Cruiser

Cruisers are a type of heavily armed and armored capital warship in both the UNSC and Covenant fleets, emphasizing weaponry and armor over starfighter compliments.

Role
However, even though both major fleets possessed warships of such classifications, the tactical philosophies of the two races were different. The Covenant, while possessing many different cruiser classifications, used carriers as the powerhouses of their fleets. The UNSC, on the other hand, used cruisers as their heaviest warships.

However, it should be noted that Covenant cruisers dwarfed their UNSC counterparts.

Subclassifications
Further more, there are different subclassifications of cruisers: light cruisers, medium cruisers, heavy cruisers, battlecruisers, and supercruisers, in order of increasing tonnage and power. Also, the UNSC Phoenix classification was a unique warship, a cruiser-carrier, that combined the elements of both major warship designs.