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97-513: A navy , naval force , military maritime fleet , war navy , or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare ; namely, lake -borne, riverine , littoral , or ocean -borne combat operations and related functions. It includes anything conducted by surface ships , amphibious ships, submarines , and seaborne aviation , as well as ancillary support, communications, training, and other fields. The strategic offensive role of

194-545: A limited and asymmetric nature. Naval warfare developed when humans first fought from water-borne vessels. Before the introduction of the cannon and ships with enough capacity to carry them, navy warfare primarily involved ramming and boarding actions. In the time of ancient Greece and the Roman Empire , naval warfare centered on long, narrow vessels powered by banks of oarsmen (such as triremes and quinqueremes ) designed to ram and sink enemy vessels or come alongside

291-489: A sister ship of Bismarck , was almost put out of action by miniature submarines known as X-Craft . The X-Craft severely damaged her and kept her in port for some months. A major paradigm shift in naval warfare occurred with the introduction of the aircraft carrier . First at Taranto in 1940 and then at Pearl Harbor in 1941, the carrier demonstrated its ability to strike decisively at enemy ships out of sight and range of surface vessels. The Battle of Leyte Gulf (1944)

388-460: A "forty" ( tessarakonteres ) that was 130m long, required 4,000 rowers and 400 other crew, and could support a force of 2,850 marines on its decks. However, "tens" seem to be the largest to have been used in battle. The larger polyremes were possibly double-hulled catamarans . It has been suggested that, with the exception of the "forty", these ships must have been rowed at two levels. Several types of fast vessels were used during this period,

485-526: A blueprint for their own ships, but it is stated that the Roman copies were heavier than the Carthaginian vessels, which were better built. The quinquereme provided the workhorse of the Roman and Carthaginian fleets throughout their conflicts, although "fours" and "threes" are also mentioned. Indeed, so ubiquitous was the type that Polybius uses it as a shorthand for "warship" in general. According to Polybius, at

582-469: A broader hull, which on the one hand reduced the ships' speed, but on the other offered several advantages: larger vessels could be strengthened to better withstand ramming, while the wider hull increased their carrying capacity, allowing more marines , and eventually catapults, to be carried along. The decks of these ships were also higher above the waterline, while their increased beam afforded them extra stability, making them superior missile platforms. This

679-786: A catastrophe for the Russian military in general and the Russian Navy in particular. Although neither party lacked courage, the Russians were defeated by the Japanese in the Battle of Port Arthur, which was the first time in warfare that mines were used for offensive purposes. The warships of the Baltic Fleet sent to the Far East were lost in the Battle of Tsushima. A further step change in naval firepower occurred when

776-404: A group, which may be a small squadron of comparable ships, or a larger naval fleet of various specialized ships. The commander of a fleet travels in the flagship , which is usually the most powerful vessel in the group. Before radio was invented, commands from the flagship were communicated by means of flags. At night signal lamps could be used for a similar purpose. Later these were replaced by

873-458: A half files of oarsmen on each side, with the additional half file placed amidships, where the hull was wide enough to accommodate them. In this view, they could have had 15 oars on each side, with a full file of ten and a half file of five or instead the middle oars may have been double-manned. Given their lighter hulls, greater length and generally slimmer profile, the hemiolia would have had an advantage in speed even over other light warships like

970-437: A large number of cannon made oar-based propulsion impossible, and ships came to rely primarily on sails . Warships were designed to carry increasing numbers of cannon and naval tactics evolved to bring a ship's firepower to bear in a broadside , with ships-of-the-line arranged in a line of battle . The development of large capacity, sail-powered ships carrying cannon led to a rapid expansion of European navies, especially

1067-651: A light warship, most commonly associated with the vessels used by the Illyrian tribes , chiefly for piracy, in the area of Dalmatia . This type of craft was also adopted by Philip V of Macedon, and soon after by the Seleucids , Rome, and even the Spartan king Nabis in his attempt to rebuild the Spartan navy. In contemporary writings, the name was associated with a class rather than a specific type of vessels, as considerable variation

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1164-462: A major naval armament program directed against the Carthaginians. During most of the 4th century, the "fives" were the heaviest type of warship, and often used as flagships of fleets composed of triremes and quadriremes. Sidon had them by 351, and Athens fielded some in 324. In the eastern Mediterranean, they were superseded as the heaviest ships by the massive polyremes that began appearing in

1261-573: A major naval power in the mid-17th century in the first Anglo-Dutch war with a technical victory. Successive decisive Dutch victories in the second and third Anglo-Dutch Wars confirmed the Dutch mastery of the seas during the Dutch Golden Age , financed by the expansion of the Dutch Empire . The French Navy won some important victories near the end of the 17th century but a focus upon land forces led to

