Quote Originally Posted by Sarcasm
Hmmm...it's true that galleys were more manoeuvrable, but they have a lot inherent disadvantages.
Oh, certainly. The things were logistical and strategic headaches, and their design was ultimately a no-win cul de sac.

And I can say comfortably that Portuguese ships - mainly carracks and three masted caravels [with a galleass bow] - regularly destroyed Turkish, Indian and Malayan fleets many times in size and troop complement throughout the whole 16th century (and the latter part of the 15th) who relied on rowed vessels. Even in river mouths and at port, where sail-dependent are at a disadvantage.
*shrug* That's the fully developed Atlantic shipping plus cannon for ya. It took a very long time and lots of lives lost to the Atlantic for those to develop, but once they did the Europeans by and large ruled the oceans. Do recall that the Baltic coastal galleys were essentially light and cheap "gunships" that had grown out of the selfsame maritime tradition that birthed the ocean-going sailing ships; I'm pretty sure they didn't share too much common ancestry with their Mediterranean cousins.

Although... Indian ? I would think the Indian Ocean wasn't much more forgiving to oared ships than any other ocean, and the warships there were primarily sailing ships ? Can't say I'm terribly familiar with the naval history of the subcontinent of course.

I think I can find an story on how a Portuguese galleon stood up to around 15 enemy galleys by itself for over a day, after having it's masts taken out only to be rescued by some warships that happened to be in the area.
Quite credible; the big roundships could take obscene amounts of punishement without sinking, not counting being set on fire or blowing up through magazine ignition. It's not like the ship itself actually suffered that much on the short term from having holes busted all around its hull after all. That's one reason boarding tactics were popular in some circles - when succesful they gave you decisive victory quickly without all that unpleasant and rather frustrating firefighting which could go on for a day without anything more happening than lots of crewmen dying messily and both ships getting increasingly damaged.
It's a different story entirely if the ship was anything more than a crippled, floating abattoir of course...