Halcyon-class light cruiser

The Halcyon-class light cruiser (hull classification symbol: CL) is a capital warship used by the UNSC Navy during the Insurrection and the Great War.
== Specifications ==
=== Superstructure ===
Halcyon-class cruisers are 1,170 meters (3,838.5 feet) in length, 293 meters in width, and 375 meters in height, with a total of 90 decks. The ship's superstructure composed of five hexagonal and octagonal sections mounted onto each other. An Omega-pattern bridge module is slung underneath one of the forward sections. A large hangar deck, located roughly in the center of the ship, is connected directly to the eight individual launch bays located along the ship's midline.
Ten out of the final fifty-strong production run of Halcyon-class cruisers, including the UNSC Pillar of Autumn, were built with an additional internal bracing structure, allowing the ship to function even after sustaining critical levels of damage. Located at the ship's bow are slipspace navigation sensors and hardened proselytization network transponders. A planetary scanning array, incorprating planetary survey sensors and probe/satellite launchers, is mounted just below its bridge. At the very top of the engine cowling is a multipurpose scan array, which contains tactical sensors and an electronic eavesdropping suite.
=== Power plant ===
At the time of their original commissioning in 2457, the Halcyon-class was equipped with four Hanley-Messer second-generation Naval fusion reactors, which supplied only 10% the power of the Westinghouse seventh-generation Naval reactors in service aboard Marathon-class cruisers as of 2552. Wartime refits replaced these with General Atomics fourth-generation reactors.
==== Self-destruct ====
As with all UNSC warships, the Halcyon-class is fitted with a self-destruct mechanism. The system comprises several kiloton-yield nuclear shaped charges that, upon detonation, destroy the fusion reactor's magnetic field, vaporizing the ship and anything in sufficent proximity. On September 22, 2552, Master Chief Petty officer John-117 activated the UNSC Pillar of Autumn's self-destruct with the command codes stored in Captain Keyes' salvaged CNI implant. After 343 Guilty Spark halted the self-destruct timer and disabled Command Access to the ship's critical systems, 117 utilised the manual backups located on the engineering deck to restart the timers, leaving him only seven minutes to escape the ship, and the ringworld, before detonation.
=== Armament ===
The Halcyon-class cruiser's original armament comprised a Mark III, light-coil 56A2D4 Magnetic Accelerator Cannon, twenty M42 Archer missile pods, ten Mk VII 12-inch/45 caliber railgun batteries, and seventy-five M620 Buttress 30mm autocannons. Wartime refits upgraded the MAC to a Mk III, heavy-coil 67B3E5, and updated the ship's secondary armament to thirty-two M58 missile pods, ten Mk XII 12-inch/50-caliber railgun batteries, and one hundred M710 Bulwark 40mm autocannons.
== Service history ==
The Halcyon-class entered service with the UNSC Navy during the late 2450s. By 2525 numerous ships of the class were either mothballed or stripped for parts, with a number being reassigned to Naval academies across UNSC territory as training vessels.
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