: Also, why are they calling the CRS class a "light cruiser"? UNSC
: Naval nomenclatures is apparently the same as that of modern navies, but
: calling the CRS class a cruiser defies standard naval ship classification
: schemes. I mean, just look at the size different between the CRS and SDV
: classes:

: By conventional classification standards, the CRS class is a small patrol
: vessel or a light corvette at best. It has essentially no carrying
: capacity for smaller craft (except maybe a couple of Banshees) and would
: have minimal offensive capability, and they obviously lack shields. For
: comparison's sake, let's look at some of the US Navy's ship classes and
: how they compare:
: Nimitz-class carrier
: Length: 333 meters
: Displacement: 100,000 tons

: Iowa-class battleship
: Length: 270 meters
: Displacement: 45,000+ tons

: Ticonderoga-class cruiser
: Length: 173 meters
: Displacement: 9600 tons

: Arleigh Burke-class destroyer
: Length: 155 meters
: Displacement: 8400 tons

: Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigate
: Length: 136 meters
: Displacement: 4100 tons

: Littoral Combat Ship
: Length: 115 meters (Freedom-class), 127.4 meters (Independence-class)
: Displacement: 3000 tons (Freedom-class, 3100 tons (Independence-class)
: Note: The two classes of "littoral combat ships" are our equivalent
: of a corvette. However, they are on the larger end of the corvette scale.
: The Russian Navy's Steregushchy class is 104 meters long and has a
: displacement of 1800 to 2200 tons.

: Cyclone-class patrol ship
: Length: 55 meters
: Displacement: 331 tons
: Note: The Cyclone class can possibly be considered a light corvette, being
: similar to the Russian Tarantul-class, which is 56 meters long and has a
: displacement of 480 tons.

: So yeah, the CRS class is not a cruiser. Whoever came up with the thing was
: just being lazy, recycling the CCS class design but making it only
: one-fifth the overall length. If they wanted some new class of tiny patrol
: craft, they should have created something new and interesting. Otherwise,
: I would have gone with the SDV class to have some smaller support vessels
: to accompany the CCS class, as well as provide visual variety.

That would be Nylund, then. All 343i were doing in Halo 4 was fleshing out what was in the novels and letting us see them, which is what fans were often asking for...more inclusion of aspects of the extended fiction in the games.

First Strike, p173:
"Dominating the skies were a pair of three-hundred-meter-long cruisers. The cruisers accelerated toward them."

First Strike, p204:
"The air over Menachite Mountain was thick with circling flocks of Banshee fliers and Seraph fighters. The three-hundred-meter-long light cruiser had company, too."

It's my opinion too that 300m is a bit small in terms of Covenant materiel to be calling it a 'cruiser'. Maybe those are the ones the UNSC encountered most often first and the classification stuck and then they found bigger ones later. We still haven't seen a Covenant frigate though they've been mentioned and are just slightly longer than the Covenant corvette.