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Kenway’s Fleet missions are grayed out or refuse to launch because the sea region you’re pointing at is still held by an enemy fort, not because your save is bugged or the interface is broken. Every region on the fleet map stays locked to missions until you physically sail over, storm, and capture the fort that controls it. This guide covers where the fleet menu unlocks, how regions and forts gate it, what Risk Level and berths actually mean, and which fort order opens the most routes fastest.
TL;DR
- Locked fleet missions are a fort-ownership check, not a glitch — clear the region’s fort and the routes open.
- Kenway’s Fleet unlocks after the Sequence 4 story mission This Old Cove, alongside your Great Inagua hideout.
- The 2013 companion app and turn-based minigame are gone; everything now runs from an in-game planning table.
- Ship classes are tied to mission types: Schooners trade, Brigs pirate, Frigates scout, Man-o-Wars patrol and cut Risk Level.
- Capturing easy northern forts first opens the most low-risk routes before you push south.
What Are Kenway's Fleet Missions in Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced?
Kenway’s Fleet is the returning system that lets Edward send captured ships out on their own timed jobs across the Caribbean while you keep playing elsewhere. Captured ships become valuable rewards for Edward and will be added to Kenway’s Fleet, with every ship assigned to missions generating passive income, trade goods, and rare activity spawns even while you’re busy elsewhere on the map. It’s managed from a station located in the manor at Great Inagua, where you can dispatch ships you’ve captured and added to your fleet on timed missions. Players search this the moment the menu won’t let them pick a route, assuming something crashed, when it’s actually a gate built into how the map itself unlocks.
Where to Get Ships for Kenway's Fleet in Black Flag Resynced
Your fleet grows entirely through boarding, not purchasing. When you spot an enemy vessel, use the spyglass to check its type and level — ships can be gunboats, which cannot be captured, or schooners, brigs, frigates, and Man-o-Wars, which can. You need to damage an enemy ship without sinking it, board it, reduce the crew’s morale to zero, and then select the “Send To Kenway’s Fleet” option to add it to your roster. Building a varied fleet matters because different mission types require specific ship classes, and you don’t want to bring a Schooner to a Man-o-War fight. For dangerous trade routes specifically, aim high: you should specifically try to capture frigates and man-o’-wars rather than smaller ships, since they offer the greatest cargo capacity and highest combat stats, both necessary to secure dangerous trade routes. Once a route is safe, faster schooners can run it with less risk. Managing the roster ties directly into your Great Inagua hideout upgrades, since dock space and berths expand as you invest in the manor.
Step-by-Step: How to Unlock and Start Using Kenway's Fleet
Warning
Don’t attack full-strength forts head-on early in the game — they will punish an underleveled Jackdaw with mortar barrages and reinforcement waves, and a failed assault gains you nothing. Upgrade the hull and mortars first if you’re pushing toward southern forts.
Follow this sequence to get it done fast.
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1
Progress to Sequence 4 and finish This Old Cove
Kenway's Fleet unlocks after the Sequence 4 mission "This Old Cove," just as in the original Black Flag.
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2
Claim Great Inagua as your hideout
this same mission unlocks your hideout for the first time, letting you spend resources on shops and display collectibles in your own manor.
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3
Open the planning table
access fleet missions directly via the planning table in the room just below the main deck of your Jackdaw, or at the equivalent table in the Great Inagua manor.
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4
Board and stock ships before spending
fleet missions require a disposable supply of both resources and physical ships, but obtaining ships is simple; once you finish boarding a vessel you'll be given the option "Send to Kenway's Fleet" to add it to your collection.
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5
Check which region you're trying to use
when you first boot up Kenway's Fleet you're likely to discover you can't embark on any voyages yet, because the map is divided into multiple regions each controlled by at least one fort, and until that fort falls you can't send ships on missions there.
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6
Clear that region's fort
each fort capture grants a fast-travel point, money, upgrade materials, a fully revealed map region, and it also opens Kenway's Fleet missions in that area.
