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The Phoenix-class Colonial Support Vessel[4] was a starship classification within the United Nations Space Command.

Class History[]

Arcadia was colonized by three Phoenix-class ships.[5]

The UNSC Skidbladnir was the Phoenix-class colony ship which colonized Harvest.[6] The 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.[6] Whether this was a common fate for colony ships during the colonization of other worlds is unknown.

One of the most famous of the Phoenix's was the UNSC Spirit of Fire. The ship was converted into a warship and participated in the Harvest Campaign,[7] Battle of Arcadia,[8] Battle of Shield 0459[9] and finally, after 28 years adrift, the second Battle of Installation 00.[10]

Despite their age, Phoenix-class ships were still in use during the post-war period.[citation needed]

Design[]

The Phoenix-class is 2.5 km long,[2] 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 settled the planet. On at least one occasion, a colony ship was decommissioned to aid in the development of a colony.

Carrier[]

Phoenix-class colony ships were modified into warships, such as with the UNSC Spirit of Fire. This new variant is designated as a Phoenix-class carrier.[11] The refitted ships carried vehicles, troops, and supplies as support for ground forces, as well as the resources necessary to build bases.

Once converted, the Phoenix-class became an extremely effective troop transport and orbital support ship, capable of carrying about 6000 UNSC Marines,[1] a significant amount of vital supplies and equipment, and, if equipped with a Magnetic Accelerator Cannon during conversion, the ability to attack ground targets from orbit in support of ground operations. It can also use Pelican and Albatross dropships and Pods to deploy ground forces and establish bases of operation. It is even able to participate in atmosphere to a degree.[12] However, despite the conversion of the Phoenix-class from a colony transport ship to a warship, it was still underpowered compared to other vessels; the superstructure of UNSC Spirit of Fire was 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 collided with a Covenant destroyer of about the same size.[13] The Magnetic Accelerator Cannon could fire multiple times consecutively, but each round was less powerful than the cannons used by other UNSC warships.

Armament[]

As part of a carrier recommission, the Phoenix-class can have:

  • Three 22B6R MACs[1]
  • 10 11A2R1 naval coilgun batteries[1]
  • 24 M42 Archer Missile Pods[1]
  • 40 M800 Rampart point defense guns[1]

Ships of the Line[]

Trivia[]

  • The Phoenix was a mythological bird which would be reborn at the end of its lifetime; in a similar fashion, the Phoenix-class colony ship would be decommissioned and stripped down upon colonizing a planet, the ship's materials "giving birth" to a new colony.
  • The name Phoenix may be a reference to Bungie's canceled game of the same name, or, more likely, the name is derived from an Ensemble prototype which pitched humans against invading Martians in a War of the Worlds style, which was titled Phoenix.[14]

Gallery[]

Concept Art[]

Overviews[]

Exterior Shots[]

Interior Shots[]

Appearances[]

Sources[]


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