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, and also against the Insurgenists.

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 thirteen cruisers. This engagement was commanded by both Fleet Admirals Hood and Harper.

On Cairo Station, Fleet Admiral Hood was awarding John-117, Avery Johnson for their actions at the first Halo. When Cortana received 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 using antimatter bombs. 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 ship in this engagement was the, commanded by Miranda Keyes. The IAC's ground forces engaged the Covenant until, in retreat, the Assault Carrier fled the battle. The UNSC In Amber Clad,, , and the  made it into the slipspace rift before it closed.

Battle of Installation 05
Only In Amber Clad successfully kept pace with the carrier. Dusk arrived days later. Coral Sea, Paris, and Redoubtable never arrived at all, most likely due to the imprecise physics of Slipspace and the UNSC's rather limited technology for slipspace navigation.

The In Amber Clad dropped ODSTs on Installation 05, along with Spartan-117 to assassinate the Prophet of Regret. The rest of the In Amber Clad's crew went to find the Index. Avery Johnson and Miranda Keyes got through the Quarantine Zone before encountering the Arbiter and being captured by Covenant. They were taken to High Charity and were taken to the Control Room to fire Installation 05. In Amber Clad, however, was taken over by flood and crashed into High Charity. Cortana, the IAC's AI, vowed to destroy it, but never did.

Second Battle of Earth
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 Truth's fleet arrived and, according to Commander Keyes, "...smashed what was left of the home fleet...". At about this time, the Home Fleet had less than 300 ships and was almost to the point of destruction. The UNSC was using its' last reserves of ships to launch hit and run attacks on the Covenant.

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 slipspace portal.

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

It is unknown what actions the Home Fleet took after the Forward Unto Dawn took off into the slipspace portal, but it is known that they were able to hold off the Covenant long enough to win the War.

Battle of Onyx
The UNSC Home Fleet dispatched Battlegroup Stalingrad, commanded by Admiral Carl Patterson to Onyx to recover forerunner artifacts reported by Dr. Halsey. When the battle group arrived, they engaged two Covenant Destroyers. was the first to be destroyed when it purposely turned into plasma fire from the destroyers intended for the. 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 launched a suicide assault on the Covenant ships. The got in between eight Covenant Warships, and detonated a nuke inside of its engine room, sacrificing itself to destroy two Destroyers. The UNSC ships disengaged, passing around Onyx, when Sentinels destroyed three Covenant Ships using plasma capture.

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 force into the mine field. The mines detonated, but four Covenant Destroyers made it through the nuclear fireballs. The rest of the UNSC ships thought they would win the engagement, until thirty-two Covenant vessels, reinforcements from Joyous 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.

Battle of Installation 00
At least 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 UNSC Marine and Covenant 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. The was badly damaged, and it is not known if the  was able to escape. If not, then the Home Fleet may have been completely wiped out.

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