What Do We Know About Naval Battlles?

**Intrepid Sidekick** · 08-09-2012, 16:33

Yup fascinating discussion .Org'ers.

We here at CA have been doing lots of research ourselves and are very much persuaded that it is unlikely that the numbers referred to the number of oared banks, we think it was in fact a reference to the number of men assigned to the oars. (nobody can be certain)
There seem to have been specific benefits to 3 banks of oars and 2 banks of oars. These are namely straight line speed, maneuverability, space/fighting deck clearance and seaworthiness. The trireme design wasnt the outright best decision in every case.
For anyone interested in the subject "Ships and Seamanship in the Ancient world" and "The Navies of Rome" are two good resources to name but a few.

Cheers

Intrepid

**quadalpha** · 08-09-2012, 19:18

Perhaps we should reintroduce the CA icon next to threads in forum view.

**Fisherking** · 08-10-2012, 19:52

Originally Posted by Intrepid Sidekick

Yup fascinating discussion .Org'ers.

We here at CA have been doing lots of research ourselves and are very much persuaded that it is unlikely that the numbers referred to the number of oared banks, we think it was in fact a reference to the number of men assigned to the oars. (nobody can be certain)
There seem to have been specific benefits to 3 banks of oars and 2 banks of oars. These are namely straight line speed, maneuverability, space/fighting deck clearance and seaworthiness. The trireme design wasnt the outright best decision in every case.
For anyone interested in the subject "Ships and Seamanship in the Ancient world" and "The Navies of Rome" are two good resources to name but a few.

Cheers

Intrepid

Thanks for the References!

Do you mean the number of oarsmen at each bank? I can only see that up to 24.

Putting more than 8 men on an oar would cause more problems than any benefit it would give you. I think the number of the larger ships came from the files of oars, both sides of the ship, once they reached the larger sizes.

However you arrive at the numbers is fine, I think. Ancient naval warfare has always fascinated me.

As long as not lowering masts before battle and depicting the disadvantages of the Corvus at sea are there I will be a happy camper.

**hoom** · 08-11-2012, 05:43

The widely held interpretation is that the really big ones are catamarans with oars inbetween hulls.

**hoom** · 10-06-2012, 02:06

Another shot with ships in the new bunch of screens

Looks to be more or less same bunch of classes.
Big with 1 catapault
Big with 2 catapaults
Big with 2 catapaults & lots of deck crew
Intermediates with packed decks (on either side)
Smaller ships with pretty big deck crew (but they are bigger than the smallest in the earlier shot)

All of them have their masts up.

Also I have just started reading The Age of Titans by William Murray which is a 2012 book specifically about the rise of the polyremes.
Apparently somewhat challenges the status quo regarding the primary reasons/usage of the big ships, I believe arguing for more emphasis on ramming/harbor blockades/fights, less on boarding & catapaults.
Has particularly nice appendices where he has collected references to polyremes & other aspects from ancient texts & ordered them by class.

**Sexybeast151413** · 12-11-2012, 17:52

There's going to be shipborne artillery, which should be interesting, and with those combined battles you can have D-Day 200 BC. The ships are going to be in groups of two to increase the scale of the battle, but I'm not sure how many maneuvers there are going to be for the ships. Can't wait to find out

**Kocmoc** · 12-12-2012, 11:22

Im interested in how the ships with catapults will be used and how powerful they are.

**Shigawire** · 12-16-2012, 14:02

Originally Posted by Intrepid Sidekick

Yup fascinating discussion .Org'ers.

We here at CA have been doing lots of research ourselves and are very much persuaded that it is unlikely that the numbers referred to the number of oared banks, we think it was in fact a reference to the number of men assigned to the oars. (nobody can be certain)

Thanks for chiming in Intrepid! That is definitely the widely held opinion among scholars. They believe it refers to how many oarsmen were on one side, in a cross-section. For example here you see a cross-section of a quinquereme, and you see 5 (quinque):

Looking forward to seeing more from you guys.