The King class cruiser was a medium-tonnage capital warship employed by United Nations Space Command forces during and after the Human-Covenant War. Considered by many to be a favorable upgrade over the Halcyon- and Marathon-class cruisers, the King-class grew into an unchallenged idol in the late twenty-sixth- and early twenty-seventh-century UNSC Navy. As the Second Great War came to a close, the sunset of the King was inevitable as the newer, stronger, and faster cruisers gradually began to replace it. The Retarius-class was finally retired during the early 2620s.