Military of the Water Tribe

The Military of the Water Tribe is a military group of organizations protecting the various Water Tribes. It is divided between the Northern Water Tribe, the Southern Water Tribe and the Foggy Swamp Tribe.

Chain of command is not very well defined. There is no overall military commander of the Water Tribe, command being divided between the North and South. It is clear however that the Chiefs of the two tribes have the overall command of their respective tribal militia.

As a result of the strong customary theme expressed by the two major sects, the Water Tribe military is considerably less sophisticated than that of the recently industrialized Earth Kingdom or the highly industrialized Fire Nation. It is also much smaller. Nevertheless, the tribes also exhibit deep pride and willpower typical of a warrior race.

Northern Water Tribe
The more organized Northern Water Tribe has a more sophisticated militia. All adult male tribe members of the Northern Water Tribe are fully-trained warriors. There are both Waterbender warriors and non-bender warriors.

Infantry
These Water Tribe elite fighters are all master Waterbenders and skilled at defending the ramparts of the Northern Water Tribe. They bear the traditional war-paint of both the Northern and Southern Water Tribes.

Non-bender weaponry includes clubs, spears made of bone (also used in spearfishing), scimitars, and machetes laced with whale teeth on the dull side of the blade. They typically wear black and white warpaint on their full face before going into battle.

Other Equipment
The Northern Water Tribe makes use of armories located on the warrior training grounds which serve as weapons storage and war planning rooms where orders are distributed. Their Waterbenders engender and utilize a countless amount of iceberg spikes scattered across the ocean just outside the city as a first line of defense against Fire Nation ships. The spikes are capable of ripping through solid metal and sinking even the largest ships. The currents in the iceberg fields are known to be extremely dangerous, but are easily traversed by Water Tribe vessels. The iceberg spikes themselves are also used as cover for warriors to hide behind, enabling to easily ambush any unwanted visitors.

Navy
The Northern Water Tribe has a small number of ships. The most common ship is a double-hulled vessel powered by Waterbending. Though its small, compact size enables it to be used for a variety of applications, including transporting civilians across the canals within the city, its main purpose is to be used for short, open ocean trips. Even though its not necessarily designed for long voyages, it is capable of being used to travel over a thousand miles and withstanding the harshest ocean conditions. Warriors use this ship to patrol and protect the waters just outside the Northern Water Tribe.



The Northern Water Tribe also possesses, however, great ships and maritime vessels. Master Pakku used such a ship, technically called a catamaran, to travel from the Northern Water Tribe to the Southern Water Tribe as he began his effort to restore the decimated sister tribe. The ship is massive, easily transporting scores of Waterbenders and Healers, the Avatar, along with his friends, and his ten ton flying bison. The ship dwarfs Appa, who can be seen standing on its deck just before Aang and friends depart from Pakku and head off on their journey to the Earth Kingdom.

The sheer size of this ship suggests the former existence of a greater Northern Navy, one that was most likely instrumental in trade between the two Water Tribes, as well as international trade. However, as implied by Katara, this trade route seems to have been completely obliterated by the War with the Fire Nation, which is why these boats are much more uncommon compared to the small more mobile boats that protect the immediate waters of the Northern Water Tribe.

Though perhaps used as a plot device, the Water Tribe, ironically, has the smallest navy in the world (excluding the Air Nomads on the basis that they did not exist at the time), and that the nation whose power is quelled by water, the Fire Nation, has the most powerful navy of them all.

Hahn's Task Force


These militants of the Northern Water Tribe were recruited when Chief Arnook called his tribe to him to ask for participants for a mission to stop the invading Fire Nation Navy. Sokka was one of the participants, and while training for the mission, he got into a quarrel with its then leader, Hahn. He was subsequently removed from the team by Chief Arnook, although in reality it was so he could protect Princess Yue. Hahn and his team disguised themselves as Fire Nation soldiers with the intent of infiltrating the Fire Nation Navy in order to assassinate its commander, Admiral Zhao (the outfits were however outdated).

Hahn's task force was apparently successful in boarding Zhao's ship, but the mission ended in failure when Zhao threw the warrior overboard just as he attempted to kill the Admiral. What became of Hahn and the rest of his team was never revealed.

List of Known Commanders

 * Chief Arnook
 * Hahn

Southern Water Tribe


All adult male tribe members of the Southern Water Tribe are fully-trained warriors. Since the loss of the Waterbenders, the Southern Water Tribe has been a purely non-bender force.

Infantry
Warrior weaponry includes clubs, bladed boomerangs, spears made of bone (also used in spearfishing), scimitars, and machetes laced with whale teeth on the dull side of the blade. Water Tribe warriors typically wear black and white warpaint on their full face before going into battle.

Hakoda's expeditionary force however appears to wear different armor when on campaign. They wear helmets in the shape of a wolf's head and have arm braces and greaves. They also carry large shields.

Other Equipment
Southern Water Tribe Warriors have used "tangle mines", buoyant, terrible smelling make-shift mines of Hakoda's invention, which he affectionately nicknames the "stink n' sink". The tangle mines are constructed with a bamboo frame and covered with dried animal skin, while the inside is filled with skunkfish and seaweed. These mines float in the water and detonate when a ship hits them. When the mines detonate, they erupt seaweed, which tangles around the propeller of the ship, incapacitating it, and skunkfish, which terrible smell forces people to abandon ship. Though a very unusual type of mine, they had apparently been quite effective.

Navy


The Southern Water Tribe has a number of ships. The ships of the Southern Tribe seem to be cutter sailing ships, containing wooden hulls and utilizing the wind for propulsion. The boats are shown to be operated by at least two people, one to maintain the main sail and one to control the jib, a smaller sail at the rear. The ships appear to be designed more for use as a transport vessel than combat.

List of Known Commanders

 * Chief Hakoda
 * Bato
 * Sokka

Foggy Swamp Tribe
The Foggy Swamp Tribe has a far less organized military than either the Northern or Southern Tribes. Its Waterbenders are however skilled fighters, and have been involved in at least one operation, the Invasion of the Fire Nation.

Their military uniform consists of simple wooden chest and arm guards. Foggy Swamp members utilize their Waterbending when needed for combat purposes. They also use small canoes which are used mostly for hunting and traveling.

List of Known Commanders

 * Huu

List of Major Engagements

 * Northern Water Tribe Raids True fact. Stated by Arnook that uniforms were captured 15 years into the War
 * Southern Water Tribe raids
 * Siege of the North
 * Invasion of the Fire Nation