Do you think the Velaryon fleet was actually worth the cost?
Thousands of Gold Dragons to build and to keep it running… only for one dragon attack to wipe out years of money, labour and ships in a single battle.

My biggest take away from this video, due to the conversion rate bridge, is that Ned's frustrations with the price of the Hand's Tourney and the debt of the Iron Throne in the 3rd episode is even more justified. 40,000 Gold Dragons for the Joust winner when 3 Gold Dragons can feed someone for a whole year? Absolutely crazy.

Corlys Velaryon seems pretty chipper for someone who looks like he’s been stitched together from two different people 😂

Last time I was this early Westeros hadn't experienced rampant hyperinflation yet

The Venetians, with the Central Dogado city being smaller than the Island of Driftmark, could sustain 100 war galleys at the peak of the Venetian empire. This was accomplished by the Venetian Arsenal implementing early methods of Assembly line standardization and specialization of Labor before the Industrial Revolution. Most ships where also designed to serve Merchant duties in times of peace to make back the cost. The Venetians could also produce 50 new ships over 9 months in times of war, and they did not have the backing the Velaryons did with the Targaryens, who funded their fleet and facilitated their vast trade network.

One thing that bothers me is that armies in Westeros seem to die in battle as opposed to dysentery or typhus or whatever the in world equivalent in.

I can’t look at medival armies the same knowing 60% plus of casualties came from disease lol

1. Majority of the fleet would be mobilised merchant ships. That would be the cogs. Besides during peace time many of the warships would be kept in reserve. Which brings me to the...
2. As much as wooden ships rot, if well maintained they can last for up to 20 years in service. So when it comes to the price of building the fleet it can be divided if not by 20, then by 15 or at least 10, cause that's how many years it takes to build one. It also cuts the need for shipyard workers.
3. Someone brought up in the comments amount of wood needed for building the Velarion fleet and where it came from? Building material can be imported from far away lands. In medieval and early modern Europe Baltics were a key source of timber for fleet building. So much so, that the name of one particular tree species - spruce - comes from name Prusy or Prussia. So I'm pretty sure that Starks supporting Velaryon-backed Rheanyra was at least partly motivated by trade relations.

How do the velaryons source the wood to build all these ships? Driftmark can’t have many trees on it so the lumber must be imported. The velaryons obviously  have the cash to afford all of it but where is this wood taken from?

Cities like Oldtown and Lannisport are places who actually have the logistics and resources for possessing armadas. Which they do.

The thing with big fleets is that they can both feed and eat the economy. I think you got it more right than even you can easily calculate. Just like with shipping lanes of the World War 2, most of the ships would be merchant ships, as those are what can keep the business end going and that is what actually allows rest of it. You're always going to have more merchant ships, even if they're armed rather than massive warships, since you need considerable portion of the economy to keep the fleet running, not build it, but maintenance, food, replacement parts.

Historical accounts from our Friendly Neighbor Sweden and King Gustav's fleet from 1700's show that he managed to get roughly 15-20 ships a year and had a bit over 200 vessels in the decisive battle that sunk the famous galleon "Vaasa". That is with a country more than 20 times size of the Velaryon islands, with basically unlimited supply of timber and tar from Sweden and Finland. So building that 200 strong fleet would take 10-15 years and enough timber to deforest a small nation, not to mention the tar, which also comes from trees. That was the selling point of Finland back in the day, we were really good at making tar and there were whole towns, namely "Oulu" which was built for exporting tar and timber. So I think the cost of the fleet for 0.5% of the whole GDP of the nation might be even bit on the low end :)

If you keep up this consistent upload schedule, and keep the quality this high, you are guaranteed to blow up. Please keep it up!

You forgot an important part about the cost of these ships :
Wooden ships, even in medieval times, could last you a good while if properly maintained.

The wood would start to rot or break down over time, due to prolonged contact with water, and due to molluscs sticking themselves onto it. But medieval ships could last above 2 decades if properly taken care of. Longer if said ship stays stored in reserve, in a dry dock sheltered from the rain for example.
And in peace times, military ships were put in reserve, as you don't need that many of them when no war is going on. This diminishes maintenance costs, as you don't need to pay sailors to man them (still got the shipyard cost to maintain said ships).

Which means that, while the cost of such a massive medieval fleet is high, it isn't an amount that has to be paid in one go. It's an expense that is stretched over the course of many years. There may be ships whose construction is separated by more than a decade amongst the same fleet.

Once again, an excellent breakdown, i'm most confident on you breaking down the history, economy & historical inspirations of Slaver's Bay in Essos

The thumbnail is gold.

Honestly, I think these are two things Martin skrewed up. First is the economy, he is throwing around numbers and if you look at all of them it starts to fall apart, but it is right at the edge of being to much. You either have to give the reader so much that it all perfectly fits and makes sense or so little that there is not enough to draw any conclusion.

The second one is the Redwyne fleet. Which is said to be 200 war ships which would need so many sailors that it basically would give house Redwyne a third of the Reaches men and enough to equal the Baratheons

George probably didn’t put half this much thought into how the Velaryon fleet came about or what it would mean for the resources of the house. No shade to him, he isn’t a shipwright and has self-admitted to being bad with numbers. But the Velaryon seat, fleet, and major port being devastated crippling the house for centuries makes even more sense unintentionally. The cost was just about managed by the Velaryons putting all available resources into maintaining it natural, human, and financial. Essentially snowballing off momentum that the minute it tripped it was crippled. Cool to think about, but definitely not planned by the author.

You know what else is wild? If Westeros was more united, a Westerosi fleet managed by all the major island and/or seafaring houses consolidating and sharing Ports/Dock Yard services would maybe be a bit more realistic.

Then again, that requires cooperation from Houses; Velaryon, Manderly, Grafton, Tarth, Estermont, Redwyne, Hewett, Lannister, Farman, and Greyjoy.

And unfortunately, Westeros isn't as properly centralized or organized as one would hope. Certainly not nearly enough to make this possible without decades of peace, proper marriages, and a truly dedicated Master of Coin and Master of Ships working together. Not impossible, and I'm sure between the reigns of Jaehaerys and Viserys, there was ample time to at least get this idea off of the ground but, well, there were other things to consider as well. Jaehaerys had the right idea with the proper road systems for the various Kingdoms to have but, that was merely the beginning

No clue if intended but litterally as you finished the walmart gag, i got a walmart ad. The algorithm is listening

Doggy cam is just the best.

I swear to the Sevens that thumbnail Corlys look white a few hours ago.