Oh my God, a Rheinland cruiser is blocking the gate, we don't stand a chance!
-Professor Roland Quintaine at the Tau 31 Jumpgate.
The Rheinland Cruiser is a capital ship used by the Rheinland Navy primarily serving as an escort to the Rheinland Battleship, like the Westfalen or as flagship for small fleets. The RNC Donau is a cruiser, and was Admiral Schultzky's ship for the negotiation with Liberty, but it was destroyed by The Order when docking with Newark Station.
If a player destroys one of these Cruisers, it shows up on the player's statistics as having destroyed a Battleship.
Cruisers are generally more deadly than the battleships, due to their more narrow profile and lack of usable weak points, like the front on Rheinland Battleships.