Hope-class destroyer

Hope-class Destroyer "It's basically just a MAC Cannon with a reactor bolted on, substandard armour and poor defensive armaments- not much to look at, and even less in a battle. But you combine three of them with a Marathon-class Cruiser, that's suddenly three extra MAC Cannons you have, each with two shots on a single charge. And suddenly your chances against a previously untouchable enemy skyrocket. It gave us hope."

- Commodore Henry Ward, 2544

The  Hope-class Destroyer was a classification of starship utilised by the  during the. After extensive battle analysis from conflict with the had shown, the only weapons that were suitably effective against the Covenant were, which delivered a solid slug at velocities of around half the speed of light, and to a certain extent, nuclear munitions. The Hope-class was an attempt to exploit this meager advantage to its full potential, hopefully aiding the UNSC in its ongoing struggle against the Covenant. Stripped down to the bare minimum needed to maintain a viable mobile weapons platform, the Hope-class removed superfluous armaments, single ship complements, capacity for maintaining a crew and even armour plating to increase its expendability, essentially allowing more MAC Cannons to be fielded simultaneously against the Covenant. As a result, the vessel was fully automated, and remotely controlled by an.

Role
The main role of the Hope-class, like all destroyers, was the destruction of enemy warships in a supporting role to other vessels, both lighter and heavier. The Hope-class would engage its targets in large numbers, and overwhelm it with accurate, powerful and en-masse MAC fire. Of course, due to the nature of the war, vessels of the class were rarely concentrated in one area but spread out among territory, despite the fact that they worked most effectively in numbers. When used together, the vessels would arrange themselves in 'fire groups' of three and, numbers permitting, would assign themselves to a vessel of high importance for protection.

Unlike standard, or even other vessels, however, was that the Hope-class was intended to be semi-disposable. As MAC cannons were arguably the single biggest tactical advantage the UNSC held over the Covenant, the Hope-class was essentially just a MAC Cannon- stripping down all unnecessary material that did not greatly benefit the cannon's ability. Fully automated, the Hope-class could be controlled from extreme distances due to its advanced communications array, which was a two-way link between the vessel (feeding telemetry to command elements) and the controlling entity (acting on this and controlling the vessel). A 'Smart' AI could simultaneously control up to seven Hope-class vessels, allowing for seamless command and function between them and maximising their ability far more than separate sentient crews ever could.

Due to their somewhat disposable nature, Hope-class Destroyers were often sacrificed for more valuable units such the and other high priority vessels. This naturally led them to be commonly utilised as expendable escort vessels, despite having no single ship complement and little in the way of point defence weaponry to lend to a vessel being supported.

The Hope-class was incapable of in-atmosphere operations, and possessed no single ship complement of its own.

Layout
Long and thin, the Hope-class in this aspect appeared similar to most other UNSC vessels, though all similarities stopped here. The ship was essentially a long MAC Cannon with a hull attached to its rear half, which housed the ammunition stores and fuel reserves. Above this, mounted onto a structure similar to the bridge module of a UNSC Frigate, was a hive of antennae acting as the vessel's advanced communications array, which was arguably the most expensive element of the vessel. The rear of the craft featured a geometric cuboid-shaped section which housed the, and the thrusters. As the ship was fully automated, it featured no crew accommodation, bridge or even decks. Maintenance was provided through a series of access tunnels, which were not sealed off from space and required occupants to utilise vacuum suits. The Hope-class' spaceframe was reinforced with several struts and bracings that lent it an increased amount of structural strength, partially negating its thin and fragile cross-section.

Armament and Defences
The primary armament of the Hope-class was its single Magnetic Accelerator Cannon. This was the same model used by the Remembrance-class frigate, accelerating a 600-ton ferric-tungsten projectile with a depleted uranium core to 120,000 kilometers per second. The speed of the projectile made it super-accurate even at long ranges, and a minimum of three shots could down a Covenant vessel's shields and destroy it. The charge to operate the weapon's electromagnetic coils, which accelerated the projectile, was particularly draining on such a small vessel. Due to the absence of many other power-intensive systems, however, the Hope-class could fire two slugs on a single charge, before a recharge time of approximately a minute and a half. Due to this pause, it was imperative that an individual vessel operated alongside another Hope-class Destroyer or ship of another class, allowing a more sustained combined rate of fire. The power drain following a shot was noticeable, and contact between controlling units could be interrupted from anywhere between one and seven seconds as power flow was interrupted.

The main and only defensive armament the Hope-class possessed were two pairs of, two turrets on either side of the vessel. These, like all the ship's functions, were controlled remotely by a Smart AI. Utilised for self-defence against boarding craft and single ships, these turrets were underpowered compared to the craft they faced, with dozens if not hundreds of hits required to deplete the shields of a Covenant. Offering limited protection, the Point Defence Guns were more than useless against enemy capital ships.

