UNSC Home Fleet

The UNSC Home Fleet is a fleet in the UNSC Navy. They are assigned to protect Earth from an invasion or attack. Its commanding officer is Fleet Admiral Sir Terrence Hood.

History
The UNSC Home Fleet's known history is short but distinguished. It is likely that the UNSC Home Fleet existed ever since the formation of the UNSC in the 2160's, most likely for the defense of Earth during the Interplanetary War.

First Battle of Earth
The Home Fleet's first known engagements were during the First Battle of Earth, where it successfully defeated the Covenant Navy in Earth's orbit. The engagement however was against a very small fleet of two assault carriers and a few cruisers. This engagement was commanded by both Fleet Admirals Hood and Harper.

On Cairo Station, Fleet Admiral Hood was awarding John-117, Avery Johnson, and Jacob Keyes for their actions at the first Halo. When Cortana got a slipspace rupture report near Io, she relayed the information to FADM Hood. When the Covenant Force arrived, the Home Fleet was ready and waiting. Opening up with Marathon Class Cruisers and MAC Shells, they decimated the Covenant Fleet, but suffered heavy losses themselves. Also during the engagement, the Covenant released boarding pods to occupy and destroy the MAC Platforms. Stations Athens and Malta were both destroyed, but Cairo was spared destruction by Spartan-117, who later took the bomb and destroyed one of the two Assault Carriers.

At New Mombasa, the UNSC followed the surviving Assault Carrier to the city. The only known ships in this engagement were the UNSC In Amber Clad, commanded by Miranda Keyes. The IAC's ground forces engaged the Covenant until, in retreat, the Assault Carrier fled the battle. The, , , and the  made it into the slipspace rift before it closed.

Battle of Installation 05
However, only the In Amber Clad successfully trailed the carrier. The Prowler Dusk arrived days later, but the other ships, which were the, , and the never made it to the engagement, most likely due to the imprecise physics of Slipspace and the UNSC's rather limited technology for slipspace navigation.

Second Battle of Earth (2552)
During the Second Battle of Earth, starting in November of 2552, the Home Fleet was slowly being decimated at the hands of the Covenant Loyalists. Later in the battle, the Home Fleet had less than 100 ships and were almost to the point of destruction.

Battle of Onyx
The UNSC Home Fleet dispatched Battlegroup Stalingrad, commanded by Admiral Patterson to Onyx to recover forerunner artifacts reported by Dr. Halsey. When the battle group arrived, they engaged two Covenant Destroyers. The first UNSC Ship to be destroyed was the, which sacrificed itself for the UNSC Stalingrad. They believed they had won the engagement, destroying one ship and heavily damaging the other. Then, twenty Covenant Ships appeared from slipspace, and began to destroy the Battle Group. In the volley of plasma, five UNSC ships made it through, and lauched a suicide assault. The got in between eight Covenant Warships, and self destructed, destroying two. The UNSC ships disengaged, passing around Onyx, when Sentinels destroyed three Covenant Ships. The planted fourteen Hornet Mines around the moon of Onyx. Then, the surviving ships of Battle Group Stalingrad launched an attack. The attack however, was a trick to lure the Covenant into the mine field. The mines detonated, but four Covenant Destroyers made it through the nuclear fireballs. Then, thirty-two Covenant vessels, reinforcements from Joyus Exaltation, arrived. They decimated the surviving ships of the battle group. The only ship to make it out alive was the, narrowly missing the shockwave when Onyx exploded.

Second Battle of Earth (2553)
During the Battle of Voi, three ships of the Home Fleet, the, , and the led a strike force of C709 Longsword Interceptors over the "Ark" in Voi, Kenya. Although they damaged the Forerunner Dreadnought, it escaped though the slipsace portal.

The Covenant Separatists, led by the Arbiter and Shipmaster Rtas 'Vadum, later helped the Fleet to push the Loyalists off of Earth.

Battle of Installation 00
Two ships of the Home Fleet, the and the  fought during the last battle of the Human-Covenant War, the Battle of Installation 00. There, the Dawn and the Fate helped local UNSC Marine and Separatist forces against the Covenant Loyalist Army. The UNSC and Covenant Forces fought valiantly, until they were ordered to evacuate due to the eminent firing of Installation 04 II.

Orbital Defense Platforms

 * ODA-142 Cairo Station
 * ODA-143 Malta Station
 * ODA-144 Athens Station

Speculated Vessels

 * ODA-??? Nassau Station

Subordinate Units

 * Second Fleet
 * Seventh Fleet
 * Sixteenth Fleet
 * Sixth Battle Group
 * Sol Defense Group 3/A-5
 * Battlegroup Stalingrad