UNSC Cradle

The Cradle was a UNSC refit station.

Background
The Cradle was essentially a large square plate of Titanium-A armor, a kilometer to a side, capable of refitting six destroyers, three from her upper surface, and three from her lower surface, in a matter of hours or days. It was crewed by only 30 people (in addition to the EVA work crews). Like many such stations, it was equipped with a Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine for interstellar travel, allowing it to travel alongside Naval battle groups and provide immediate refits for damaged vessels.

Operational history
In July 2552, it was present at the Battle of Sigma Octanus IV. The Cradle was used as a shield for Battle Group Leviathan when the Covenant attacked and it was sacrificed so that the rest of the battle group could be protected from a salvo of plasma fire. No escape lifeboats were launched and the entire crew was killed. They were avenged moments later when Battle Group Leviathan destroyed seven Covenant ships and damaged many others with their MAC volley fire. The remains of the station were pushed into high orbit above Sigma Octanus after the battle.

Legacy
The tactic would be reused at the Fall of Reach with all three of that planet's repair stations and some human ships, in order to protect the planet's MAC guns from Covenant plasma torpedoes.

Trivia

 * Commander Richard Lash’s father was a crewman engineer on the ship and was killed when it was destroyed.
 * The UNSC Cradle was humorously referred to during 343 Industry’s April Fools blog post.

List of appearances

 * Halo: The Fall of Reach
 * Halo: Ghosts of Onyx
 * Halo: Fall of Reach
 * Covenant