UNSC Gettysburg

The UNSC Gettysburg was a frigate in service with the UNSC Navy during the Human-Covenant War.

[edit] History

[edit] Battle of Sigma Octanus IV

Main article: Sigma Octanus IV

On July 17, 2552, the Gettysburg, along with the frigate UNSC Allegiance, responded to a distress signal sent by Commander Jacob Keyes from the Sigma Octanus System.^[1] The vessel later fought in the Battle of Sigma Octanus IV with Battle Group Leviathan.^[2]

The vessel then returned to the orbital space dock of Reach, where it was heavily damaged in the Battle of Reach. There the entire crew was killed in the battle.

[edit] Gettysburg-Ascendant Justice

Eventually, John-117, along with several survivors of Battle of Installation 04 and Fall of Reach, used the Gettysburg, fusing it with the Covenant ship Ascendant Justice, thus becoming the first human-Covenant hybrid vessel in history.^[3] It was used because the Ascendant Justice could not do the two Slipspace jumps in and out of a group of Covenant ships fast enough using just its own reactor. ^[4]

[edit] Operation: FIRST STRIKE

Main article: Operation: FIRST STRIKE

Eventually, the vessel was unlinked from the Ascendant Justice so that Vice Admiral Danforth Whitcomb and First Lieutenant Elias Haverson could use the Ascendant Justice to lure a Covenant battle fleet to the Unyielding Hierophant, which was about to explode.^[5] The Gettysburg was refitted with the slipspace drive from the Ascendant Justice prior to unlinking.^[6]

After Operation: FIRST STRIKE, the Gettysburg and its skeleton crew headed back to the Sol system.

[edit] Trivia

• It is named after the Battle of Gettysburg. The American Civil War battle took place on July 1-3 1863, in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, on Earth. This is interesting, in that it was fused with a Covenant vessel, just as the two factions of the American Civil War eventually rejoined into one country.
• The Gettysburg has an onboard Officers' Club, housing a massive table of oak, scored with numerous gouges and scorches from a hundred cigars set upon its surface. There was a bar stocked with bottles containing a rainbow collection of liquors. It also housed the UNSC gold-fringed blue flag, photographs of past officers and captains of the Gettysburg, and a tin Civil War daguerreotype that displayed battlefields of charging men, cavalry and cannons.

[edit] List of appearances

• Halo: The Fall of Reach (First appearance)
• Halo: First Strike
• Halo: Ghosts of Onyx (Mentioned only)

[edit] Sources

1. ^ Halo: The Fall of Reach, page 145
2. ^ Halo: The Fall of Reach, page 154
3. ^ Halo: First Strike, page 208
4. ^ Halo: First Strike, page 209
5. ^ Halo: First Strike, page 332
6. ^ Halo: First Strike, page 329