Corvette

A corvette is a classification of warship in the UNSC Navy and human-led polities, represented by the hull classification symbol FS. Larger than cutters but smaller than frigates, corvettes are generally the smallest warships designed to conduct regular interstellar travel, and are primarily used for logistics, patrol, and screening efforts.

Characteristics
Corvettes are small combat craft, with a mass between 15,000 to 100,000 metric tons, and a total length of 150 – 300 metres. They are large and strong enough to be equipped with slipspace drives, which allows them to pursue hostile ships into nearby systems, although their small size still makes lengthy voyages impossible. As their miniaturized slipspace drives creates a lot of resistance to travel through, corvettes have a number of crew amenities not available on smaller craft, such as cryochambers for non-essential personnel. They had a small crew, with many having less than 20 sailors and no more than forty for particularly-large corvettes. In the UNSC, they are typically commanded by lieutenant commanders. Their armaments, although they were still comparatively light, were much better suited to defending them against space fighters and light warships. Batteries of naval autocannons and missile pods were a common selection on corvettes, while well-armed varieties had a MAC that took advantage of their longer length. They were generally armored with roughly 30 centimeters of titanium-A battleplate, which gave them enough protection to withstand glancing blows from light anti-ship weapons, but not much more than that.

Because of their small size and weak combat capabilities, corvettes are most often deployed as policing craft that are used to enforce traffic laws within their borders. This may include anti-piracy escort, monitor travel violations, and maintain navigation and communication buoys in high-risk areas. In military units, they are typically deployed in roles where they are not expected to engage larger enemy craft, and standing orders are to flee if directly engaged. In this capacity, they conduct personnel exchanges, scouting sorties, and the odd escort of lightly-armed support ships such as minesweepers. In the event they are expected to fight, they cover larger warships from fighters and missiles, and harass targets of opportunity such as transports or munitions freighters.