Dive Loop

The Dive Loop is a maneuver used by experienced warships commanders, primarily those of the UNSC. It is especially useful, if successfully performed, in aligning a ship's primary Magnetic Accelerator Cannon with an enemy ship. It is not recommended for slower, bulkier ships as they can quickly be caught by the enemy ship in the middle of the maneuver.

Origins
The Dive Loop was first used by the UNSC Ohio II, a UNSC Frigate during the Battle of Detterence in early 2540. The commander of the ship, Commander Orrin Hood, persecuted the maneuver out of improvised strategy against a Covenant Light Cruiser. It proved successful, partially disabling the ship and allowing a nearby UNSC Frigate to hit the hostile's starboard side with its MAC and each ship's barrage of missiles.

Variant I
In the maneuver performed by the Ohio II, the ship that is to perform the tactic must accelerate toward the enemy target, usually a very dangerous move. Because of this, evading procedures (swerving, etc.) are recommended otherwise the move is likely suicide. Once within approximately 50 kilometers of the enemy ship, the attacker rolls to either the left or right still at full speed. While still rolling, the ship will begin to turn upward, eventually into a direct climb. Once anywhere from 10 to 50 kilometers above the target, the attacker will backflip into a final descent at full speed. In is preferred at this point if some sort of gravity further accelerates the attacker, but otherwise will do just fine. At this point, the target ship may have been in pursuit or not. Either way, the ship may unexpectedly be vulnerable to fire from the attacking ship. Fire from other friendly ships will aid in the assault. Note that fire from other ships is recommended during the climb to distract the victim ship and that this maneuver should not be performed against larger ships (the light cruiser is only 300 meters).