Best Kenway's Fleet Farming Methods
Once regions are open, the fastest way to unlock Kenway’s Fleet income isn’t one single method — it’s matching ship classes to the mission type they’re built for. Schooners run Trade missions for the most Reales, Brigs run Piracy missions and drop Art Pieces, and Man-o-Wars run Patrol missions to lower the Risk Level so your other ships don’t sink.
Schooners and their Trade Missions are generally the most profitable use of the fleet, with rewards ranging from roughly 1,250 to 4,600 Reales depending on the region’s difficulty — well above what you’d get selling the same trade goods at a General Store.
| Method | Speed | Effort | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Schooner Trade Missions | Fast | Low | Steady Reales income |
| Brig Piracy Missions | Moderate | Low | Farming Art Pieces |
| Man-o-War Patrol Missions | Slow | Medium | Lowering regional Risk Level |
| Frigate Scout Missions | Moderate | Low | Rare activity spawns |
| Aggressive Fort-Clearing Rush | Slow upfront | High | Opening every region at once |
Kenway's Fleet Rewards and What You Unlock
Reales, Materials and Fast Travel
Capturing a fort removes the fog of war from the surrounding region, revealing nearby islands, harpooning spots, diving locations and legendary ships, and it becomes a fast-travel point while also unlocking new Fleet Missions in that area. On top of that, clearing every fort unlocks a trophy, clears the fog of war region by region, and opens exclusive weapons like the Double Shot and Shrapnel Barrels.
Art Pieces for the Dilettante Collection
The Dilettante trophy requires 19 Art Pieces, and only Brig Piracy missions drop them, so if you’re chasing that specific unlock, keeping a couple of Brigs constantly cycling through Piracy runs matters more than maximizing raw Reales.
Tip
Keep one fleet slot empty so you can grab a high-star ship the moment you spot one at sea instead of scrapping a good capture because your roster is already full.
Common Misconceptions About Fleet Missions Being Locked
Myth: The Fleet Menu Is Bugged If Missions Won’t Start
This is the core confusion behind the “fleet missions locked” search. Booting up Kenway’s Fleet for the first time and finding you can’t embark on any voyages is expected — the map is divided into regions, each controlled by at least one fort, and you simply can’t send ships into a region until that fort falls. Nothing is broken; the game just hasn’t handed you the region yet.
Myth: Kenway’s Fleet Still Needs a Companion App
Plenty of returning players brace for the old phone-app requirement. In the original game Kenway’s Fleet was tied to a companion app, but in Resynced it is fully integrated into the base game, so there’s nothing external to download or log into.
Myth: You Still Have to Play a Turn-Based Ship Battle
The 2013 version made you fight out fleet encounters manually on a hex-style board. That side mini-game where you’d battle enemy ships with your own fleet is gone; you now simply send vessels out and return later to see if the mission finished, with no additional turn-based combat to manage.
Our Take: Is Kenway's Fleet Worth It?
Our Take
Worth running passively once unlocked, but not worth detouring for before you’re ready to fight forts.
The redesign trades a genuinely disliked piece of 2013 baggage — a companion app that eventually got shut down and made the whole feature pointless for years — for something that just works out of the box. That’s a clear upgrade on paper. The tradeoff is that the system now leans entirely on your fort-clearing pace: if you rush the main story and ignore side forts, you’ll sit on a fleet menu that mostly stares back at you empty, which is exactly the moment people mistake it for broken.
Where it earns its keep is as background income once two or three regions are open. Schooner trade runs stacking Reales while you’re off doing assassination contracts or main missions is a genuinely good passive loop, and the Art Piece requirement for the Dilettante trophy gives Brig Piracy missions a reason to exist beyond raw cash. It’s not a system worth grinding in isolation, but it’s also not the tacked-on afterthought the original app made it feel like — treat fort captures as the real unlock condition and the fleet takes care of itself.