The Hope-class was largely unarmoured, saving weight and materials and contributing to the craft's 'throwaway' nature. However, sections of the exposed MAC barrel were armoured with twenty centimetres of Titanium-A Battleplate. The Communications array was the most heavily armoured external part of the vessel, as the destruction of this would cut off the vessel's contact with its controlling AI, rendering it useless. This section was protected by an average of 60cm battleplate. The main computer core, located deep inside the ship's hull section, was heavily protected by surrounding sections. Like nearly all UNSC ship classes, the Hope-class completely lacked energy shielding.

Engines and Powerplant
Like other UNSC vessels, the Hope-class was powered by a Deuterium fusion core. This combined deuterium nuclei into heavier elements, accompanied by a net gain of energy. The core provided enough energy to run the vessel's systems, including the communications array and the MAC Cannon. The latter, being by far the ship's biggest energy consumer, could be charged for two shots before needing to recharge. By this process, reaction propellant was also heated, which was then expelled through the craft's four thrusters, providing thrust. The Hope-class' engines were relatively underpowered, though its extreme light weight meant that the vessel maintained speed and agility on par with a UNSC Frigate.

The Hope-class also possessed a small. This allowed the vessel to accompany fleets and to independently move between systems, escorting larger vessels and engaging Covenant forces above Human colony worlds.

Operational History
The Hope-class was introduced in 2543 and deployed on a large scale basis in order to stem the precipitous rate of colony losses at the time. The class was deployed mainly to the remaining outer colonies, though as these were lost the ships were pulled further back to protect inner worlds. As the vessel was cheap and simple to mass-produce, it could be seen often in large numbers defending colonies of high priority, in conjunction with heavier vessels, which was how the class was ideally suited to operating. Even so, the vast numbers of Covenant ships regularly facing UNSC fleets and the near-constant operational deployments ate quickly away at remaining Hope-class ship numbers, especially in the last six months of the war. Following the destruction of Reach and its shipyards, the production of Hope-class Destroyers all but ceased, with surviving shipyards elsewhere focusing on more flexible and useful ship classes. With nothing replacing lost vessels, the last three of the class fought at in late 2552, where one was lost to enemy action. The remaining two vessels, UNSC Remembrance and UNSC Destiny's Child, were finally retired in 2554.

Battle of Miridem
The Hope-class' first combat action was at the Battle of Miridem in 2544. Defending the world of, four Hope-class Destroyers, seven UNSC Frigates, two and one Marathon-class Cruiser, in addition to four. These were met by a Covenant force comprised of one, six , five and four , which were attempting to destroy the human presence in the system. In the opening moments of the battle, the Assault Carrier and three CCS-class Battlecruisers were obliterated by the ODP's opening salvo, depleting their charge but destroying Covenant forces just before they entered weapons range. However, the Covenant returned fire and destroyed three of the Platforms and disabling the fourth with plasma torpedoes. The UNSC's three cruisers opened fire, destroying one Corvette and disabling a CCS-class, while a total of fifteen MAC rounds from the Frigates and Destroyers finished the disabled vessel off and scored kills against a further two Corvettes. The Covenant returned fire, gunning for the three UNSC cruisers. The Covenant were now close enough to the planet to launch landing craft, which they did, and, protected by Seraphs, engaged in a fierce aerial battle between the fleets and the planet. Although succeeding in destroying one Halcyon, two Hope-class Destroyers, the Courageous and the Starlit Sky, and three UNSC Frigates, deliberately turned into incoming plasma torpedoes, sacrificing themselves to protect the cruisers. The UNSC's returning volley crippled another Covenant Cruiser and two frigates, though following this three of the four remaining frigates were destroyed, as well as the remaining Halcyon-class. The one Marathon-class Cruiser survived because a third Hope-class Destroyer put itself between a plasma torpedo and the vessel, saving it. By this time, the vast majority of civilians had been evacuated on transports being protected by the UNSC fleet, so the Navy retrieved its surviving Longsword fighters, remaining ground forces and the contingent of SPARTAN-IIs which had been engaged on the ground. Following this, the three remaining UNSC ships, one Frigate, one Destroyer and one Cruiser, evacuated via slipspace jump on random coordinates, and the Covenant's remaining Frigate, Corvette and two CCS-class Battlecruisers moved in to glass the planet and obliterate the few remaining unlucky stragglers.

Known Ships of the Line
(Note: This is not a complete list)
 * UNSC Hope (DD-120) (Class namesake) - Destroyed during the
 * UNSC Valiant (DD-427) - Destroyed during the Battle of Reach
 * UNSC Courageous (DD-633) - Destroyed during the Battle of Miridem
 * UNSC Starlit Sky (DD-326) - Destroyed during the Battle of Miridem
 * UNSC Make My Day (DD-151) - Destroyed during the
 * UNSC Final Charge (DD-624) - Destroyed during the Battle of Sigma Octanus IV
 * UNSC Lynx (DD-623) - Destroyed during the
 * UNSC Fateful Journey (DD-501) -Destroyed during the
 * UNSC Final Effort (DD-38) - Destroyed during the Battle of Earth
 * UNSC Remembrance (DD-117) - Damaged during the Battle of Earth, retired 2554
 * UNSC Destiny's Child (DD-75) - Retired 2554