Svalinn-class Assault Carrier

”Fine, we’ll do it ourselves” 

-Captain Dratheus of the UNSC Conspirator before engaging a Covenant Remnant Flotilla in the Outer Colonies after its escorts and been destroyed

The Xerxes II-class Assault Carrier is the successor to the Xerxes-class Assault Carrier fielded in 2535. Created to fulfill the much needed niche of a large fleet support/carrier vessel, the ship was based on and heavily improves upon its predecessor and is far better suited to its role. Ships of the Line are given the Hull classification of CVA.

History
Proposed by the Reyes-McLees Shipyards on Mars as successors to the Xerxes-class Assault Carriers built during the war, these ships are a massive step ahead in rebuilding the UNSC's naval strength.

Designing started in 2554 a year after the refit of the Xerxes-class Assault Carriers which was provided as a stopgap measure while a new ship was constructed. During the design phase the major areas of focus were the ships, Mass, Versatility and Agility. Taking from the Xerxes-class refit project, a similar but more efficient version of the 2 Heavy Reactors with 2 Smaller Reactors attached to each main one was developed to allow the ship to remain on deployment longer than its predecessor.

In a similar theme the ship was decently lengthened but with only a minor increase in armor thickness in vital areas and thinner armor in others from its predecessor, this being done due to the development of reactive shield generators greatly bolstering survivability for a comparatively light gain in mass.

Primary Weapons
The Xerxes-II's main ship to ship weapons are its two Rapid Fire Mark IV Heavy Coil MAC's which fire specialized 'Shredder' rounds which shatter on impact with either a ships hull or its shields alongside Shield Penetrating Rounds, however the version used on the Xerxes II is an improved version which is fired at a higher speed with a heavier projectile to improve its performance against ship hulls and offer deeper penetration, the ship is also loaded with standard MAC rounds.

Supplementing these and building on the original Xerxes-classes 'Barrage' attack method are 10, Mark 40 Spitfire Naval Coilgun Batteries which thanks to they redesigning of the ships hull can all fire through the front of the ship or turn 360 degrees to face the side of the ship and perform devastating ground bombardment or broadside barrages against lighter ships, the Spitfires also had unique ammo choices of which there were high explosive for ground targets and light ships and a EMP round which when hitting a targets shield would set off a small EMP pulse which would further weaken the shield and bring it down, However the rounds themselves only serve to disable shields with little practical use against targets without them other than minor disruptions of targeting systems, and the final type of round being more traditional Solid Projectiles for use against ships.

As a result of their weak ship to ship capabilities but far better ground support and utility purposes the Mark 40 Spitfires were supplanted by 4, Mark 15 'Breakwater' Naval Coilguns in 2557 which could decimate ships hulls but themselves had a slow rate of fire, these coupled with the MAC's and Spitfires made a devastating barrage tactic which could easily overwhelm other ships as the constant barrage of shield disrupting Spitfires would often cause enemy ships to either drop their shields to fire only to be shot back at by the Breakwaters or wait until their shields fail and the inevitable MAC and Breakwater Barrage ensues.

Secondary Weapons
While it's primary weapons are more than capable of taking down similarly sized or slightly smaller Covenant vessels when a larger target presents itself the ship requires a bit more to bring them down.

For this purpose the ship, unlike other UNSC ships, uses it's missile complement, while most UNSC ships use Archers in tandem with their MAC to devastating effect the Xerxes II has more numerous guns which combined with their special ammunition can make short work of ships leaving missiles as a secondary backup armament or to be used when a particularly large target or numerous targets risk overwhelming the ship.

For this the ship carriers 140 M58 Archer Missile Pods which is far less than its predecessor which carried 200 however these are supplanted by 20 M4020 Bident Missile Pods which excel at taking out Covenant ships. Aside from its Missiles the ship has 16 M66 Sentry Autocannons which fulfill a similar purpose to the Spitfires but thanks to advanced sensors can even be used to target small ships and fighters with high velocity flak rounds which pepper targets with shrapnel rapidly depleting shields and shredding the ships armor, however they can also fire HE rounds and shield depleting rounds to complement the Spitfires in both ground support and taking down shields.

Anti-Starfighter Weapons
The Xerxes-II builds upon it's predecessors impressive anti-starfighter coverage, this being due to the minorly thinner armor across the ship and the increased length requiring more guns to maintain a full coverage of the ship, however it was thought to increase the point defense guns even further to allow for the ship to safely hang in low orbit when conducting ground operations.

For these purposes it has 30, M910 'Rampart' Point Defense Guns and 20, M870 'Rampart' Point Defense guns which provide a layered defense with the 30, M910's providing longer range and more damaging projectiles while as a target closes in the M870's with their higher rate of fire shred anything that can make it through the barrage of M910's, this combination allows for a very effective layered Anti-starfighter defense.

Complementing the Ramparts are 260, M340A5 'Streak' Missile Pods which provide longer range, more precise Anti-Starfighter defense, the model used on the Xerxes-II has a longer range and higher speed, the combination of all these provide the Xerxes-II with arguably one of the best Anti-Starfighter Defense screens in the UNSC Navy which allows the ship to both singlehandedly defend itself and also screen for its fleet.