Covenant cruiser

A massive armada of numerous Covenant cruisers over the human inner colony of Reach.

The cruiser is a warship classification that was used by the Covenant, before the empire's collapse in 2552. This category groups a number of capital ships that share different sizes and roles, but were ubiquitous within the Covenant military. Cruisers were the backbone of the now-defunct Covenant fleet.^[1] Cruisers are typically mid-sized vessels capable of conducting independent naval operations.^[2]

Cruisers were the most prominent vessels used by the Covenant during an invasion. Since the beginning of Covenant history, cruisers served as the empire's primary mode of galactic transportation and method of enforcing the authority of the Hierarchs. The Covenant manufactured cruisers in vast quantities, easily surpassing the numbers of any other known Covenant starship class.^[3] The role of a Covenant cruiser can be for attack, interdiction, occupation, or patrol.^[3]

Overview

Design details

The distinctive shape of most Covenant cruiser classes (in this case a Ket-pattern battlecruiser, mainstay of the Covenant fleet)

Like most starships of the Covenant, cruisers follow a typical structural design—a smooth hull with wide, extensive contours and near-perfect symmetry. The design of a cruiser is reminiscent of large marine animals that are native to the colonies of the Sangheili. Two to four hangar bays are found on the undercarriage of each cruiser, aft of a large gravity lift that can be detached and lowered onto a world's surface. A vertical gravity beam can then be generated for the transportation of infantry, supplies, and other assets. Modular bays scattered around a cruiser can be configured as engineering, medical, armory, barracks, or religious facilities. All of these facilities are interconnected by a network of narrow corridors and lifts.^[3]

The command deck is located within the center of each cruiser. This deck is a large room with a centralized bridge platform occupied by only the highest-ranking officers aboard the vessel.^[3] Each cruiser class has specific shapes and functions, but they often share an overall similar design. The different classes also have similar equipment and armament, such as energy shields, ventral cleansing beams, anterior plasma cannons and point laser defense.^[1]

Classes

There are many cruiser classes used by the Covenant, each with different roles. All classes are identified according to the standard Covenant starship classification code.^[4] By the final years of the Covenant Empire, four primary classes of the Covenant cruiser existed: CRS, CCS, RCS and ORS. Though there are other kinds of cruisers, their differences are minimal and they easily fall within one of the main classes.^[1]

Class	Image	Details
Zanar-pattern light cruiser		A smaller than the average Covenant cruiser, but it still performs well during attack and interference operations.^[1] Light cruisers are prominently used by Jul 'Mdama's Covenant.
Ket-pattern battlecruiser		Easily the most prominent warship used by the Covenant during the Human-Covenant War. It performs exceptionally during the invasion and occupation of a world.^[1] The class was ideal during ship-to-ship engagements and during vehicle and infantry ground deployments.^[3]
Elefen-pattern battlecruiser		One of the mainstay battlecruiser designs employed by the Covenant, alongside Ket-pattern.
Maugen-pattern armored cruiser		A class of cruiser mainly used for patrol and planetary occupation.^[1] Developed when energy shielding technology was more limited, the class was not as heavily armed or robust as the CCS class.^[3]
Varric-pattern heavy cruiser		Significantly larger than most Covenant cruisers and is used for planetary occupation and naval command.^[1] The heavy cruiser is often used as a support for Covenant flagships.^[5]
Unidentified		Crewed more than 10,000 Covenant troops and contains 3 Banshee squadrons and dozens of Wraiths. One such vessel was deployed over Longhorn Valley during the Fall of Reach following the decimation of the Epsilon Eridani Fleet.^[6]