Valiant-class super-heavy cruiser

The Valiant-class super-heavy cruiser is a capital warship classification in the UNSC Navy. Among the most powerful vessels in the UNSC fleet, one of their primary uses is fleet command and coordination.

Specifications
The Valiant-class super-heavy cruiser was designed as a cruiser with similarities to a battleship. The Valiant class featured next-generation fusion drives, though there was delays in incorporating them. The Valiant is one of the most powerful warships in the UNSC Navy, capable of holding its own against most opponents. The Valiant class has the tonnage and firepower to augment battle groups composed of smaller warships on patrols, as well as the space to install flag bridge facilities to be commanded by admirals. The bridge of the cruiser is large and cavernous, with two dozen bridge stations used not only to control the ship and its systems, but also to coordinate the activities of the entire battle group. The bridge had massive view screens that stretched from the floor to the ceiling. However, due to resource and crew shortages during the Insurrection and Human-Covenant War, plans to give all Valiant-class cruisers a complete suite of command upgrades were curtailed.

Operational history
The Valiant-class super-heavy cruiser was originally drafted by the UNSC Navy as a compromise between a battleship and heavy cruiser. However, the class went through years of feasibility studies and redesigns before was commissioned and released from its Martian shipyard docking clamps in 2493. Through Valiant showed promise during initial testing and evaluation, the high costs and delays in incorporating next-generation fusion drives seemingly doomed further manufacturing of the class. Less than two years later, all commissioned ships of the Valiant class stricken from the UNSC Navy rolls and partially scrapped. However, the escalating Insurrection ultimately prevented the Valiant class from being a mere footnote in Navy history when it was discovered that the Colonial Military Administration had been infiltrated by insurrectionist sympathizers in 2497. Converted into fleet command ships, the Valiant class was deployed in expeditionary engagements in the Insurrection, using its tonnage and firepower to augment battle groups of the Navy.

Admiral Preston Cole commanded the Valiant-class super-heavy cruiser as his flagship, beginning with the Battle of Harvest in 2526. Over the course of the Human-Covenant War, most notably prior to his last stand at the Battle of Psi Serpentis, Cole made several modifications to the ship's armament and armor. UNSC Valiant was later attached to the Epsilon Eridani Fleet by beginning of the Fall of Reach.

Ships of the line

 * – The flagship of Preston Cole; officially destroyed at the Battle of Psi Serpentis.
 * – The lead ship of the class; commissioned in 2493.

List of appearances

 * Halo Wars: Genesis
 * Halo: Evolutions - Essential Tales of the Halo Universe
 * The Impossible Life and the Possible Death of Preston J. Cole
 * Halo: Fleet Battles