so there's no graphic artist trying to make the good guy ships a beautiful white fleet with wings like birds, and the bad guy ships industrial contraptions that are some hideous shade of orange
That's what I loved about the original Star Trek. While, sure, the good-guy ships are white (you need to clue the audience in somehow), the Enterprise was the awkward-looking bunch of parts stuck together to get the job done. It somehow managed a certain elegance, but so can an oil rig. Meanwhile, the Klingon and especially the Romulan warbird were elegantly crafted, sleek warships.
But then, Honor Harrington is just Horatio Hornblower in a different uniform. Most of the naval culture, ship types, and so on were lifted not just from the era, but straight from that series. Though, to be fair, Weber evolved away from that over time and has slowly added his own creativity, especially in the opposition.