UNSC Cradle

UNSC Cradle was a refit station in service with the UNSC Navy attached to the Epsilon Eridani Fleet. Richard Lash's father served as a welder on the station. Cradle ultimately sacrificed itself during the Battle of Sigma Octanus IV to protect the ships of its battle group.

History
In July of 2552, UNSC Cradle was attached to Vice Admiral Michael Stanforth's Battle Group Leviathan of the Epsilon Eridani Fleet, the UNSC Navy fleet charged with defending the Epsilon Eridani system. On July 18, 2552, after Commander Jacob Keyes successfully fended off several Covenant warships at Sigma Octanus IV, Stanforth led Battle Group Leviathan to the system to lend aid to the planet. Upon arrival, Stanforth had Cradle repair, Keyes' ship that had been damaged in the initial attack.

As a second naval engagement began over Sigma Octanus IV, Cradle was used as a shield for Battle Group Leviathan when the Covenant attacked, sacrificing itself so that the rest of the battle group could be protected from a salvo of plasma fire. No escape pods 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 Magnetic Accelerator Cannon volley fire. The remains of the station were pushed into high orbit above Sigma Octanus IV after the battle.

The tactic would be reused at the Fall of Reach later that year with several of that planet's repair stations and some human ships manned by skeleton crews, in order to protect the planet's orbital defense platforms and more valuable ships from Covenant plasma torpedoes.

Specifications
UNSC Cradle was essentially a large square plate of titanium-A armor, larger than a square kilometer. When running at full capacity, Cradle was capable of refitting six destroyers, three from her upper surface and three from her lower surface, in a matter of hours. When repairing a warship, Cradle would deploy scaffolds to facilitate repairs and resupply tubes, hoses, and cargo trams were utilized. It was crewed by only thirty individuals, 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. Cradle was slower than the warships in the UNSC Navy's fleet.

Production notes
The Halo Encyclopedia (2009 edition) erroneously refers to Cradle as a class of refit station, rather than an individual vessel. UNSC Cradle was humorously referred to during a Canon Fodder post on April Fools' 2015, in which the dimensions of a literal infant "UNSC cradle" were given, in response to an influx of questions relating to the dimensions of UNSC Cradle at the time of the blog's posting. For the 100th edition of Canon Fodder, Cradle's dimensions were approximated to be 1,800m x 600m, although specific dimensions are currently not noted in the Story Bible.

List of appearances

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