A topic from AEG's L5R CCG Rules forum, copied for Oracle of the Void from a copy of the forum saved in October 2015, so pages it didn't save are missing. Players' names are left out; the rules officials are named. Rulings are as they stood on these dates; later rulings, the rulebooks and the Rules Archive may differ.
A player, 23 July 2007
What if you do not have a naval personality in the battle? As I understand the current glossary entry Naval Ability
Reaction: If you are the Attacker and your current army has more Naval cards than the opposing army, once per battle after engaging: You have the first opportunity to take a Battle action, which must be performed by a target Naval Personality or one of his Naval Followers.
In cases where multiple cards perform an action, only one need be Naval.
The attacker must have more naval cards in his army than the defender. If the attacker controls a naval follower and the defender does not can he declare naval and take an action that the follower performs?
Chris Fuchs (rules official), 23 July 2007
What if you do not have a naval personality in the battle? As I understand the current glossary entry Naval Ability
Reaction: If you are the Attacker and your current army has more Naval cards than the opposing army, once per battle after engaging: You have the first opportunity to take a Battle action, which must be performed by a target Naval Personality or one of his Naval Followers.
In cases where multiple cards perform an action, only one need be Naval.
The attacker must have more naval cards in his army than the defender. If the attacker controls a naval follower and the defender does not can he declare naval and take an action that the follower performs?
As long as that follower is attached to the target naval personality, yes.
You must target your naval personality to announce the rulebook naval ability. If you do not have a naval personality, you may not take the rulebook naval ability, regardless of how many naval followers you have.