The Battle of Fair Isle

Balon Greyjoy's rebellion opened with a stroke that stunned the mainland: his brother Victarion led the Iron Fleet against Lannisport under cover of night, burning the Lannister war-fleet at its own moorings before the westermen had so much as manned the walls. For a few weeks it seemed the ironborn might make good on Balon's boast that the sea itself belonged to the krakens.

King Robert answered by sending the one brother he trusted more with ships than with courts: Stannis Baratheon, given command of the royal fleet, sailed to hunt down what remained of Victarion's strength before it could reach the safety of the Iron Islands. He found it in the waters off Fair Isle, and gave the Iron Fleet no second chance to strike from the dark. In open battle, ship against ship, iron discipline told against the raiders' speed and daring, and Victarion's fleet was broken and scattered.

The defeat cost the ironborn the one advantage their strategy depended on — the sea itself — and opened the way for Stannis's fleet to blockade and, before the year was out, help storm Pyke. The maesters note, not without a certain grim satisfaction, that a war begun by burning ships was ended by the loss of them.