The huge benefit of having cr/bs over another metaclass (and to be honest, the only one) is offensive power. Something Apprime has demonstrated a couple of times now, having cr/bs as fleet strat means you effectively triple the pressure on an opponent compared to fi/co with fake attacks. The same goes for Xan fi/co of course, but only a newbie statsmaker would make a pure Xan alliance work.
You're right about the Cutlass, upped it a little bit.