Chimera-class light destroyer

"The most expendable ship of the entire war."

- Anonymous fighter pilot

The Chimera-class light destroyer, also known by a wide variety of nicknames such as the Fork and Rubbish Tip by naval personnel, is a light escort warship built for the UNSC Navy in the Human-Covenant War. Designed and manufactured by SinoViet Heavy Machinery as a stop-gap measure, the Chimera-class is a fire-support vessel that is often pressed into an air defense, escort, and transportation roles.

Technically a member of SinoViet's standard fleetship program, the Chimera-class light destroyer is a versatile escort that nevertheless falls on the lower spectrum of quality. It is designed with a quick, cost-effective construction in mind, and can be built at any drydock already set up for building frigates. This is both its greatest strength and weakness, as this leaves it sluggish and fragile even by UNSC standards. Firepower is vastly improved through the installation of two Magnetic Accelerator Cannons mounted in place of the flight pods, and sixteen naval autocannons for ship-to-ship combat. It also retains a sizable aft vehicle bay for carrying a modest UNSC Marine detachment. Its last noteworthy quirk is that it has numerous variants based on SinoViet's other frigates, leaving some destroyers specialized towards air defense, space combat, and transportation.

The Chimera-class light destroyer was first introduced in 2546, long after sustained losses outstripped the UNSC's ability to replace them. First fighting in the final stages of the Battle of Miridem, they would rise to become the third-most common model of warship in the entire fleet, behind SinoViet's frigate subclasses and the Halberd-class destroyer. Hundreds of Chimeras were built, and their high casualty rate meant that only two dozen ships survived the Human-Covenant War. Although production ceased after the Fall of Reach, the few that remained led lengthy Post-Great War careers before fading into obscurity.

Chimera-A
Chimera-A is the name given to light destroyers which use a Charon-class light frigate as their core. It retains an expanded vehicle bay to allow it to carry a standard complement consisting of a Company of UNSC Marines, 8 D77-TC Pelicans, 4 M808 Scorpions and 24 M12 Warthogs, in addition to what is normally carried.

Chimera-B
The Chimera-B is the codename given to light destroyers based off the design of a Paris-class heavy frigate. It features superior armor, additional reinforcement, and twelve silos for heavy guided munitions such as Howler missiles, making it ideal for ship-to-ship combat.

Chimera-C
Chimera-C light destroyers utilizes a Stalwart-class light frigate as their basis, in which it retains its specialized focus towards planetary defense and air screening. It is armed with 76 pods of M340A4 Streak missile pods and 52 M710 Bulwark 20mm point defense guns for defeating space fighters and missiles, respectively. It should be noted that this subclass is also marginally lighter and faster than all other configurations, weighing in at only 1.04 million tonnes.