Archive:Covenant Ship Classification Canon Debate

Without any kind of clear spelled out Covenant Ship Classification structure the Halo community has been forced to debate the names and dimensions of Covenant Ships. Below are Ships Classes that have been proven because of said reasons. Read the Discussion page to discover the full debate and how each conclusion was reached.

Covenant Carrier
The Covenant Carrier is a seperate class of ship because:
 * 1) The term "Carrier" is mentioned in this quote, "The carrier, the Lawgiver, turned, and lasers stitched the frigate. Several beams painted its hull, heating the shields - before another destroyer crossed the line of fire." This is during a Covenant battle between Elite and Brute ships. There are no UNSC personnel present (except for the Prowler Dusk viewing from a distance).
 * 2) In Halo: Ghosts of Onyx, a UNSC destroyer is mentioned as colliding with a Covenant carrier three times its size. Assuming the destroyer is 485m long, that places the Covenant carrier at roughly 1455m long. This makes it different that the Assualt Carrier because that class of ship is 5346 meters long

Covenant Cruiser
The Cruiser is a seperate class of ship because:
 * 1) It is mentioned in Halo Canon, "There were Covenant Cruisers and larger carriers; there were even bigger vessels with five bulbous sections that were two kilometers stem to stern and had a dozen deadly energy projectors."
 * 2) In Halo: First Strike, it is stated that the Covenant cruiser is smaller than the Covenant Carrier.  Now in this HBO image it is stated that the Covenant Cruiser is a in fact Covenant CCS-class Battlecruiser but the Battlecruiser is 1782m long therefore the HBO image is mislabeled.  This is proven by the existence of the Covenant Carrier which as shown above is 1455m long and smaller than the Battlecruiser at 1782m long.

Covenant Battleships
"He saw the faint outlines of dozens of Covenant battleships in low orbit."

Covenant CAR-class
In transmissions, it states that the SCS Hermes II recieved a transmission from, "CAR Contrition (DE H c-5)". That is all the information provided about the ship.

Covenant Supercruiser
While the name is indeed fanon this mysterious ship has yet been given a name. The information as yet provided describes a "sniper" ship in Halo: The Fall of Reach. Thus, the fanon name supercruiser is a place holder until an actual name is given to it.
 * An update on that, this quote is describing the Covenant ship in question on "The covenant ship centered on the main view screen. This close Captain Keyes saw how huge the ship was- three times the mass of a normal cruiser." The quote doesn't prove without a doubt the ship is called a supercruiser, which I am not trying to prove, but it does give very good reason to believe the ship is a cruiser, which an Assault Carrier is not (the whole carrier thing kind of disqualifies it from being a cruiser).
 * "One Covenant ship sat in the center of the pack, a gigantic vessel, larger the 3 UNSC cruisers." The common comparison to a cruiser rather than any other ship, and the use of the word normal in the 323 quote imply that it is a cruiser. Thus, I think it is safe to say this is not an Assault Carrier. And thus, I think it is safe to leave this ship up until we have an official name for it.

Covenant Flagship

 * Flagships are not a class of ship. Flagships are just whatever ship the Fleet Commander has picked to use as a command ship.   One piece of evidence is this quote " 'Picking up encrypted transmissions from new contact,' Cortana whispered. 'Descrambling...lots of chatter...orders being given to the cruisers. It appears to be directing the Covenant fleet operations in the system.' 'A flagship,' the Chief murmured." John-117 associates commanding fleet operations with flagship, he does not seem to associate the ship with flagship until Cortana says it is directing fleet operations.
 * The fact that any ship can be a flagship is backed up by the Sublime Transcendence being a flagship and a Covenant Supercarrier of the Combined Fleet of Righteous Purpose.

Covenant CCS-class Battlecruiser

 * Cortana: "Our fighters are mopping up the last of their recon picket now, nothing serious. But, I've isolated approach signatures from multiple CCS battle groups, make it 3 capitol ships per group. And in about 90 seconds they'll be all over us.".
 * HBO calls the Truth and Reconciliation a Covenant Battlecruiser in this image but no mention of CCS-class
 * The two above quotes are linked by the Transmissions where it stated that the, SCS Pillar of Autumn received a transmission from the "CCS Truth and Reconciliation (DE H c-1)"

Covenant supercarrier

 * "The Unggoy Kwassass knew his place aboard the Covenant supercarrier Sublime Transcendence." Above this, in the chapter data log, it says "ABOARD FLEET CARRIER SUBLIME TRANSCENDENCE, IN ORBIT ABOVE JOYOUS EXULTATION, SYSTEM SALIA".
 * "Where they are recovered by hundreds of supercarriers and cruisers"

Covenant Frigate

 * Keyes refers to some of the Covenant ships attacking Sigma Octanus IV as the equivalent of a UNSC frigate. After that, the ships are just refered to as Covenant frigates.
 * "A holographic frigate pair appeared on the deck and sped towards them: the Tenebrous and the Twilight Compunction, commanded by the alpha Jiralhanae, Gargantum."
 * "The frigate pair split to miss the carrier in their flight path. The enemy ships, and their plasma torpedoes, became obscured by the bulb of the sleek carrier."

Covenant light cruiser

 * "Two exceptions to this patrol pattern were a pair of light cruisers hovering over Menachite Mountain"
 * "There were a total of thirteen heavy cruisers and three carriers moving three hundred kilometers above the surface of the planet." to distinguish light from heavy.
 * "There were light cruisers that looked like luminous manta rays;"

Covenant CPV-class

 * A class of ship only mentioned in Transmissions

Covenant Destroyer

 * As shown by the existence of the Bloodied Spirit

Covenant Assault Carrier

 * Cortana (Radio): Registering all hostile vessels inside the kill zone. Thirteen cruisers, two Assault Carriers. I'm going loud!
 * HBO calls it an assault carrier in this image

Reverence-class Medium Cruiser
"Voro resumed breathing. They were his now to command and send into battle. As was the Reverence-class cruiser Incorruptible."