Eirish Colonial Navy

The sailors pride themselves on having only the forces of nature as an equal foe.

Eirish armies are formiddable on the battlefield, but they are not the reason why the Kingdom of Eire stands so strong these days. The honour, or at least most of it, goes to the Eirish Colonial Navy. Funded by the enormous income from New World colonies and hardened by countless journeys across the treacherous oceans, they protect the island kingdoms and their holdings in the New World.
Not everyone shares in the same image of the Eirish Navy though. Some believe it to be nothing more than a bunch of thieves and pirates, robbing the colonies and merchants alike blind at the negligence of the First King. That the reason they go to war with other countries is not for the glory of Eire but rather for their own gain and profit.

Structure

The Eirish Colonial Navy is best described not on its own but as a comparison to the Eirish Royal Guard. They differ in just about everything: the funding (kings versus colonies), the area of responsibility (Old World vs New World), the nature of recruitment (professional soldiers vs volunteers and the destitute looking to make rich quick). The Colonial Navy is actually the closest thing that Eire has for a centralised army, as it is administered entirely by the First King and his officials.
Now, every soldier and sailor in both the Royal Guard and the Colonial Navy will point to these differences to tell you they are nothing alike each other. If you look past it however, the two organisations start to look very similar. They both include land troops as well as warships, and employ a system of promotions more remiscent of plain old nepotism. In fact, it is quite common for someone to quit the Guard and sign up for the Navy for a chance to fight in the New World, somewhat less so for the opposite change.

History

Not many people took stories of the New World seriously at first. I can only imagine that as the reason why the Council of Kings agreed to make the newly-established Eirish Colonial Navy the First King's sole responsibility. After all, if only the money from New World colonies can be used for that new navy - how big can it really become? Turns out, very big. As Waves of Colonisation went on and colonies grew in number and size, the Eirish Colonial Navy has all but claimed the New World as its dominion for a very long time.
This actually contains the biggest weakness of the Eirish Colonial Navy. Because they are not allowed to undertake military operations in the Old World, they have shown themselves rather ineffectual in largely Old World-focused Eirish-Ardenian Wars. Most commonly, when a serious war does break out the First King would cut the Navy's budget in favour of his own Royal Guard. That, combined with the plunder made possible by a foreign war, has led to many ambitious captains resigning from the Navy and purchasing a privateering patent instead whenever a big war broke out.