However, even these updated cruisers would take horrendous losses, ensuring that each Halcyon was deployed sparingly. As a result, they were pulled out of the dockyards and refitted up to modern standards, and proved to be one of the most powerful ships at the UNSC's disposal. They would be saved from certain scrapping with the arrival of the Covenant, with their complicated superstructure actually allowing them to survive far longer than their replacements against their quarry's exotic weaponry. Although some would be hastily retrofitted with more weapons and hangars in an attempt to increase their combat viability, by 2521 the entire class was reassigned into reserve fleets. The Halcyon would embark on a limited production run, with only fifty ever being built. Notable only for its unusually-strong honeycomb superstructure, the Halcyon's advantages would prove too limiting and it would be quickly replaced by its successor, the Marathon-class heavy cruiser.

Originally shot down by the UNSC on the grounds for its lack of tactical viability, the Halcyon would be mocked for being the slowest, most underarmed and underpowered cruiser developed in the twenty-sixth century. The Halcyon-class light cruiser ( hull classification symbol: C) was a distinguished class of light cruisers which saw service in the Insurrection and later the Human-Covenant War. Given those odds, I'm content with three.make that four kills.' ― Cortana, during the Battle of Installation 04. ' A dozen Covenant superior battleships against a single Halcyon -class cruiser. Shiva-class nuclear missiles (4) (Optional).M870 'Rampart' 50mm point defence guns (12).M37 'Suppressor' 279mm naval autocannons (12).M58 'Archer' missile pods (26 pods of 30 missiles).Cruiser-scale heavy-coil - 16A8C2 MAC (1).M810 'Helix' 25mm point defence guns (4).M910 'Rampart' 105mm point defence guns (8).

M42 'Archer' missile pods (6 pods of 26 missiles each).

Starwerx FTL-278A (CODEN Series-III equivalent)ġ90.5 centimetres of Titanium-A1 battleplate Direxion Propellants' Militant-line fusion drives (14)

Halcyon class light cruiser