1358-682: A military fleet, although the term " merchant navy " for a commercial fleet still incorporates the non-military word sense . This overlap in word senses between commercial and military fleets grew out of the inherently dual-use nature of fleets; centuries ago, nationality was a trait that unified a fleet across both civilian and military uses. Although nationality of commercial vessels has little importance in peacetime trade other than for tax avoidance , it can have greater meaning during wartime, when supply chains become matters of patriotic attack and defense, and when in some cases private vessels are even temporarily converted to military vessels. The latter

1455-801: A navy is projection of force into areas beyond a country's shores (for example, to protect sea-lanes , deter or confront piracy , ferry troops, or attack other navies, ports, or shore installations). The strategic defensive purpose of a navy is to frustrate seaborne projection-of-force by enemies. The strategic task of a navy also may incorporate nuclear deterrence by use of submarine-launched ballistic missiles . Naval operations can be broadly divided between riverine and littoral applications ( brown-water navy ), open-ocean applications ( blue-water navy ), and something in between ( green-water navy ), although these distinctions are more about strategic scope than tactical or operational division. First attested in English in

1552-458: A number of possibilities. The -ηρης occurs only in suffix form, deriving from ἐρέσσω ( eréssō ), "(I) row". As "rower" is ἐρέτης ( erétēs ) and "oar" is ἐρετμόν ( eretmón ), -ērēs does not mean either of those but, being based on the verb, must mean "rowing". This meaning is no clearer than the Latin. Whatever the "five-oar" or the "five-row" originally meant was lost with knowledge of

1649-612: A similar height to the quinqueremes, and record the presence of towers on the deck of a "six" serving as flagship to Marcus Junius Brutus . Pliny the Elder attributes the creation of the septireme ( Latin : septiremis ; Greek : ἑπτήρης , heptērēs ) to Alexander the Great. Curtius corroborates this, and reports that the king gave orders for wood for 700 septiremes to be cut in Mount Lebanon , to be used in his projected circumnavigations of

1746-411: A single military service. Branch of service (also branch of military service or branch of armed service ) refers, according to NATO standards, to a branch, employment of combined forces or parts of a service , below the level of service, military service, or armed service. Quinquereme Most of the warships of the era were distinguished by their names, which were compounds of a number and

1843-458: A single ship or aspect of a ship. However, commodores can also be temporary or honorary positions. For example, during World War II, a Navy captain was assigned duty as a convoy commodore, which meant that he was still a captain, but in charge of all the merchant vessels in the convoy. The most senior rank employed by a navy will tend to vary depending on the size of a navy and whether it is wartime or peacetime, for example, few people have ever held

1940-452: A standing rower to the lower level of the hexareme. Very little is known about the octeres ( Greek : ὀκτήρης , oktērēs ). At least two of their type were in the fleet of Philip V of Macedon (r. 221–179 BC) at the Battle of Chios in 201 BC, where they were rammed in their prows. Their last appearance was at Actium, where Mark Antony is said by Plutarch to have had many "eights". Based on

2037-479: A suffix. Thus the English term quinquereme derives from Latin quīnquerēmis and has the Greek equivalent πεντήρης ( pentḗrēs ). Both are compounds featuring a prefix meaning "five": Latin quīnque , ancient Greek πέντε ( pénte ). The Roman suffix is from rēmus , "oar": hence "five-oar". As the vessel cannot have had only five oars, the word must be a figure of speech meaning something else. There are

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2134-486: A variety of other roles. Military branch Military branch (also service branch or armed service ) is according to common standard a subdivision of the national armed forces of a sovereign nation or state. The Canadian Armed Forces is the unified armed forces of Canada. While it has three environmental commands - namely the Canadian Army , Royal Canadian Navy , and Royal Canadian Air Force - it remains

2231-455: Is affirmed by the ancient historians Pliny the Elder and Aelian to have been invented in Syracuse. "Sixes" were certainly present in the fleet of Dionysius II of Syracuse (r. 367–357 and 346–344 BC), but they may well have been invented in the last years of his father, Dionysius I. "Sixes" were rarer than smaller vessels, and appear in the sources chiefly as flagships: at the Battle of Ecnomus,

2328-1206: Is an integral part of the navy but there are variations such as the French Troupes de marine , which is actually part of the French Army . The United States Marine Corps is a separate armed service within the United States Department of the Navy, with its own leadership structure. Naval aviation is the application of military air power by navies, whether from warships that embark aircraft, or land bases. In World War I, several navies used floatplanes and flying boats – mainly for scouting . By World War II, aircraft carriers could carry bomber aircraft capable of attacking naval and land targets, as well as fighter aircraft for defence. Since World War II helicopters have been embarked on smaller ships in roles such as anti-submarine warfare and transport. Some navies have also operated land-based aircraft in roles such as maritime patrol and training . Naval aviation forces primarily perform naval roles at sea. However, they are also used in

