Crossword Genius

Give the girl weapons on joining the fleet (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

armada

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'the fleet' is the definition.
(armada is a kind of fleet)

'give the girl weapons on joining' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'girl' could be 'ada' and 'ada' is found within the answer.
The remaining letters 'arm' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for armada that I've seen before include "Naval fighting force" , "Large number of ships (Spanish?)" , "lot of craft" , "Old Spanish fleet" , "force of the sea" .)

I've seen this clue in The Irish News.
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