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Roman ships are named in different ways, often in compound expressions with the word Latin: navis, lit. 'ship'.These are found in many ancient Roman texts, and named in different ways, such as by the appearance of the ship: for example, navis tecta (covered ship); or by its function, for example: navis mercatoria (commerce ship), or navis praedatoria (plunder ship).
A lusoria was crewed by the steersman, two men to handle the sail, and about 30 soldiers who manned the oars. [ 4 ] [ dead link ] It has been calculated that the narrow and relatively long lusoria could attain a travel speed of 11 to 13 km/h (6 to 7 kn) and a maximum speed of 18 km/h (10 kn).
The ship also had two masts, a main (histos megas) and a small foremast (histos akateios), with square sails, while steering was provided by two steering oars at the stern (one at the port side, one to starboard). Classical sources indicate that the trireme was capable of sustained speeds of ca. 6 knots at relatively leisurely oaring. [31]
Larger ships also had wooden castles on either side between the masts, which allowed archers to shoot from an elevated firing position. [14] On Byzantine galleys, the brunt of the fighting was done by heavily armed and armored troops called hoplites or kataphraktoi. These would attempt to stab the rowers through the oarports to reduce mobility ...
Roman as coin of the second half of the 3rd century BC, featuring the prow of a galley, most likely a quinquereme. Several similar issues are known, illustrating the importance of naval power during that period of Rome's history. After the Roman victory, the balance of naval power in the Western Mediterranean had shifted from Carthage to Rome. [15]
The name bireme comes from "bi-" meaning two and "-reme" meaning oar. It was typically about 80 feet (24 m) long with a maximum beam width of around 10 feet (3 m). It was modified from the penteconter, a ship that had only one set of oars on each side, the bireme having two sets of oars on each side. The bireme was twice the triaconter's length ...
They could assist damaged ships out of the line, but generally only in very calm weather, as was the case at the Battle of Málaga in 1704. [84] They could also defeat larger ships that were isolated, as when in 1651 a squadron of Spanish galleys captured a French galleon at Formentera. For small states and principalities as well as groups of ...
Vasa had three masts: a foremast towards the bow of the ship, a mainmast near the middle and a mizzen mast towards the aft of the ship. The fore- and mainmasts were built in three sections: a lower mast that was stepped on the stem and keel at the bottom of the ship's hull and passed through each of the decks; a topmast that was attached to the ...