SSV Stalingrad
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Production information
Manufacturer:	Davo-Hamish Shipyards
Class:	Normandy-class stealth frigate Stalingrad-class stealth frigate
Operator(s):	Systems Alliance Navy Systems Coalition Navy
Technical information
Length:	130m
Width:	47m
Height/depth:	22m
Max acceleration:	221 kilometers per second 305 kilometers per second (Stalingrad-class upgrades)
Engine unit(s):	Element Zero Tantalus Drive Core
Power plant:	1 Element Zero drive core
Shielding:	Kinetic Barrier Energy Shielding
Hull:	499cm of Titanium-A2 Ablative Light Armor Silaris-A Modular/Ablative Super Armor (Stalingrad-class upgrades)
Sensor systems:	LIDAR Radar Spectroscope
Targetting system:	Zhukov
Armament:	2 GARDIAN 15 Javelin torpedoes 2 Forward Facing Chimera-Class Defense Guns
Crew:	198
Skeleton crew:	90
Usage
Commissioned:	29 May 2183 CE
Destroyed:	15 July 2210 CE
Role(s):	Stealth reconnaissance/geth hunter-killer/intelligence gathering/commerce raiding
Engagements:	Eden Prime War Operation Black Widow (cancelled) Post-war Heretic conflict Counter-piracy campaign of 2184 CE Broken Arrow Incident Reaper War Fall of Earth Battle of Luna Operation Hornet's Nest Border War Operation Scorcher Post-Apocalyptic War Zeus Aluticus counteroffensive Operation Focus Detriment Operation Mosquito Battle of 78-D Orion Battle of Intai'sei First Battle of the Citadel Operation Morningstar First Battle of Nura Liberation of Nura Second Battle of Nura Operation Moonbreaker Battle of Delta 85-Foxtrot Second Battle of the Citadel
Affiliation:	Systems Alliance (2183 CE - 2191 CE) Systems Coalition (2191 CE - 2210 CE)
Fleet:	Fourth Fleet (Alliance) Fourth Fleet (Coalition)
Commander(s):	Captain Rogov Yefrem Sergeyevich

SSV Stalingrad SR-4 (Stealth Reconnaissance-4) was a Normandy-class stealth frigate in the Alliance Navy, and later the Coalition Navy. Of the initial four Normandy-class prototype vessels approved to be built for use by the Alliance Navy, the Stalingrad was the fourth, although it ended up being the second to be commissioned due to delays that pushed back construction of the Washington and Chancellorsville: this meant that, by 2183 CE, the eponymous Normandy and Stalingrad were the only ships of the class to be in active service, as well as the Alliance Navy's newest additions to the fleet. Being a state-of-the-art vessel, one of only two ships in the entire galaxy to be utilizing the brand new Tantalus Drive Core and IES stealth system, the Stalingrad had a highly specialized role within the fleet, owning to its technological superiority over its other contemporaries and the fact the Alliance possessed only two of the Normandy-class vessels at the time, pending the commissioning of sister ships Washington and Chancellorsvile. Despite this, the Stalingrad was largely overshadowed by its sister ship the Normandy, which go on to become of the one of the most decorated ships in the entire Alliance Navy, serving admirably during the Eden Prime War and landing the killing blow on Sovereign during the Battle of the Citadel. Prior to the war, the Stalingrad was assigned to the SIA to spy on the Batarian Hegemony and intercept high-level batarian military and political communications: when the Eden Prime War broke out, the Stalingrad was redeployed with the Fourth Fleet, tasked with patrolling the geth border and reporting on geth fleet movements: the ship was briefly slated to rendezvous with the SSV Normandy to assist with a strike on Rannoch itself, but this mission was cancelled when the Normandy was redirected to Virmire to assist a salarian infiltration team on the planet. The Stalingrad would remain patrolling the relay until the end of the war, only being redeployed to assist with Post-war Heretic conflict, and then later responding to the Normandy's distress call after it was attacked and destroyed by a then-unidentified ship, with the Stalingrad arriving eight minutes later to pick up survivors. By then, the Washington had been commissioned, and the Chancellorsville would follow it a month later, along with sixteen more Normandy-class vessels being approved for construction, and rapidly introduced into the fleet within the next two years. With the loss of the original Normandy, the Stalingrad became the oldest Normandy-class vessel in the fleet.

The Stalingrad itself would be used as a testbed for upgrades to the Normandy-class design, owing to lessons learnt from the Normandy's destruction over Alchera and new technologies developed from salvaged geth weaponry. These upgrades would be integrated into the ship for long-term deployment, and these included improved countermeasures, a downsizing of the Tantalus drive core to increase engine performance and maneveurability, more efficient power management, greater fuel efficiency, increased IES duration, improvement to the ship's armor and shielding and the integration of decoy flares. All of these upgrades made the Stalingrad significantly more advanced than its more famous sister ship, and these upgrades would ultimately be integrated into all future Normandy-class ships, leading to the creation of the Stalingrad subclass, also simply known as the Stalingrad-class. The Stalingrad would be returned to full service in mid 2184 CE, in time to take part in the Counter-piracy campaign of 2184 CE. The Stalingrad would then participate in several hits on major slaver bases along the Hegemony border in December 2184 CE, with the Alliance denying responsibility for the attacks. In March 2185 CE, the Stalingrad intercepted a human freighter that had been hijacked by geth heretics, successfully deploying a Blue Falcon counter-piracy team to retake control of the ship and steer it away from its intended course towards Jonus, a human colony. A couple of weeks later, it deployed the same team to clear out a geth heretic holdout on Elatha, and then successfully ambushed a geth heretic cruiser that had planned to attack Hephaestus Station, the headquarters of the Andromeda Initiative.

In 2186 CE, the Stalingrad was recalled to Earth with the rest of the Fourth Fleet as part of a fleet-wide mobilization for what was initially believed to be the outbreak of a war with the Batarian Hegemony. This instead turned out to be a Reaper invasion, and following the disastrous Alliance defeat at Arcturus, the Stalingrad fought the Reapers at the Fall of Earth. The Stalingrad was severely damaged during the battle, but was towed away by withdrawing Alliance forces and managed to escape to the Citadel, where it underwent significant repairs before it was restored to active service. It would later participate in Operation Hornet's Nest, and remained assigned to this mission when the Victory Fleet was mobilized and headed for Earth for the final battle. After the end of the Reaper War, the Stalingrad would assist in peacekeeping operations until it became involved in the Border War, where it took part in commerce raiding operations against batarian shipping. The Stalingrad would finally participate in the Post-Apocalyptic War, where the ship was destroyed at the Second Battle of the Citadel.

The ship was named after the Battle of Stalingrad of the Second World War, one of the bloodiest battles in human history.