2425-472: Is currently building one aircraft carrier, INS  Vikrant , and considering another. France is also looking at a new carrier , probably using a CATOBAR system and possibly based on the British Queen Elizabeth design. A navy typically operates from one or more naval bases . The base is a port that is specialized in naval operations, and often includes housing, a munitions depot , docks for

2522-452: Is evident in the sources: the number of oars ranged from 16 to 50, they could be one- or double-banked, and some types did not have a ram, presumably being used as couriers and fast cargo vessels. The hemiolia or hemiolos ( Greek : ἡμιολία [ναῦς] or ἡμίολος [λέμβος] ) was a light and fast warship that appeared in the early 4th century BC. It was particularly favoured by pirates in the eastern Mediterranean, but also used by Alexander

2619-658: Is most likely that the "ten" was derived from adding another oarsman to the "nine". A "ten" is mentioned as Philip V's flagship at Chios in 201 BC, and their last appearance was at Actium, where they constituted Antony's heaviest ships. The tendency to build ever bigger ships that appeared in the last decades of the 4th century did not stop at the "ten". Demetrius Poliorcetes built "elevens", "thirteens", "fourteens", "fifteens" and "sixteens", and his son, Antigonus II Gonatas had an "eighteen", while Ptolemy II's navy fielded 14 "elevens", 2 "twelves", 4 "thirteens", and even one "twenty" and two "thirties". Eventually, Ptolemy IV built

2716-440: Is recorded by Florus and Cassius Dio , although Plutarch makes explicit mention only of "eights" and "tens". The oaring system may have been a modification of the quadrireme, with two teams of five and four oarsmen. Like the septireme, the deceres ( Greek : δεκήρης , dekērēs ) is attributed by Pliny to Alexander the Great, and they are present alongside "nines" in the fleet of Antigonus Monophthalmus in 315 BC. Indeed, it

2813-709: Is that boats are capable of being carried by ships. (Submarines by this rule are ships rather than boats, but are customarily referred to as boats reflecting their previous smaller size.) Navies use many types of boat, ranging from 9-foot (2.7 m) dinghies to 135-foot (41 m) landing craft. They are powered by either diesel engines, out-board gasoline engines, or waterjets. Most boats are built of aluminum, fiberglass, or steel. Rigid-hulled inflatable boats are also used. Patrol boats are used for patrols of coastal areas, lakes and large rivers. Landing craft are designed to carry troops, vehicles, or cargo from ship to shore under combat conditions, to unload, to withdraw from

2910-503: The Arabian peninsula and Africa . For Salamis , Demetrius Poliorcetes had seven such ships built in Phoenicia and, later, Ptolemy II (r. 283–246 BC) had 36 septiremes constructed. Pyrrhus of Epirus (r. 306–302 and 297–272 BC) also apparently had at least one "seven", which was captured by the Carthaginians and eventually lost at Mylae . Presumably, the septireme was derived by adding

3007-595: The Battle of Cape Ecnomus , the Roman quinqueremes carried a total crew of 420, 300 of whom were rowers, and the rest marines. Leaving aside a deck crew of c.  20 men, and accepting the 2–2–1 pattern of oarsmen, the quinquereme would have 90 oars in each side, and 30-strong files of oarsmen. The fully decked quinquereme could also carry a marine detachment of 70 to 120, giving a total complement of about 400. A "five" would be c.  45 m long, displace around 100 tonnes, be some 5 m wide at water level, and have its deck standing c.  3 m above

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3104-629: The Battle of Chios . The liburnian ( Latin : liburna , Greek : λιβυρνίς , libyrnis ) was a variant of lembos invented by the tribe of the Liburnians . Initially used for piracy and scouting, this light and swift vessel was adopted by the Romans during the Illyrian Wars , and eventually became the mainstay of the fleets of the Roman Empire following Actium, displacing the heavier vessels. Especially

3201-423: The Battle of Ecnomus . An evolution to larger ships was also desirable because they were better able to survive a bow-on-bow ramming engagement, which allowed for increased tactical flexibility over the older, smaller ships which were limited to broad-side ramming. Once bigger ships had become common, they proved their usefulness in siege operations against coastal cities, such as the siege of Tyre by Alexander

3298-632: The Carthaginians . Although the exact date is unknown, it is most likely the type was developed in the latter half of the 4th century BC. Their first attested appearance is at the Siege of Tyre by Alexander the Great in 332 BC, and a few years later, they appear in the surviving naval lists of Athens. In the period after Alexander's death (323 BC), the quadrireme proved very popular: the Athenians made plans to build 200 of these ships, and 90 out of 240 ships of

