UNSC Forward Unto Dawn

"Mayday, mayday, mayday. This is UNSC FFG-201 Forward Unto Dawn, requesting immediate evac. Survivors aboard. Prioritization code: Victor Zero Five dash Three dash Sierra Zero One One Seven."

- The final transmission of the Dawn

The UNSC Forward Unto Dawn (FFG-201), more commonly known by UNSC personnel as the Dawn. was a United Nations Space Command.

Battle of Earth
The UNSC fleet suffered heavy casualties during the Covenant assault on Earth. By the time John-117 arrived from Installation 05 aboard the Prophet of Truth's Forerunner Dreadnought, Forward Unto Dawn was one of the few ships that remained of the UNSC Home Fleet. The ship was designated by Fleet Admiral Terrence Hood as his flagship. Hood agreed to commit Forward Unto Dawn and two other frigates against the grounded Dreadnought on the Portal, once the Spartan punched a hole in the enemy's local air defenses.

The frigates and accompanying GA-TL1 Longsword-class interceptor fighter squadrons attacked the primary target at the conclusion of the Battle of Tsavo, though the MAC rounds from the frigates and missile bombardment from the fighters failed to make any impression on the Dreadnought. The Portal to the Ark was then activated and the Covenant fleet, including the Dreadnought, departed through it.

Battle of Installation 00
"I'm giving the Brutes all I've got… but this is a heavy-weight fight! The Dawn's only got the tonnage to last a few rounds."

- Miranda Keyes on the Ark.

The Flood arrived shortly after the opening of the slipspace portal; the parasite was pursued by a Covenant Separatist fleet led by the Shadow of Intent. The Flood threat strengthened the UNSC alliance with the Separatists, who initially unified to resist the Covenant Loyalist forces. They hoped to find a solution to the Flood beyond the portal to the Ark.

The UNSC task force accompanying the Separatists included the frigates UNSC Forward Unto Dawn and. Commander Miranda Keyes commanded the UNSC component from Forward Unto Dawn.

Once at the Ark, the opposing Covenant fleets engaged one another. However, the UNSC frigate was ill-equipped to fight against such large opponents, and Forward Unto Dawn deployed troops in five Pelican dropships, including John-117, to secure a landing zone on the surface of the Ark that it desperately needed. Forward Unto Dawn landed near the Cartographer and directly offloaded additional heavy equipment to arm the UNSC assault force, who advanced on the map room with M808B Main Battle Tanks. Once the location of the Citadel occupied by the Loyalist forces was found, UNSC Forward Unto Dawn deployed three Pelican dropships. These Pelicans would rendezvous with two Phantom dropships deployed by the Shadow of Intent to strike three towers responsible for stabilizing a defensive energy barrier around the Citadel. However, one Pelican was shot down by Loyalist anti-aircraft fire during the initial engagement. John-117 lead one UNSC strike team to deactivate the first tower, Avery Johnson led a second strike team to deactivate the second tower, and Arbiter Thel 'Vadam lead a Separatist strike team to claim the third. The barrier would eventually be disabled and the High Prophet of Truth assassinated by Arbiter Thel 'Vadam. It was then that a replacement Halo installation was released from within the Ark. Following the death of Miranda Keyes, and the joint UNSC-Separatist task force's total victory over the Covenant Loyalists, nearly all UNSC personnel left the Dawn to return to Earth aboard the Shadow of Intent. Avery Johnson, John-117, and Thel 'Vadam remained behind to finish the fight against the Gravemind. After retrieving Cortana and destroying High Charity, John-117 was deployed by from Forward Unto Dawn along with Thel 'Vadam to the surface of Installation 04B to reach its control center. Johnson would later rendezvous with the duo on the ground to provide fire-support. The mission to capture the incomplete ring's control center was successful, but Johnson lost his life when he was betrayed by 343 Guilty Spark.

