Which Assassin’s Creed game first introduced the series’ large-scale naval battles?

Assassin’s Creed III first introduced the series’ large-scale naval battles. The game lets Connor Kenway command the ship Aquila in missions and optional activities set along the Atlantic coast.

Its naval sequences include ship-to-ship combat, wind management, broadside cannon fire, and encounters with hostile vessels. These mechanics became important enough that Ubisoft expanded them dramatically in the following year’s Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag.

Black Flag is often named as the series’ defining naval game, but Assassin’s Creed III introduced the feature first. Assassin’s Creed: Revelations had earlier boat-related sequences, yet it did not establish the same full naval-battle system used in Assassin’s Creed III.