Destroyer

A destroyer is a medium-tonnage warship classification used by human-dominated organisations such as the UNSC Navy, represented by the hull classification symbol DD.

Characteristics
In contrast to frigates, which is an adaptable class that bolsters it combat qualities with support features, destroyers are primarily optimised for battle. With a mass lying somewhere between 1.5 and 6 million metric tons, they are still too small to qualify as capital ships, but they are heavily armed and armoured for their size range. Most modern destroyers have twin magnetic accelerator cannons acting as their main means of dishing out damage, with dozens of missile pods and several naval coilguns backing them up. Their titanium-A hulls are on average 150 centimetres thick, offering very impressive protection that can only be breached by shells reserved for cruisers. Despite their weight, and a few outliers that reached close to a kilometre in length, most destroyers had smaller dimensions than frigates. This is done so they can can create the smallest profile to enemy weapons, making them harder to hit at extended ranges. Destroyers are celebrated as being the most well-rounded warships available by some naval officers, as they are powerful enough to take and withstand a large amount of punishment, large enough to be gifted with a substantial range, but they still small enough that they retain their speed and agility. Their only weakness, however, is that they lack a large troop complement, as most of their remaining volume is dedicated to ammunition storage and reinforced frame. In addition, before the Human-Covenant War, most destroyers were too heavy to enter a planet's atmosphere, and therefore they could only support ground operations with high-orbit missile bombardment.

Destroyer leader
Seeing a resurgence in the aftermath of the Human-Covenant War, destroyer leaders are moderately-sized hulls that have a flag deck and communications network installed to coordinate the efforts of a flotilla unit. They tend to be larger, and better armed and protected than their peers, but they are still too poorly-armed to be classified as capital ships. They are commanded by a flag officer that has a rank of at least Commodore, and are given the hull code 'DL.'