: Also, let's look at it from ONI's point of view (the ones who seem to
: classify Covenant materiel). They are obviously drawing analogues to the
: UNSC fleet of ships when naming things. We don't know what they are basing
: it on though.

: Could it have been a near-translation of the Covenant designation for their
: ship?

: Could they have called it a cruiser before they'd seen a much larger Covenant
: ship and never reclassified it?

: Could it have been still observed performing the functions of a cruiser
: rather than a smaller class of vessel, despite its size? Remember that
: when the war started, the UNSC was very much outmatched with even small
: Covenant ships. Something 300m long compared with 490m-long UNSC frigates
: would still have been more than formidable.

Well, the Rapid Conversion, the first Covie ship to arrive at Harvest, was only listed as a "cruiser." So, maybe it was a CRS class, but the UNSC labelled it a "cruiser" because even though it's small, it likely has a ton of firepower as well as energy shields, making it an even match for the much larger UNSC cruisers. And assuming the ship that the frigates Vostok & Arabia and destroyer Heracles fought was the Rapid Conversion, a cruiser designation based on firepower may have been warranted given that the "fight" was a 14-second curb-stomp battle.