UNSC Forward Unto Dawn

The UNSC Forward Unto Dawn (FFG-201) was a United Nations Space Command Frigate.

It was also more commonly known by UNSC personnel as "The Dawn."

First Battle of Earth
While nothing is known about the Dawn's active role in the First Battle of Earth, since the ship was the flagship of Admiral Hood it can be accurately assumed that the ship was present to escort him from Orbital Defense Platform Cairo, his previous command. It is also presumed that the ship, along with the few remaining warships of the Home Fleet, hid on the continent of Africa until the Battle of Voi.

Second Battle of Earth
During the Second Battle of Earth, the Forward Unto Dawn was part of a formation of three UNSC frigates over the African Savannah of the Home Fleet. Combined with several squadrons of Longsword Fighters, they assaulted Truth's position.

It fired its MAC guns at the Forerunner Dreadnought, containing Truth, in attempts to stop him from activating the Portal to the Ark. This attempt failed, and it appeared the Dreadnought survived unscathed, escaping through the Portal to the Ark. .

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 Forward Unto Dawn went through the slip-space portal along with several Covenant Separatist vessels including the Shadow of Intent along with the rest of the Sangheilian Fleet

It dropped five D77H-TCI Pelican Dropships in a zero-G drop for a landing on the Ark. Later, John-117 and a few Marines destroyed a group of AA Wraiths opening up a landing site for the Dawn. It became the Flagship for the Humans for operations at the Ark, despite the fact that it was a mere Frigate. After Cortana was recovered from the infected remains of High Charity, Johnson took the ship and landed it as close as he could to the Control Room of Replacement Installation 04, leaving it and using a Warthog to traverse the remaining distance and aid the Master Chief and the Arbiter. After the ring's activation, it was used to help John-117 and the Arbiter escape into the Portal. .

After crash-landing in the Hanger Bay of the ship, the Arbiter traveled to the bridge of the ship while the Spartan stayed to implant Cortana into the ship to allow them to escape from the ring's activation. John-117 was nearly crushed by a Scorpion tank that was falling out of the Dawn ' s hangar, but managed to hang on. He survived the travel into the portal, but unfortunately the ship was cut in half as the portal collapsed, leaving John stranded in slip-space until the half of the ship could decelerate enough to drop into normal space. After the credits on Legendary, the hulk is seen drifting towards an unknown planet.

Current Status
"Well… some of us made it."

- Cortana, after escaping Installation 04(II)

The forward half of the vessel, including the Arbiter, was able to transition to Earth and land in an unknown ocean (possibly the Indian Ocean given the Portal's location). The Arbiter was rescued successfully from this impact. The latter half of the vessel finally fell out of slipspace, but in a currently unknown location. While jumping through the portal, the stern half of the Dawn was separated from the forward half by the firing of Installation 04 (II). While the front half successfully reached Earth, the stern was lost and winds up at some unknown location in space. Whether the vessel was left relatively close to the Ark, or the back half of the frigate managed to fit into the portal and get thrown out at a random destination is unknown. The latter theory brings to question how Cortana knew that the firing "did a number on the Ark", while the first theory brings with it the question of how the Master Chief survived the Halo's firing sequence.

Cortana dropped a distress beacon while John-117 sealed himself in one of the Dawn ' s cryogenic chambers (these are designed to work independent of a ships power, they are able to be dumped into space still active upon a ships impending destruction). After an undetermined amount of time, the Dawn ' s melted, mangled aft section was seen drifting towards an unknown planet. There are several possibilities on what the planet might be.

Trivia

 * It was first seen during the Halo 3 Trailer during E3 2007.
 * The second chapter of the level The Ark is called 'Forward Unto Dawn'.
 * 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.
 * If you look at the designations of the UNSC frigates firing on the Forerunner Dreadnought on the level The Storm, they all say Forward Unto Dawn and the ships numbers are the same as well.
 * The Forward Unto Dawn was originally the flagship of Fleet Admiral Hood. However, he left it in the capable hands of Miranda Keyes as she fought her way to the Ark.
 * It is interesting to note that in the level, The Ark, Marines ask if the Dawn was able to be operated within the atmosphere. This is an odd question to ask seeing as it was in Earth's atmosphere when attacking the Dreadnought, and In Amber Clad was in Earth's atmosphere as well during the First Battle of Earth.  This shows that Frigates, at the very least, are capable of operating within atmosphere.  But it does lead to the question that asks whether or not The Ark's atmosphere is the same as Earth's.  It could also be asking whether or not the Dawn was fit to survive atmospheric reentry at such an incredible speed.
 * The marines may have been asking whether the Dawn was able to land, not fly in the atmosphere, though this is potentially unlikely.
 * In all 3 Halo games, something happens to the UNSC ship. In Halo:CE the Pillar of Autumn crashes and is destroyed. In Halo 2 In Amber Clad gets taken over by the Flood and crashes into High Charity and most likely gets blown up during High Charity's destruction, and in Halo 3 the Forward Unto Dawn gets split in half by the portal closing.
 * It is said that frigates have 30 archer missile pods. The Dawn however has 50: 2 behind its bay, 2 in front of its bay, 2 on both sides of its MAC gun and one on each side of the thrusters.
 * In the final level of Halo 3, Halo, before the ship is torn in half, there is no mention or sight of the crew, which had boarded the Shadow of Intent before Sergeant Johnson positioned Forward Unto Dawn, this is mentioned in the cut scene at the beginning of the level Halo, Rtas 'Vadum can be heard saying "We are all aboard, Humans and Elites".
 * In the mission Halo Sergeant Johnson was apparently piloting the Frigate by himself. This is pretty much impossible, as there is no way a Marine Corps Sergeant Major would know how to pilot a ship that big and complex single-handedly, unless using autopilot. Johnson has been around Frigates before and knows his way around a variety of technology that may be considered exotic for a Marine.

Related Articles

 * United Nations Space Command
 * UNSC Navy