Morhekan Orbital Shipyards

The secession of the Sangheili from the Covenant was a unanimous decision, but not all aspects of it were met with joy. For the Sangheili Fleet in particular, it was a cause for consternation - the technological superiority that the Covenant enjoyed over humanity was entirely the result of Prophet study of Forerunner relics, and oversight in ship design. The Sangheili had relied upon that expertise for nearly four thousand years, losing much of their own native understanding of the technologies they employed. Without it, the Sangheili would be hard pressed to maintain their own ships, and would find construction of new ships of the same calibre nearly impossible. As such, the few remaining shipyards left to the Sangheili Armed Forces became crucial assets in their conflict against the Blood Covenant and Privateer Alliance, and their cold war against the New Covenant - while construction of new ships from scratch would elude them, many had been in the process of construction before the outbreak of the Schism, and finishing off the hulls already laid down became a priority for the Fleet - especially the shipyards over Ketesh.

For the most part, the Sangheili had lost much of their scientific expertise - this is not entirely true of the Kaaranese Sangheili, who were inducted into the Covenant far more recently, and had managed to keep some of their own expertise, at least enough to finish the pre-laid hulls and modify them for the SAF's needs. After the fall of a number of Sangheili colonies, and numerous fleet engagements with Blood Covenant forces, the desperate need to maintain and replace ships damaged in the frontline meant that Ketesh became a vital asset in the war effort, and resources were poured into the shipyards in an effort to improve production and efficiency. Its destruction in 2559 proved a critical blow against the Sangheili, from which it has been difficult to recover.