Battle of the Great Bear

Previous:	Battle of Eridanus II
Concurrent:	Harvest Campaign
Next:	Battle of Arcadia
Battle of Groombridge 1830
Conflict:	Human-Covenant War
Date:	December 24, 2530
Location:	Groombridge 1830 system
Outcome:	Pyrrhic UNSC victory
Belligerents UNSC Covenant Commanders Admiral Preston Cole Unknown Strength Seventeen UNSC warships Three warships Casualties Eleven destroyers Two vessels One vessel crash-landed

The Battle of the Great Bear, also known as the Battle of Groombridge 1830, was a major battle in the early years of the Human-Covenant War. It ended in a pyrrhic victory for the UNSC fleet, which was commanded by Admiral Preston Cole.^[1][2]

[edit] Background

Admiral Cole interrogates a Sangheili prisoner.

Cole's fleet, consisting of seventeen ships, engaged three Covenant warships, destroying the enemy force but losing eleven destroyers in the process. Two of the Covenant ships were destroyed directly in combat, while the third crash-landed on the surface of a nearby planet.

A Sangheili survivor was recovered from Waterford, Leuria on Groombridge-1830 and interrogated personally by Admiral Cole.^[3] Through this interrogation, the UNSC learned that the Covenant were wiping out humanity because the humans had been deemed "unclean." More importantly, Cole discovered that the Covenant were largely unaware of the size and whereabouts of humanity's interstellar empire, leading to the formulation of the Cole Protocol.^[1][2]

[edit] List of appearances

• Halo Wars: Genesis (First appearance)
• Halo: Evolutions - Essential Tales of the Halo Universe
  • The Impossible Life and the Possible Death of Preston J. Cole
• Halo: The Fall of Reach (2010)

[edit] Sources

1. ^ ^{a b} Halo Wars: Genesis
2. ^ ^{a b} Halo: Evolutions - Essential Tales of the Halo Universe, "The Impossible Life and the Possible Death of Preston J. Cole"
3. ^ Halo: The Fall of Reach (2010), Adjunct: "ONI Directorate Memorandum Interrogation Findings"