Battle of the Great Bear

The Battle of the Great Bear (also known as the Battle of Groombridge-1830) was a major battle in the early years of the Human-Covenant War.

Background


The human fleet, consisting of 17 ships, engaged 3 Covenant warships, destroying the enemy force but losing a total of 11 Destroyers in the process. Two of the Covenant ships were destroyed directly in combat, while the third crash-landed on a planet's surface.

A Sangheili survivor was recovered and interrogated personally by Admiral Cole himself, allowing the UNSC to finally learn something about their enemy - that the Covenant were wiping out humans because they had been deemed "unclean." More importantly, Cole discovered that the Covenant were largely unaware of the size and whereabouts of humanity's interstellar empire, leading to the formulation of the Cole Protocol.

Trivia

 * This battle took place on Christmas Eve.