Halcyon-class Cruiser

The smallest UNSC ship to receive the cruiser designation, the Halcyon-class is one-third the tonnage of the Marathon-class cruiser. Built in the early 2500's, Halcyon-class cruisers were fast becoming obsolete by the time of the conflict with the Covenant. In the year 2550, a number of Halcyons were pulled from long-term storage, where they had been designated to be scrapped. Instead, they were given a refit and proceeded to serve in the current conflict of Zeta Doratus. Typical loadout for a Halcyon prior to refit was two Mark II fusion engines which supplied a tenth of the power of modern reactors, one Magnetic Acceleration Cannon, and six Archer missile pods. The Halcyon-class cruiser's duty-record was considered sub-standard due to the fact that it was slow and ineffective in offensive combat.

One of the most significant features of the Halcyon-class was its structural design. Designed by Dr. Robert McLees in 2510, the frame of the Halcyon is a series of cross-bracings and interstitial honeycombs of titanium-A battleplate. It is this structural design which allows Halcyon-class cruisers to remain operational with breaches in all of their compartments while sustaining losses of up to 90% of its armor. This led to the ship's reputation for being virtually indestructible. Because of its high mass, military leaders deemed the Halcyon's structure costly and unnecessary; its design was subsequently dropped.

Weaponry:
- 40 50mm autocannons for point-defense
- 300 Archer missile pods, each pod with dozens of missiles apiece - at least 7200 Archer missiles total
- 1 MAC (Magnetic Accelerator Cannon) (prototype*) capable of firing 3 successive MAC rounds (prototype*)
* MAC round (prototype*) - Light MAC round with a ferrous core and outer layer of tungsten carbide - the round splinters on impact, similar to the �shredder� rounds of the MA5B AR.
- Remote-piloted Longsword loaded with a Shiva nuclear warhead

Air compliment:
- At least 21 C709 Longsword interceptors
- At least 21 D77-TC Pelican dropships

Ground compliment:
- Full Battalion of Marines and ODSTs
- At least 4 M808B Scorpion MBTs
- Over 30 Warthog LRVs
- 3-30 megaton HAVOK tactical nuclear warheads

Armor:
- Honeycombed titanium-A battleplate with hydraulic backup-reinforced armor

Engines:
- Three fusion reactors; two of these are smaller reactors that are used in conjunction to supercharge the main reactor, their overlapping magnetic fields temporarily boosting power by 300%.
- Laser-induced optical slurry of ions chilled to near-absolute zero to neutralize waste heat.

Special:
- In addition to the main A.I. used in the operation of the ship, there is a back-up A.I. to handle point-defense.

Record 1369 - vehicle/ship class - Last update 02 Aug 2007, 21:38:52

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