Phoenix-class Colony Ship

**Name**: Phoenix Class
**Craft**: UNSC Phoenix Class
**Type**: Orbital Support
**Scale**: capital
**Length**: 2,500 x 800 meters
**Skill**: capital ship pilot
**Crew**: 3,561; skeleton: 356/+10
**Passengers**: 9,000 troops; 200 other personnel
**Cargo Capacity**: 50,000 metric tons
**Consumables**: 12 years
**Slip Space Drive**: x6,160
**Nav Computer**: yes
**Maneuverability**: 1D+1
**Space**: 6
**Atmosphere**: 330; 950kmh
**Hull**: 7D
**Sensors**

* Passive: 30 / 0D+2
* Scan: 60 / 1D+1
* Search: 90 / 2D+1
* Focus: 2 / 3D

**Weapons**

* **3 Very Heavy MACs**

Fire Arc: forward
Crew: 2
Scale: capital
Skill: capital ship gunnery
Fire Control: 1D
Space Range: 2-15/38/75
Atmosphere Range: 4-30/76/150km
Damage: 11D+1
* **10 11A2R1 Naval Coilgun Batteries**

Fire Arc: turrets
Crew: 1
Scale: starfighter
Skill: starship gunnery
Fire Control: 1D
Space Range: 1-10/25/50
Atmosphere Range: 10-1,000/2,500/5,000m
Damage: 5D+2
* **24 M42 Archer Missile Pods**

Fire Arc: 12 port, 12 starbaord
Crew: 2
Scale: capital
Skill: capital ship gunnery
Fire Control: 2D
Space Range: 1-12/30/60
Atmosphere Range: 2-24/60/120km
Ammo: 24 per pod
Damage: 5D+1
* **40 M800 Rampart point defense guns**

Fire Arc: turrets
Crew: 0; Automated
Scale: starfighter
Skill: Automated: Starship Gunnery: 4D
Fire Control: 1D
Space Range: 1-3/8/15
Atmosphere Range: 1-300/800/1,500m
Damage: 2D+2
**Description**

The Phoenix-class colony ship is a starship classification within the United Nations Space Command. The Phoenix-class colony ships, among others, are often modified into warships such as the UNSC Spirit of Fire, which is a modified Phoenix, converted for wartime-use towards the newly encountered Covenant alien alliance. The refitted ships carry vehicles, troops, and supplies as support for ground forces. It also carries the resources necessary to build bases.

The UNSC Skidbladnir was the Phoenix-class colony ship which colonized Harvest.

The Phoenix-class is 2.5 km long, making it one of the largest known UNSC ships in the organization's naval history.

The Phoenix-class colony ships were designed to transport thousands of colonists from Earth, or one of the other Inner Colonies, as well as terraforming equipment to alter the existing atmosphere and/or biosphere to become compatible with human habitation. Once the terraforming is completed, the colonists settle the planet. On at least one instance, a colony ship was decommissioned to aid in the development of a colony. On Harvest, the UNSC Skidbladnir's fusion reactor was used to power the first settlement, Utgard and its data processing storage housing the Agricultural Operations AI, Mack was also utilized. The ship's AI, Loki, became the Planetary Security Intelligence, sharing a core with Mack, covertly monitoring the colony for trouble for the UNSC. Whether this was a common fate for colony ships during the colonization of other worlds is unknown.

Once converted, a Phoenix-class colony ship can become an extremely effective troop transport and orbital support ship, carrying thousands of UNSC Marines, significant amount of vital supplies and equipment, and, if equipped with a Magnetic Accelerator Cannon during conversion, is able to attack ground targets from orbit in support of ground operations. It can also use Pelican and Albatross drop ships and Pods to deploy ground forces and establish bases of operation. It is even able to participate in atmosphere to a degree. However, despite the conversion of the Phoenix-class from a colony transport ship to a warship, it is still underpowered as far as most warships go; the super-structure of the UNSC Spirit of Fire is vulnerable to light pulse laser fire, and despite the addition of armor plating, the outer edges of the hull were ripped away when the ship nearly collided with a Covenant destroyer of about the same size. The Magnetic Accelerator Cannon can fire multiple times consecutively, but each round is much less powerful than the cannons used by other UNSC warships.

**Source**:

* Halo Wiki: Phoenix-class colony ship
* thedemonapostle