Triremes and Ships

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Triremes and Ships
By Mike Brault
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Who Cares?

• Greek ships are what made Greece so prosperous.
  The Greeks needed to import and export trading
  goods, thus ships were the best way. They didnt
  have to deal with the difficult mountainous
  terrain. Wars also
• sparked developments in battle ships, which led
  to the invention of the effective trireme which
  dominated the water.

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A long time ago

• The first Greek ship we know of was the Danais
  (Danos) and the Argo (Jason). These were named
  after the shipbuilders. It was the first long
  vessel to sail the sea, before they used small
  round-shaped ships called strogulla. The length
  of Argo is estimated between 25-30 meters with
  50-60 oars. The Greeks used Tarsos which meant
  the wing of bird, to describe the oars and thus
  were considered the wings of the ship. For trade
  ships however it was not economical to have a a
  large amount of crewmembers, because it took up
  space and cost more money. Therefore sails were
  used in trade ships.

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From the beginning
Before 800BC there was no dominant ships that
traveled the Aegean sea.   Most ships were long,
and very primitive.  They were primarily used for
troop transportation. Circa 800BC the ram was
designed and began to put a new look on navy
battles.  Initially this led to the invention of
the Penteconter. It was a sleek ship with a
powerful ram, which moved relatively fast due to
its 50 oars, with twenty-five oarsmen to a side.
A large Penteconter could tally up to-38 meters. 
These ships would have an average top speed of
9-10 knots. There was also a miniature version of
this ship, that was called a Triaconter. There
was also a smaller war galley, the Triaconter
which was powered by 30 oars..
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Triremes

• Prior to 700 b..c, before the organization of
  the navy, the Athenians didnt use triremes,
  instead they used rounded vessels for various
  marine transportation and some naval battles.
  They were powered by sails. Because of the lack
  of effectiveness and maneuverability, Athenian
  ship builders strived to develop better means of
  sea travel. As shipbuilders progressed, ships
  began to undergo substantial changes. The
  physical characteristics of ship began to change
  the sails were replaced with oars, the ships
  became more slender and pointed, and the number
  of crew members increased.

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Whered It start?

• The design and initial construction of the first
  trireme was surprisingly not by an Athenian, but
  by a Corinthian man named Amenocles. It was
  surprisingly light, fast, maneuverable, and
  sturdy. It was reliant on its oarsman for its
  speed and power, and its ram was purely
  destructive.

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-The Specifics-

• The Athenians took the initial design of
  Amenocles and further advanced it. They made a
  few key adjustments to it. The Athenian trireme
  was 36 meters long, 5 meters wide, 1.8 meters
  from the waterline with a draught of 1.2 meters.
  It had a whopping displacement of 70 to 80 tons.
  With a total crew of 200 men, only 170 were
  oarsmen. Each oarsman pulled only one oar which
  was 4.4 meters in length. They all had to
  maneuver their oars in sync, or else total chaos
  would erupt. The remaining crew members were the
  head of the trireme, who's responsibilities
  included supervising the vessel and the captain
  who navigated the vessel. There was also the
  Prowmen in charge of the prow, the officer in
  charge of the crew, two 'tiharchs', the flautist
  who set provided the steady rowing pace with his
  flute, and thirteen other random sailors for
  tasks other than just rowing. Lastly, there were
  an additional 10 heavily armed fighters to
  protect the ship from invasion. Because of the
  abundance of oarsmen, the trireme could reach
  speeds of 5 to 7 knots, and in the heat of
  battle it could even reach speeds of ten knots!

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Were they used A lot?
Of course, a prime example of this is the famous
battle of Salamis. The Battle of Salamis was one
of the most important battles in history. The
victory by the Greeks under Themistocles
leadership insured that Xerxes would be forced
to retreat to Persia. Without the distinct
maneuverability of the triremes, the
Greeks wouldnt of been able to destroy Xerxes
naval fleet In the narrow strait. Both navies
at the time had Triremes, but the Greeks had the
advantage of knowing the waterways better, and
were under a great ruler, Thermistocles.
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The Quinquereme
The Roman Quinquereme was similar to the Greek
Trireme, but historians consider the Quinquereme
much more effective. Roman ships were built out
of a different material cedar. Cedar is a very
durable, reddish colored wood. The triremes were
constructed from lightweight, soft trees (fir).
The Romans also constructed very heavy ships,
unlike the light Greek ships. Which in turn kept
the ship on course and wasnt affected by wind.
The Romans had many banks of oars, unlike the
three rows used in the trireme. The Roman ship
had each oar propelled by five men, most likely
slaves. The trireme used highly trained, highly
expensive oarsmen, which was financially
difficult. The other huge difference was their
battle tactics.
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Quinquereme

• The other difference between the Trireme and the
  Quarerme was its battle tactics. The Trireme
  used its powerful battle ram to puncture enemy
  ships. The Romans packed their ships with
  heavily armed soldiers, who raided and
  slaughtered enemy ships. To get the soldiers
  across to the enemy vessel, the corvus, or
  raven was used. It was simply a large plank
  with an iron spike at the end which swung down
  and dug deep into the enemies ships deck. This
  provided a safe crossing and kept the enemies
  from escaping the invasion.

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The Greek Bireme
These battle ships were used during the Trojan
Wars. They had a relatively broad bottom and a
shallow draft. Two banks of oars propelled the
ship. Like the Trireme it had a pointed bow that
was used for ramming enemy ships. These were
also equipped with an outrigger, which allowed
two rows on each side of the ship. These ships
were very similar to the trireme, and carried
100 oarsmen, with 50 on each side of the ship.
It was very maneuverable, and was effective in
battle.
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Greek Cargo Ships
Besides the battle ships, the other most
important ships at the time were the Cargo Ships.
These boats are what made Ancient Greece so
prosperous in trade. They effectively imported
and exported goods. It saved a lot of time to
trade by water then by land, because the land was
so mountainous. They used sails as opposed to
oars and rowers. This was difficult because there
was a lot of adjusting of the sails due to wind.
They traveled at a speed of 5 knots. They were
made out a wood and weighed an average of 150
tons around 400 b.c.
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Cargo Ships (contd.)
Later, in 240 BC, these ships began to
weigh more 350 to 500 tons! Ships also began
adding sails with the increase in size so
it would still be able to move at fast speeds.
Two to three masts were common on most ships.
Cargo ships evolved into trading ships or
haulers at the time. These ships had deep hulls
and broad beams, which helped them sail by the
wind. Haulers were usually approximately 50 to 60
feet long.
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The conclusion
Greek ships were essential for trade and battle.
They provided the navy with the perfect balance
of speed and maneuverability. There trireme was
essential for the defeat of the Persians at
Salamis and provided quickness and effeteness for
the naval fleet. Its only downfall was it
weight, which caused the ship to easily be blown
off course. The Cargo ships used many sails, and
played a key role in trade, because the Greek
lands were too mountainous. Without their ships,
Greece might not of been around after the battle
of Salamis.
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THE END

• For more information check these out!!!
• http//www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/Ships/Ships.htm
• http//www.geocities.com/Area51/Shire/6423/Ships/e
  ssay.html
• http//www.bulfinch.org/fables/grkship.html
• http//atschool.eduweb.co.uk/sirrobhitch.suffolk/P
  ortland20State20University20Greek20Civilizatio
  n20Home20Page20v2/DOCS/7/kenny.html
• http//www.greece.org/poseidon/work/articles/polem
  is_one.html