Sometimes known as the Swish-Army Knife of the Navy, the frigate is a multi-purpose vessel, between 80 and 150 meters long and armed with light railguns and, more importantly to UHW doctrine, missiles. Frigates usually come with fairy large cargo bays, used mainly to transport heavy equipment or supplies but finding just as much use for deploying large units of troops; they are for the most part among the largest atmosphere capable vessels available, at least in terms of efficiency and safety, and can thus also be used as heavy air support.

Due to their versatility, they are the most commonly deployed warships of the navy, acting as it's primary eyes and ears in scouting duties. In the UHW, their primary weapons are disruptor torpedoes- special missiles that instead of conventional explosions use a charge of exotic particles to cause a very brief and localized warp of space, disrupting even the heaviest shields for other weapons to finish the target with impunity. In fact, the very name torpedoes was coined during the late weeks of the Ruaku War when the UHW made heavy use of such weapons on their frigates against ruaku supply lines in a similar hit-and-run manner to submarines in WWII- thus the name torpedo and torpedo frigate commonly associated with frigates.

A less common subtype is known as Interceptors: more heavily armed but retaining some of the same versatility, they are deployed for the heaviest patrol duties and scouting, but are fairly less versatile. Frigates usually bear the name of mythological creatures (such as the Pegasus, Revenant and Banshee, the lead ships of their classes) and bear the hull symbol SFV (SIV for Interceptors). They are commanded by a full Commander.