Escape from Installation 00
The monitor was destroyed by John-117 and the installation was activated. John-117 and Thel 'Vadam were able to use an M12 Force Application Vehicle left by Johnson to regroup with Forward Unto Dawn where they would narrowly make it into the portal escaping Halo's tactical pulse, obliterating the Gravemind and containing the Flood. However, when the vessel entered the slipspace portal, the portal collapsed as it was hit by Halo's pulse and the frigate was severed in half. 'Vadam, who had ran for the command bridge, returned to Earth in the bow of the ship and crashed into the ocean. 'Vadam was safely recovered from the wreck by UNSC rescue teams.



The aft section containing John-117 and Cortana was sheared from the bow and cast out into unknown space. The SPARTAN was left in the drifting wreck where artificial gravity was currently disabled. Cortana activated a distress beacon and John entered a cryonic-stasis chamber to wait for recovery.

In 2556, Cortana compiled a history of the Forerunner and Humanity as she descended into rampancy while aboard Forward Unto Dawn.



Requiem
"I'm sorry, did I miss orbiting a giant Forerunner planet at some point?."

- Cortana

Four years, seven months, and ten days after being stranded, a Covenant Remnant fleet encountered the remnants of the ship near the Shield World Requiem. The Master Chief is awakened to fight boarding parties throughout the ship. After making his way to the observation deck, John-117 travels to the outer hull of the Dawn to launch one of the Dawn's Hyperion nuclear missiles, destroying a threatening . Almost immediately after destroying the cruiser, Requiem detects the presence of a Reclaimer and pulls in the Covenant fleet and the wreck of the Dawn into the planet's interior surface.

After the crash of the Dawn, John-117 still represented himself as 'Master Chief of UNSC Forward Unto Dawn to address after Infinity had finally received the Dawns distress call. Infinity was aware that John-117 was the only occupant of the vessel.

Destruction
As the Dawn did not survive the transition through the atmosphere in its current state, the Master Chief tried to make it out in an escape pod, but the escape pods were torn from the ship and the Chief crashes to the planet's inner surface. Forward Unto Dawn was then ripped to pieces and destroyed, with fragments scattered all over part of Requiem's surface. John, disoriented from the crash, leaves the wreckage of the Dawn to find a ship to get back to Earth. Miraculously, much like on Galgalia, a few of the Dawn's Warthogs survived the crash. The remaining wreckage of the Dawn was most likely vaporized with Requiem when the planet was destroyed.

Trivia

 * On the lower part of the bow, there is a black 7 inside a yellow star with a yellow chevron under it, this being one of Bungie's 7 references.
 * All the frigates in the level The Storm use the same textures as Forward Unto Dawn.
 * Forward Unto Dawn has fifty Archer Missiles within its pods: two behind its bay, two in front of its bay, two on both sides of its MAC gun and one on each side of the thrusters.
 * Forward Unto Dawn is one of the many main ships,, , and , to be destroyed, or critically damaged, at or near the end of the game.
 * In the level The Ark, players may be killed by the flying debris caused by the frigate's approach (Covenant Wraiths or other vehicles).
 * Despite being severely damaged and left adrift and exposed to space for almost five years, much of the Dawn's equipment (such as weapons, sensors, and artificial gravity) is functional when John-117 awakes in 2557.
 * UNSC Forward Unto Dawn is the first UNSC Navy ship to be featured on the front cover of a Halo game.
 * The design of UNSC Forward Unto Dawn was changed from that of a Charon-class light frigate to a Strident-class heavy frigate from Halo 3 to Halo 4. This is because during production, the redesigned Charon-class light frigate would later be slightly modified and become the standard design of the Strident-class heavy frigate, as shown from early concept art.
 * In the level Requiem, there are seven Warthogs from the Dawn's wreck, four of which are usable.
 * The Dawn is the only known frigate to operate as a UNSC flagship, normally frigates serve as small escort vessels due to their incredibly thin armor and lackluster armament.

Appearances

 * Halo 3
 * Halo Legends
 * Origins
 * Halo: First Strike (2010)
 * Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn
 * Halo 4

Internal

 * United Nations Space Command
 * UNSC Navy

UNSC Forward Unto Dawn