Why science-fiction destroyers can dwarf cruisers

Why do Earth Alliance destroyers in Babylon 5 dwarf the cruisers?

The discussion offers possible explanations involving audience familiarity, dramatic scale, and changing warfare within the fictional setting.

Babylon 5's Earth Alliance ships use destroyer, cruiser, and dreadnought labels without a consistent real-world size hierarchy. The Omega-class destroyer prompts a comparison with an earlier ship whose name is not recalled, so the exchange does not establish a precise comparison between the two designs. One suggestion is that calling a large ship a destroyer hints at an even larger unseen battle fleet. Another links the terminology to twentieth-century American fleets, where numerous destroyers made the word familiar to audiences as a standard warship. Star Wars' Star Destroyer supplies a further example, while a change in classification is also suggested as a way to signal changing warfare within Babylon 5.