Iron Fleet

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"It's the greatest fleet Westeros has ever seen. With the Iron Fleet, you own the seas!"

―Euron Greyjoy

The Iron Fleet is the fleet of warships of the Iron Islands under the command of House Greyjoy.

History

Background

During the Greyjoy Rebellion, the Iron Fleet led by Lord Euron Greyjoy raids Lannisport, destroying the Lannister fleet. The Iron Fleet was later defeated by the forces of Lord Stannis Baratheon. Following the Siege of Pyke, the Ironborn ruler Balon Greyjoy sues for peace and submits to King Robert Baratheon. His youngest son and heir Theon Greyjoy is sent to live as a ward of Lord Eddard Stark.

Season 6

At the Kingsmoot held after the death of Balon, Yara vows to build the "mightiest fleet" to conquer the mainland. However, she is outmanuevered by her uncle Euron, who advocates forging an alliance with Daenerys Targaryen in order to gain access to her dragons. While Euron is being baptized by Aeron Greyjoy, Yara, Theon, and their supporters flee on the best ships in the Iron Fleet. In response, Euron orders his supporters to build another fleet and to kill his niece and nephew.

Yara and Theon's Iron Fleet sails to Essos with the intention of beating Euron to Dany, who lives in Meereen in Slaver's Bay. On the way, they stop for rest and relaxation at the Free City of Volantis. At Meereen, Yara and Theon forge an alliance with Dany and her advisor Tyrion Lannister. In return for recognizing the independence of the Iron Islands and helping them to overthrow Euron, Yara agrees to ferry Dany's army to Westeros and to cease raiding the mainland. Later, the Iron Fleet is seen sailing as part of a combined Targaryen armada to invade Westeros.

Known ships

• Black Wind
• Sea Bitch

In the books

In the A Song of Ice and Fire novels, the Iron Fleet is the elite naval force of the ironborn. It consists of around a hundred warships dipping 100 oars or more. It is one of the three most powerful fleets of Westeros, along with the royal fleet of the crownlands and the Redwyne fleet of the Arbor.

The Iron Fleet is not the entirety or the majority of the ironbon naval forces, which are estimated to number well over 500 longships. However, most of these ships only dip 20 oars and are meant for coastal raiding, not pitched naval battles and ship-to-ship engagements. The Iron Fleet is a permanent military force held to belong to the Iron Islands as a whole, not individual captains or houses.

The Iron Fleet spearheads any major military action. Its job is to destroy or pin larger enemy ships, allowing smaller longships to land on the enemy shores. The Iron Fleet was comprehensively defeated in the Battle of Fair Isle during the Greyjoy Rebellion, when the Royal Fleet under Lord Stannis Baratheon and the Redwyne fleet under Lord Paxter Redwyne trapped it in a pincer movement and destroyed it. This allowed the royalist forces to attack Pyke and end the war.

Since the end of the Greyjoy Rebellion, the Iron Fleet has been rebuilt to its former size. It is commanded by Victarion Greyjoy from his flagship, the Iron Victory.

Following Balon's death, a Kingsmoot is held and one of his younger brothers, Euron Greyjoy, is proclaimed King of the Iron Islands. Euron then embarks on a massive campaign to conquer Westeros, beginning with the Shield Islands in the Reach. While a section of the Iron Fleet under Victarion draws the Shield Islanders' fleet away from the islands, a larger Ironborn force under Euron raids and pillages the Shields.

After capturing Oakenshield, Euron sends the Iron fleet, under the command of Victarion, on a mission to bring back Daenerys Targaryen from Meereen. Like the TV series, he intends to marry her as his Queen.

Unlike in the show, while the Iron fleet is away, Euron does not need to build even one additional ship (let alone one thousand) because he still has hundreds of ships at his disposal - sufficiently for the next stage of his campaign against the Reach.

At the beginning of the voyage to the Slaver's Bay, the Iron fleet consists of 93 ships. Nearly half of them are lost on the way, but Victarion does not despair. The remaining fleet continues, capturing several cogs and galleys along the way. By the time the fleet reaches Meereen, it consists of 61 ships.

Known ships of the Iron fleet

• Grief
• Iron Victory, captained by Victarion Greyjoy
• Iron Vengeance
• Hardhand. Destroyed during the raid of the Shield Islands
• Iron Wind
• Grey Ghost
• Lord Quellon
• Lord Vickon, presumably named after Vickon Greyjoy
• Lord Dagon
• Maiden's Bane
• White Widow
• Lamentation
• Woe
• Leviathan
• Reaper's Wind
• Warhammer
• Dagon's Feast. Destroyed at a storm during the voyage to the Slaver's Bay
• Red Tide. Destroyed at a storm during the voyage to the Slaver's Bay
• Shark. Damaged at storms during the voyage to the Slaver's Bay, and left behind for repairs
• Ravenfeeder
• Iron Kiss
• Headless Jeyne
• Fear
• Sparrowhawk, one of the three fastest ships in the fleet
• Fingerdancer
• Forlorn Hope
• Iron Wing, one of the three fastest ships in the fleet
• Kraken's Kiss, one of the three fastest ships in the fleet
• Kite
• Seven Skulls
• Thrall's Bane
• Warrior Wench
• Red Jester
• Dagger
• Iron Lady

Captured ships

Ships captured by Victarion Greyjoy on the way to the Slaver's Bay:

• Noble Lady, a merchant ship
• Ghiscari Dawn, a slaver galley. Renamed "Red God's Wroth"
• Dove, a Myrish cog. Renamed "Shrike"
• A Ghis galley, renamed "Shade"
• A Ghis galley, renamed "Ghost"
• Willing Maiden, a galley from Yunkai. Renamed "Slaver's Scream"

Other ironborn ships

Other ships captained by ironborn, which are not part of the Iron fleet:

• Sea Song, captained by Lord Rodrik "the Reader" Harlaw
• Thunderer, captained by Lord Dunstan Drumm
• Nightflyer, captained by members of House Blacktyde
• Silverfin, captained by members of House Botley
• Silence, captained by Euron Greyjoy
• Black Wind, captained by Asha Greyjoy
• Great Kraken, captained by Balon Greyjoy
• Sea Bitch, captained by Theon Greyjoy

See also

• Iron Fleet on A Wiki of Ice and Fire (MAJOR spoilers from the books)