UNSC Forward Unto Dawn

The Forward Unto Dawn, Hull Classification Symbol FFG-201, often referred to as the Dawn, was a United Nations Space Command Frigate.

Second Battle of Earth
During the Second Battle of Earth, the 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 Magnetic Accelerator Cannon at the Forerunner Dreadnaught containing the Prophet of Truth in attempts to stop him from activating the Portal to the Ark. This attempt failed, and it appeared the Dreadnaught survived unscathed. .

Battle of Installation 00
The Forward Unto Dawn went through the slipspace portal along with several Covenant Separatist vessels including the Shadow of Intent. It dropped five Pelicans for a landing on the Ark. Later, the Master Chief and a few Marines destroyed a group of Anti-Air Wraiths opening up a landing site for the Forward Unto Dawn. The Dawn was later docked near the control room of Installation 04 (II), the replacement Halo, and was used in the escape of Master Chief and the Arbiter. .

The Arbiter took to the bridge, accelerating in a vertical climb away from the installation as it destroyed itself while the Chief clung to the floor panels in the still-open hangar bay. Spartan-117 was nearly crushed by a Scorpion tank that was falling out of the Dawn ' 's hangar.

However, with Cortana praying for him to hang on (recently inserted into the Forward Unto Dawn ' s computer systems), he was able to survive the acceleration forces until the Arbiter piloted the Dawn into the portal, which collapsed into itself when the Dawn was halfway through it.

Current Status
The forward half of the vessel, including the Arbiter, was able to transition to Earth and land in the ocean. The Arbiter was rescued, although it is unknown if anyone else in that half survived. The latter half of the vessel fell out of Slipspace somewhere between the Ark and Earth. Cortana dropped a distress beacon while SPARTAN-117 sealed himself in one of the Dawn ' s cryogenic chambers. After an undetermined amount of time, the Dawn ' s back end was seen drifting towards an unidentified planet, upon which the game promptly concludes. This cutscene is only witnessed upon completion of the campaign on legendary difficulty, after the credits.

The planet looks Forerunner. Several hypotheses have been generated. One is that it is a Forerunner shield world - however, the vessel apears to be floating in realspace (stars can be seen in the background) and shield worlds only exist in Slipspace. Another theory is that it is an abandoned Forerunner world, possibly their homeworld. Another is that it is Earth in the distant future, and humans have used the Forerunner technology on Earth to rebuild it after the war. This theory of SPARTAN-117 returning to Earth in the far future would sort-of parody Durandal's return to Earth in the distant future at the end of Marathon Infinity.

Trivia

 * It was first seen during the Halo 3 Trailer during E3 2007.