Why doesn’t Dorne have a navy?

[R2D]

Bump

[Bobity.]

"All along the south coast of Cape Wrath rose crumbling stone watchtowers, raised in ancient days to give warning of Dornish raiders stealing in across the sea. Villages had grown up about the towers. A few had flowered into towns." TWOW - Aianne ll

It may not have been an organized navy, but Dornish were a genuine navy threat at one point in history to warrant the Stormland construction of a series of watchtowers. I suspect that this predates the arrival of Nymeria, when Dorne was still divided between the Stony and Sandy Dornish cultural groups.  Possibly even older than the Long Night considering the crumbling description and evolution into towns.  Castle Wyl is my guess on where the the ancient Dornish naval power called its home port.

[BlackLightning]

On 9/18/2019 at 1:21 PM, Rufus Snow said:

Good question.... although most of the southern shore is unfit for landing ships, there are places where invaders can land, and as Lord Eunuch points out, Dorne is VERY close to the Stepstones and Tyrosh and the Disputed Lands. I've also been surprised at how little interaction there seems to be between these and Dorne.

I'd like to have some history about why Dorne hasn't been much more involved across the Broken Arm.... as it is, it just feels like part of the colouring book where the pencils broke and never got filled in properly.

Frankly, I'm a bit mystified that the Stepstones are not and have never been an official part of the Seven Kingdoms or Dorne.

[nyser1]

Dorne also strikes me as quite poor (particularly with natural resources, no their wine is not going to create a wealthy economy on its own), sparsely populated, and fairly low in population. Unlike the North, none of its natural resources actually seem conducive for sustenance or trade (beyond wine).

 

To establish even wine trade, they would need some sort of merchant fleet or port(s). However, building a military fleet would suggest a constant flow of assets and capital to fund/maintain it.

[Aldarion]

13 hours ago, nyser1 said:

Dorne also strikes me as quite poor (particularly with natural resources, no their wine is not going to create a wealthy economy on its own), sparsely populated, and fairly low in population. Unlike the North, none of its natural resources actually seem conducive for sustenance or trade (beyond wine).

  

To establish even wine trade, they would need some sort of merchant fleet or port(s). However, building a military fleet would suggest a constant flow of assets and capital to fund/maintain it.

So, they are too poor to afford it?

[nyser1]

10 hours ago, Aldarion said:

So, they are too poor to afford it?

Based upon what we know about Dorne, I believe it is likely that House Martell cannot afford to maintain a standing fleet.