Mortdaken	November 12, 2091	Unknown 	Participated in the Fall of Reach, missing.
 	Omus 	Unknown 	 	Assigned to the .
 	Unknown 	Unknown 	2558 	Part of the fleet, destroyed over .
 	Unknown 	Unknown 	2526 	Assigned to the , destroyed over .
 	Unknown 	Unknown 	2558 	Part of the Thars' fleet, destroyed over Carrow.
 	Unknown 	Unknown 	2558 	Part of the fleet, destroyed over Carrow.
 	Omus 	Unknown 	 	Assigned to the .
 	Mortdaken	Unknown 	March 2553 	Originally commanded by , stolen by the , crashed on the storeline.
 	Unknown 	Unknown 	2558 	Part of the Rojka's fleet, destroyed over Carrow.
== Gallery ==
HGN-InfiniteSuccor.jpg|A CAR-class frigate flotilla secures a DSC-class agricultural support ship.
CovFrigate.jpg|A hologram of the CAR-class frigate being projected to the Hierarchs.
Covenant_Picket_1.jpg|The underside of an Omus-pattern frigate.
Category:Frigate classes
Category:Covenant ships