The large wooden ships, cobbled together from timber, held up without any problems thanks to the impressive performance of the black glue.
But cobbling together enough ships to carry an army of two hundred thousand across the sea was still no easy task!
Orgrim's plan was to build a few hundred seaworthy vessels first, then ferry tens of thousands of troops across at a time.
Though a few tens of thousands was a little on the low side, establishing a foothold across the sea would be no problem.
Brimming with confidence, Orgrim did not believe the humans could pose much of a threat to his forces.
Moreover, the first wave of troops crossing the sea would include powerful death knights.
These human knights, raised from the dead, would surely deal a devastating blow to the human armies!
Certain that victory was in his grasp, Orgrim cheerfully watched his subordinates practice handling the warships.
The craftsmen responsible for building the ships were clumsy-looking orcs and ogres.
That was why the goblins had kept the ships' design very simple, fearing these oafs would be unable to build anything more complicated.
The finished vessels had bathtub-shaped hulls, topped with shelters to keep off the sun and rain.
A design like that was certainly unsuitable for use at sea.
But as long as the ships were large enough and encountered no strong winds or waves, they could make the crossing perfectly well.
Over a hundred long oars supplied these giant bathtubs with tremendous power.
Driven entirely by muscle power, the ships reached the blistering speed of nearly fifteen knots.
Compared to sailing warships, which generally traveled at under ten knots, that speed could already be called unbeatable!
Yet the ranged weapons aboard these muscle-powered warships were terrible.
The goblins' shoddily made cannons were so unreliable that even the goblins themselves had no faith in them.
When a goblin engineer nervously fired a cannon and successfully launched its shell, he was so excited that he nearly jumped for joy.
Watching the shell fly over two thousand meters and blast a great spray of mud out of the swamp, Orgrim was highly satisfied with the goblins' product.
"Give me five hundred cannons like that! I'm going to build an invincible fleet!"
Orgrim had excellent strategic vision!
He was also adept at planning the allocation of resources.
Since both sides of the warships had to accommodate the rowers, mounting a single cannon at the bow would suffice.
They would fire at the enemy as they charged forward, then board the enemy ships once they drew close and finish the battle in melee.
The orc infantry drilling aboard the warships practiced exactly that approach.
The sailors were all tremendously strong.
As long as they had enough food, defeating the enemy navy would be effortless!
As for their enormous food consumption, that problem was easily solved.
Once they reached the other side of the sea, couldn't they plunder as much as they pleased?
The history of orc warfare was a history of plunder.
They robbed ogres, robbed Draenei, and robbed every race they could.
The feverish shipbuilding continued for nearly three months.
When the last tree in the Wetlands was felled, the massive shipbuilding effort finally drew to a close.
With preparations for the crossing complete, the orcs' invincible fleet sailed out of the harbor in a vast procession, heading for Southshore across the sea.
Though Southshore was predicted to be the fleet's target, the kingdoms around the bay remained on edge.
To the east, the Kingdom of Stromgarde's capital, Stromgarde, stood right beside the sea.
To the west, the Kingdom of Gilneas had extensive stretches of coastline suitable for landings.
Reefs littered its coast, making it difficult for large ships to approach those shores that could tear into their hulls.
But if the orc landing fleet charged in regardless, the Kingdom of Gilneas would likely struggle to hold them off.
Waiting for the enemy to land at Southshore as predicted was clearly a risky gamble!
Taking the initiative and defeating the enemy head-on was the proper way to wage war.
That would require the Kingdom of Kul Tiras's fleet to take action.
The Kingdom of Kul Tiras's truly invincible fleet, which had long been waiting, soon found the orcs' counterfeit invincible fleet out at sea.
A large number of sailing warships gathered together, adjusting their angles to keep their sails full as they rapidly approached the entirely black Orcs Fleet.
The sailing warships' guns were mounted along both sides of their hulls.
The fleet therefore tried to circle around to the enemy's flank before opening fire.
Seeing the human fleet approaching, the Orcs Fleet excitedly loaded its cannons and fired wildly.
Most of those haphazard shots were fired before the enemy entered effective range.
After flying some distance, the shells struck the sea and threw up great splashes.
Even the few shells that came close to the enemy ships did little more than give them a bang to listen to.
The Kingdom of Kul Tiras's fleet had extensive experience in naval warfare.
While the orcs frantically reloaded their cannons, the humans swept around the Orcs Fleet's flank and blasted holes in its ships with a broadside.
A dense barrage of shells slammed into the Orcs Fleet, wrecking most of the ships on one side.
The Kul Tiras fleet was still using old-fashioned Shrapnel Shells.
Yet when those Shrapnel Shells exploded inside the ships, their destructive power was considerable!
Many orc sailors were killed or wounded by the blasts and could no longer propel their ships.
The orc warships that had not been attacked struggled to turn, hoping to return fire with their bow-mounted cannons.
But the enemy quickly circled around to the other side and unleashed another broadside.
After taking two broadsides, the Orcs Fleet had been battered into a pitiful state!
No matter how they adjusted their warships' headings, they could not keep up with the enemy vessels circling around them.
Faced with enemy ships as slippery as loaches, the orc helmsmen were utterly bewildered.
The Orcs Fleet's ships did indeed have good straight-line speed.
But their broad hulls were terribly unwieldy when turning.
They simply had not been designed for naval combat.
Of course, the goblins had said from the start that these ships were suited to traveling in straight lines.
If the orcs had failed to listen properly, they had no one else to blame.
The goblins, who had already pocketed their ill-gotten gains and fled, could offer no help.
Under one attack after another, the orcs' black ships seemed poised to suffer total annihilation.
Admiral Daelin, commander of the Kul Tiras fleet, thoroughly enjoyed the elation of impending victory.
The green tide that had once swept through the Kingdom of Azeroth was nothing more than a collection of floating targets at sea.
Even the weakest pirates were a hundred times more formidable than these orcs!
The only purpose these orcs served was to endure the ravages of cannon fire!
He watched the battered Orcs Fleet, which looked ready to sink to the seabed and feed the fish.
Admiral Daelin began considering what he ought to say upon his triumphant return.
Just then, the lookout high above spotted something unusual and nervously reported it to Admiral Daelin on the deck.
"Your Majesty, look up! A dragon is flying this way!"
Annoyed at having his thoughts interrupted for no reason, Admiral Daelin scolded his subordinate for making a fuss.
"Look at you! This isn't the first time you've seen a dragon. What's all the excitement about?"
"Your Majesty, that dragon seems to be coming straight for us!"
At the lookout's explanation, Admiral Daelin finally realized the gravity of the situation.
When he looked up, he could already see the fire gathering in the enormous creature's mouth.
"Enemy attack! Scatter the formation!"
Admiral Daelin had barely issued his order when searing dragonfire fell upon the fleet.
The flames the dragon spewed were hot enough to melt steel into a puddle.
Struck by such an attack, a sailing warship instantly became a fiercely burning fireball.
In truth, no warship could withstand dragonfire unless it was made from special metals.
Under the ravages of dragonfire, every struggle was futile!
Many sailors' bodies had already been burned to charcoal by the time they jumped into the sea.
Each time the red dragon swept swiftly over the fleet, it could easily set a warship ablaze.
The sailors' muskets and powerful crossbows could not even scratch it.
Faced with such an invincible enemy, the Kul Tiras fleet had no choice but to scatter and flee.