An Expedition or Expeditionary Fleet was the standard Imperial exploratory spacefaring force during the Great Crusade.
Overview
Originating from Terra, the Imperial Expeditionary Fleets dispersed all over the galaxy, carrying out the Emperor's vision of uniting known space under the banner of Humanity. Expedition Fleets had a wide remit. Their primary mission was to find lost human colony worlds and bring them into the bosom of the Imperium. Secondary missions involved the exploration of space, the cataloging of everything found, the claiming of resources in the name of the Emperor and the elimination of any alien threats.[Needs Citation]
The unification of human worlds did not always proceed without incident, as not all lost worlds showed immediate interest in making themselves subservient to the Imperium. In these cases, compliance with Imperial directives was enacted with the use of military force. These situations, as well as the ever-present alien threat, resulted in Expedition Fleets having a strong armed contingent, and were usually under the command of a military officer of the Imperial Army, a Lord Commander. In addition to a Lord Commander, each Expedition had a Master of the Fleet who was in charge of the Imperial Navy ships in the Expedition. Each of the Primarchs was able to, and often did, command an Expeditionary Fleet, attaching to it the majority of their Legion. Most Fleets had no Astartes presence at all, although some Primarchs split their Legions into small detachments that they parcelled out to various expeditionary forces.[Needs Citation]
Known Expeditionary Fleets
In the 203rd year of the Great Crusade, War Council logs indicated that there were[1]:
- 4,287 expedition fleets engaged in active exploration
- 372 expedition fleets engaged in refit and repair
- 60,000 (approx.) detached compliance groups involved in occupation and colonization.
| Fleet
|
Commander
|
Astartes Contingent
|
Imperial Army Regiments
|
Notes
|
Sources
|
4th
|
Primarch Lion El'Jonson
|
Dark Angels Legion
|
Unknown
|
The Dark Angel contingent of the 4th Expedition replaced one of similar size made up of White Scars Space Marines led by an officer named Sheng Khan.
|
[2]
|
12th Expedition
|
Primarch Roboute Guilliman
|
Ultramarines Legion
|
Unknown
|
|
[3]
|
27th Expedition
|
Unknown
|
Raven Guard Legion
|
Unknown
|
|
[4]
|
| 28th Expedition
|
Primarch Fulgrim
|
Emperor's Children Legion
|
Archite Palatines
|
The 28th Expedition also existed under the command of the Primarch Magnus the Red and his Thousand Sons. It is unclear if this is a different expedition fleet or the same one.[7]
|
[3]
|
| 40th Expedition
|
Primarch Leman Russ
|
Space Wolves Legion
|
Unknown
|
|
[9]
|
| 47th Expedition
|
Primarch Lorgar
|
Word Bearers Legion [7a]
|
Ouranti Draks [7b]
|
|
|
| 52nd Expedition
|
Primarch Ferrus Manus
|
Iron Hands Legion
|
Unknown
|
|
[3]
|
63rd Expedition
|
Warmaster Horus
|
Luna Wolves Legion
|
Byzant Janizars
|
Legio Mortis Titan Legion attached
|
[1]
|
| 140th Expedition
|
Unknown
|
Blood Angels Legion (3 Companies)
|
Unnamed Army Regiment (4,000 strong)
|
Captain Khitas Frome commanding; destroyed by Megarachnids on Murder;
|
[1]
|
| 203rd Expedition
|
Angron
|
World Eaters Legion
|
Unknown
|
Fought on Aerius with Sons of Horus.
|
[Needs Citation]
|
| 392nd Expedition
|
Unknown
|
Unknown
|
Unknown
|
|
[7c]
|
| 670th Expedition
|
Lord Commander Teng Namatjira
|
None, see notes
|
Geno Five-Two Chiliad, Zanzibari Hort, Crescent-Sind Sixth Torrent, Outremar, Regnault Thorns
|
Legio Xerxes Titan Legion attached; Primarch Alpharius and an Alpha Legion force fought as part of the 670th Fleet during the Nurth campaign, but stood outside the order of battle. Overall command remained with Namitjira.
|
[5]
|
| 954th Expedition
|
Wolf Lord Bulveye
|
Space Wolves' 13th Great Company
|
Arcturan Dragoons
|
|
[6]
|
| 1,301st Expedition Fleet
|
Presumed to be Deumos, Chapter Master of the Serrated Sun Chapter (XVII Legion). Although its noted that the fleetmaster was Baloc Torvus.
|
Word Bearers Serrated Sun Chapter.
|
Unknown.
|
|
[8b]
|
| 2,188th Expedition Fleet
|
Unknown.
|
Unknown.
|
Unknown.
|
Disappeared under mysterious circumstances in a region nearby the Word Bearer's homeworld of Colchis.
|
[8a]
|
Sources
Uncited
