Valiant-class large cruiser

"We are assembled on the bridge of one of the most powerful warships in the fleet, one which has proven with blood and sacrifice that it can take down multiple Covenant warships at once before being disabled. Her crew are all veterans in one form or another, each of which have more than enough reasons for revenge. Anyone who says that all this is not enough to make a difference is lying and deserves to be thrown out the airlock."

- Vice Admiral Roi Olimpia, on the.

The Valiant-class super-heavy cruiser (: CB/CBC ), incorrectly called the Valiant-class battleship, was the heaviest model of utilised by the   during the. Introduced as a compromise between a and a, it is equipped with incredible amounts of lighter-tier weapons such as missiles rather than battleship-scale guns. Heavily armed, versatile and capable of engaging a large fleet at once, they became a favourite of admirals and frequently served as flagships for prestigious fleets.

The Valiant was originally launched in, however, excessive production costs and issues with incorporating its next-generation meant that only those currently under construction were allowed to be produced. However, a lack of feasibility would see all Valiant-class cruisers stricken from the UNSC Navy rolls and partially scrapped; however, they would be saved as the rapidly increased in escalation. Augmenting and task forces, a small but famous handful would be converted into fleet command ships, becoming a favourite of admirals who disliked the larger supercarriers but felt existing command ships were too lightly-armed. They would be deployed above the most well-fortified rebel worlds as well as strongholds of the Colonial Military Administration as the UNSC usurped its authority.

Development and Decommissioning
The origins for the Valiant-class super-heavy cruiser lay in the, more than three decades before the first ships of the class would even be built. Despite the emerging signs of unrest and political tension that would later bring about the, for the most part, human space had settled into a wave of peace, and prosperity. The UNSC, continuing to use stagnating equipment and ships even despite some advances being brought out by the some fifty years before, had expanded their dominion to encompass the. This was against the whims of the Colonial Military Administration (CMA), who were growing increasingly discontent with the UNSC's efforts to usurp them and took to thoroughly modernising their military to oppose future pushes from their rival. Disregarding this, the UNSC saw no need to update their navy or most of their military forces, believing that they could quickly crush the CMA if push came to shove.

Regardless, the need for a small number of heavily-armed modern ships was a necessity they couldn't afford to ignore. After witnessing the success of their being undercut by the CMA's newly-adopted, they decided to unveil the "Special Prototype, hEavy Assault and Rearmament (SPEAR)" program. This project encouraged the Core's shipwrights to work together to create a heavy capital ship that could beat several smaller cruisers. They requested for cutting-edge technology to be used, with the design still be capable of being upgraded over a century to top-of-the-line specifications. Nominations had to be entered by July 4, ; unfortunately, this was pushed back due to the lack of interest from private entities.

Only two companies were interested in the SPEAR Program. The PassiGear Manufacturing Company, most famous for building the, accepted the contract and began work on a three-kilometre giant that would act as a mobile gun battery. Later, the -based, having been carefully expanding their facilities while also producing licensed Phoenix-classes, tasked their design team with releasing a more conventional cruiser class.