#third fleet

During the Second War, approximately five years after the opening of the Dark Portal, Admiral Daelin Proudmoore and the Kul Tiran navy sailed to intercept the Horde fleet as it made its way for Lordaeron’s shores [World of Warcraft Chronicle Volume II, pg. 157]. The Kul Tiran navy was composed of four fleets: The First Fleet followed the orc armada, the Second stayed next to the island of Crestfall and attacked from there, and the Third Fleet, led by Marshal M. Valentine, sailed ahead to block any orc ships that made it through the first two while the Fourth Fleet closed the circle from the south [Tides of Darkness, Chapter Eighteen, Quest: Grab and Go]. The Kul Tiran navy, well versed in naval warfare, had a significant advantage over the navally inexperienced orcs and would have destroyed all of their ships had it not been for one thing: red dragons enslaved by the Dragonmaw tribe. Three dragons alone obliterated all seven ships of the Third Fleet plus an elven destroyer, sinking them instantaneously [Page: Lost Fleet]. Derek Proudmoore, Daelin’s oldest son and crown prince of Kul Tiras, died with the Third Fleet [Tides of Darkness, Chapter Eighteen].

The Third Fleet is popularly known as the Doomed Fleet because of the events that transpired that fateful day at sea [Quest: The Third Fleet]. The only survivor of the catastrophe was First Mate Fitzsimmons of the Wave Mistress, but he recently passed away after a battle with alcoholism [Quest: Cursed to Roam, NPC: Glorin Steelbrow Dialogue].

Several sources claim that this naval battle occurred in the channel of water somewhere between the Wetlands and the Kul Tiran territories of Zul’Dare and Crestfall [Quest: Cursed to Roam, World of Warcraft Chronicle Volume II, pg. 157, Tides of Darkness: Chapter Eighteen]. The Intrepid and Wave Mistress sunk off the coast of the Wetlands, but the remaining five ships of the Kul Tiran Third Fleet are at the bottom of the Great Sea, far south of Kul Tiras’ current location [Quest: Cursed to Roam, Quest: Journey to the Middle of Nowhere, Quest: Deep Dive]. 

According to a couple maps in the Chronicle volumes, Kul Tiras has been moving toward the Maelstrom ever since the Second War [World of Warcraft Chronicle Volume II, pg. 108, World of Warcraft Chronicle Volume III, pg. 102]. It’s highly likely that this shift in location was an error because the movement appears to have occurred between the Second War and the Third War when in reality, Kul Tiras did not actually move further into the sea until the Shattering [Page: Kul Tiras]. The reason for this discrepancy has to do with Kul Tiras’ presence in Battle for Azeroth. Between the second and third Chronicle volumes, Kul Tiras’ appearance was changed to match the island nation as it appears in-game. As a result, the island looks different and appears much further away than how it did in the second Chronicle volume. Although Kul Tiras moved, both Zul’Dare and Crestfall still remain in their original locations close to the mainland [World of Warcraft Chronicle Volume III, pg. 102].