UNSC Dash

UNSC Dash (DDC-2247)

"Hey, we can clear this sky in ten seconds flat."

- Dash crewman, boasting about the Dash's comparatively large reactor output to other vessels of its class, which gave the vessel remarkable acceleration.

The UNSC Dash (DCC-2247) was a United Nations Space Command Navy Drake-Class corvette that entered service in the final days of the Human-Covenant war.

Human-Covenant War
DDC-2247 was the 842nd ship of an order of 850 Drake-class corvettes accepted by Misriah Armament's spacecraft subsidiary, Mars Spacecraft Assembly, Inc., and subcontracted out to Solaris Shipworks. Keel laid on 13 November, 2551 in Mars orbit, the warship was well along the road to completion when she was given the name Dash by the UNSC Naval Naming Board in January, 2552. The Dash had the misfortune of being constructed in a climate of very sharp material shortages by Solaris Shipworks, who made the executive cost- and material-saving decision to save costs and material by shortening the vessel by six meters, not installing internal titanium support beams that were deemed to be superfluous, and outfitting the warship with armor a centimeter thinner than specifications called for. This potentially would have been an issue has the Dash been a ship of the line: however, the Dash was seen as an auxiliary warship. With a lighter gun and less versatile in roles than the Paris-, Charon- and Remembrance- class frigates, the Drake-class was produced primarily for more cost effective patrolling of UNSC space that was unlikely to come under attack, and to courier VIPs and Special Operations troops.

The Dash completed construction and outfitting on the 16th of February, 2552, and assigned a crew in the next two weeks for testing of the vessel, attaining Lieutenant Commander Karen McGrath, fresh from the Executive Officer billet aboard the frigate UNSC Franklin. Underway for her first time on the 25th of February, it was discovered that the Dash had a markedly higher trust to weight ratio than other vessels of its class, giving it considerably greater acceleration and maneuverability. Following her return and minor repairs of incorrectly installed components discovered from the shakedown, the Dash was then commissioned in a short ceremony as the newest corvette in the United Nations Space Command Navy.

The Dash's first operational deployment was initiated on 15 March, where she was issued orders to courier ONI personnel and light material from Mars to Luna.

Armament
"The Dash's combat modus operandi is to float like a butterfly and sting like a bee: our sole advantage in a fight with Covenant warships is our speed and nimbleness to take a shot when it will have the most effect, and then get the hell out of the way. A lot of other heavier-tonnage ships in the fleet don't have any advantage over Covenant warships."

- Lieutenant Commander Karen McGrath, United Nations Space Command Navy, July, 2552

The UNSC Dash was constructed with a standard armament for a late war Drake-class corvette. Armed with a Light Magnetic Accelerator Cannon as its main armament, that fit barely within the warships short frame, the warship was capable of shooting a 300 ton tungsten slug at 11,991.7 km/s - or roughly 0.03c, with the kinetic force of 3.59751 terranewtons. The Light Magnetic Accelerator Cannon proved its worth throughout the Human-Covenant war to be an extremely effective on unshielded Covenant targets, and moderately effective on the shield of a Covenant Frigate. However, several follow up shots would be required to lower the shield, and by then, the Covenant warship would have cycled its shields. As such, the weapon was most effective when fired immediately following a fleet-wide volley of MAC fire on a Covenant vessel with no other damage from the volley other than lowered shields.

The 300,000 kilogram Mark IV Magnetic Projectile Kinetic Projectile was comprised of a small, dense depleted uranium kinetic energy penetrator that was designed to punch through the entirety of a target to inflict catastrophic damage. Shrouded the "bullet" was a magnetically-conductive layer of ferric-tungsten that allowed the projectile to be fired from a UNSC Magnetic Accelerator Cannon, and was designed to immediately begin to fragment into millions of shrapnel shards upon impact in order to perforate the maximum number of decks, crew and subsystems. Given the mass and size of the MAC projectiles, only 18 projectiles were carried aboard, stored within a magazine located just forward of the bridge.

The main armament required two minutes and fifty seconds of charge from a 'cold' uncharged state to become fully armed for combat. In part due to power recycling systems around the MAC barrel baffles, charging times for successive shots were decreased by 22% for a total time of two minutes 12.6 seconds of charge. However, a less effective underpowered MAC shot was possible at any point in time.

Complimenting the Magnetic Accelerator Cannon, the Dash was outfitted with 26 Model 58 Archer Missile pods. Each pod contained 28 Archer missiles, with a total of 672 missiles. With an effective range of 50 million kilometers, the M58 Archer Missile was an Insurrection-war era high explosive ship-to-ship missile that was utilized extensively throughout the Human-Covenant War against Covenant warships, air and ground forces. The usage of Archer missiles on Covenant warships was largely regarded as ineffective by the UNSC Navy due to the effectiveness of Covenant energy shielding technology, used effectively in conjunction with point defense LASER. However, deployment immediately after a MAC salvo was a highly effective tactic against unshielded and damaged Covenant warships, as their crews were less effective in their point defense fire.

Additionally, the Dash was equipped with a pair of M947 SHIVA Nuclear Missiles, deployed through a single centered launch tube on the bow. Roughly four times wider than an Archer Missile and equipped with a multiple fissure-fusion type warhead, the SHIVA was the most effective weapon system in the UNSC Naval arsenal for destroying or disabling Covenant vessels. Designed to have an effective engagement range of 160 million kilometers A close detonation of a SHIVA on a large Covenant warship would incapacitate it, and lower its shields for MAC fire; on a moderate to light tonnage vessel, it would destroy it. However, due to the shortage of nuclear munitions towards the end of the Human-Covenant War, usage of nuclear weapons was sparing and intentionally done after a volley of Archer Missiles were already deployed at a target in order to maximize the chances of the missile surviving point defense.