Hades-class heavy cruiser

"The Hades-class were called the “Hell-class” for a reason. They were cramped, really uncomfortable, and ugly as hell. But they were mean bulldogs of a ship that packed with more firepower than conventionally thought sensible and they wrecked hulls from Far Isle to Eridanus II."

- Unnamed navy servicemen who served on the UNSC Eviscerator

The Hades-class heavy cruiser, formally known as the Hades-class heavy attack cruiser, was a class of heavily armed cruisers used by the United Nations Space Command during both the Insurrection and the Human-Covenant War. It was designed as a aggressively deployed attack cruiser along with the Io-class light cruiser as part of the UNSC's military rearmament program in response to the Insurrection. They saw service during the where they assisted in annihilating the Insurrectionist's makeshift fleet. At the time the Hades were considered one of the most heavily armed and armored warships in the fleet bristling with weapons including two new heavy coil Magnetic Accelerator Cannons, forty, and eight ATAF missile turrets all packed within a rather compact hull that wasn't quite built to contain so many weapons. Crew accommodations aboard the Hades were famous for being cramped and uncomfortable as most of space aboard the ship that normally wold have gone to crew space had been taken up by weapon systems leaving little room for crew comfort. This along with their high maintenance requirements made the Hades-class unpopular with their crews who would nickname them "Hell-class cruisers" and the ships were stereotyped for having terrible living conditions. Eventually the Hades ' armaments would become outdated and was slowly superseded by the Elysium-class missile cruisers and production finally ceased with the introduction of the in 2512.

Though somewhat aged by 2525 the class was still in service patrolling the Outer Colonies as part of reserve fleets. The Hades-class suffered horrendous losses in the early years of the war where their patchy armor coverage and outdated arsenal was insufficient to stop plasma weaponry. There were proposals to scrap the class but these were rejected as the UNSC could not afford to waste an entire class of cruisers and needed all the firepower they could get. The Hades-class continued to serve in the war for several more years, participating and taking heavy losses in the battles of, Midvale, , and. The last operational Hades were destroyed in 2531, rendering the class extinct.