Cutter

A cutter is the smallest classification of warship in human naval organizations, such as the UNSC Navy. Most popularly used by planetary defense forces as patrol ships, cutters are recognized for their high speed, light armaments, and lack of true translight capability. They are normally given the hull classification symbol of PC.

Characteristics
An evolution of early human combat vessels dating back to the Interplanetary War, cutters generally have a tonnage that lies between 500 and 15,000 metric tons, with a length that rarely exceeds 175 meters. Their crew requirements are basic, with anywhere between 7 and 30 individuals able to operate these craft at ideal levels. Their most unique feature is that they are unable to handle interstellar travel for long; even by the end of the Human-Covenant War, most cutters in service were still not equipped with slipspace drives. This was because there was either not enough space to mount even a miniaturized system, or due their weak frame being easily strained by a handful of jumps. Thanks to this weakness, they are strictly system patrol or response craft, and require a mothership to move them away from their home system.

The lack of space means that cutters are poorly-armed and armored, even when compared to the smallest of corvettes. Their typical armament is composed of a handful of guided missile cells, point defense guns, and light naval autocannons. The few that are equipped with a spinal cannon are unable to match the energy that is given off by a single shot of a medium naval coilgun mounted on UNSC cruisers. They are also unable to carry much in the way of consumables and fuel, and so their patrols are much more restricted than those of larger military ships. Their small size, however, does make them difficult to detect, and their speed can easily evade most forms of incoming fire. Most cutters, regardless, are rated for atmosphere, where they are able to support ground forces with close naval fire support. This makes them useful at defeating fighters and screening the battlefield of incoming projectiles, although they can only harass larger warships in groups.

Cutters have very, very limited passenger facilities, which rarely accommodates more than fifty men in cramped conditions. Few have a hangar bay at all, instead docking at stations to exchange crewmen. Those lucky enough to have a hangar are usually unable to carry fighters; only shuttlecraft and small transports.

Covenant
While the Covenant do not formally recognise the terminology or role of a cutter within their own starship classifications schema, during the Human-Covenant War the Office of Naval Intelligence assigned the designation "DAS-class storm cutter" to the Covenant's. This classification was based on human observations of the Eternal Oaths role in the war.