Ulysses-class heavy cruiser

The Ulysses-class heavy cruiser was a class of heavy cruisers once used by the and  during both the Insurrection and the early years of the Human-Covenant War.

History
Starting production in 2475 to replace the aging Victoria-class armored cruiser, the Ulysses-class were a common sight amongst UNSC and CMA fleets in the Outer Colonies.

Eventually by 2525 they had been superseded by newer, more advanced, and heavily armed warships and were being slowly phased out in favor of the Hades-class heavy cruiser and the Io-class light cruiser and many of them were mothballed. By 2526 the Ulysses were only found protecting less important Outer Colony worlds as part of colonial defense fleets.

When the Human-Covenant War began the Ulysses found itself on the frontlines on the war protecting the first Outer Colonies to fall to the Covenant. While on paper its arsenal was still formidable, in practice it was very obsolete with many of its systems and equipment being very out of date. During the Battle of Moline, seven Ulysses-class cruisers protected the planet, only to be completely annihilated by the superior Covenant warships.

The remaining Ulysses' were refitted with new technology to bolster the Navy's ranks with many of them serving in Vice Admiral  and Rear Admiral Elliot's Battle Group Zulu. Most of them were destroyed over the next several years and by 2531 the class was deemed extinct.

However, between 2540 and 2552, five hulls were recovered by the Frieden Autonomy of Steinhold from abandoned battlefields and ship graveyards. These ships were restored and refitted, their arsenal and systems updated to modern standards, and were renamed the Vergeltung-class cruiser. Now they make up the core of their steadily growing fleet.