3395-566: The Diadochi . It was richly decorated, required 1,600 rowers (8 files of 100 per side) and could support 1,200 marines. Remarkably for a ship of its size, its performance at sea was reportedly very good. The Romans used similar ships as troop carriers and flagships. The enneres ( Greek : ἐννήρης ) is first recorded in 315 BC, when three of their type were included in the fleet of Antigonus Monophthalmus. The presence of "nines" in Antony's fleet at Actium

3492-644: The Imperial Roman navy . It is known from references from both the Second Punic War and the Battle of Mylae that the quadrireme had two levels of oarsmen, and was therefore lower than the quinquereme, while being of about the same width ( c.  5.6 m ). Its displacement must have been around 60 tonnes, and its carrying capacity at c.  75 marines. It was especially valued for its great speed and manoeuvrability, while its relatively shallow draught made it ideal for coastal operations. The "four"

3589-477: The Ops , is later recorded as the heaviest ship serving in the praetorian Fleet of Misenum . The exact arrangement of the hexareme's oars is unclear. If it evolved naturally from the earlier designs, it would be a trireme with two rowers per oar; the less likely alternative is that it had two levels with three oarsmen at each. Reports about "sixes" used during the 1st-century BC Roman civil wars indicate that they were of

3686-570: The Spanish and Portuguese navies that dominated in the 16th and early 17th centuries, and helped propel the age of exploration and colonialism . The repulsion of the Spanish Armada (1588) by the English fleet revolutionized naval warfare by the success of a guns-only strategy and caused a major overhaul of the Spanish Navy , partly along English lines, which resulted in even greater dominance by

3783-537: The oiler , minesweeper , patrol boat , hydrographic and oceanographic survey ship and tender . During the age of sail , the ship categories were divided into the ship of the line , frigate, and sloop-of-war . Naval ship names are typically prefixed by an abbreviation indicating the national navy in which they serve. For a list of the prefixes used with ship names ( HMS , USS , LÉ , etc.) see ship prefix . Today's warships are significantly faster than in years past, thanks to much improved propulsion systems. Also,

3880-470: The "aphract" (un-decked and unarmoured) Athenian triremes were vulnerable to attack by arrows and catapults. Given the prominence of close-quarters boarding actions in later years, vessels were built as "cataphract" ships, with a closed hull to protect the rowers, and a full deck able to carry marines and catapults. Pliny the Elder reports that Aristotle ascribed the invention of the quadrireme ( Latin : quadriremis ; Greek : τετρήρης , tetrērēs ) to

3977-679: The French Navy's relative neglect, which allowed the Royal Navy to emerge with an ever-growing advantage in size and quality, especially in tactics and experience, from 1695. As a response to growing naval influence of the navies of Portuguese, the warrior king of the Marathas, Shivaji laid the foundation of the Maratha navy in 1654. Throughout the 18th century the Royal Navy gradually gained ascendancy over

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4074-553: The French Navy, with victories in the War of Spanish Succession (1701–1714), inconclusive battles in the War of Austrian Succession (1740–1748), victories in the Seven Years' War (1754–1763), a partial reversal during the American War of Independence (1775–1783), and consolidation into uncontested supremacy during the 19th century from the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. These conflicts saw

4171-626: The Great , as well as numerous siege operations carried out by his successors, such as the siege of Rhodes by Demetrius Poliorcetes . There were two chief design traditions in the Mediterranean, the Greek and the Punic ( Phoenician /Carthaginian) one, which was later copied by the Romans. As exemplified in the trireme, the Greeks used to project the upper level of oars through an outrigger ( parexeiresia ), while

4268-492: The Great as far as the rivers Indus and Hydaspes , and by the Romans as a troop transport. It is likely that the type was invented by pirates, probably in Caria . Little is known of their characteristics, but Arrian , based on Ptolemy I (r. 323–283 BC), includes them amongst the triacontors. According to one view, it was manned by half the number of oarsmen to make room for the fighters. According to another, there were one and

4365-745: The Spanish. From the beginning of the 17th century the Dutch cannibalized the Portuguese Empire in the East and, with the immense wealth gained, challenged Spanish hegemony at sea. From the 1620s, Dutch raiders seriously troubled Spanish shipping and, after a number of battles that went both ways, the Dutch Navy finally broke the long dominance of the Spanish Navy in the Battle of the Downs (1639). England emerged as

4462-531: The U.S. Navy lifted the ban in April 2010. The major reasons historically cited by the U.S. Navy were the extended duty tours and close conditions which afford almost no privacy. The United Kingdom's Royal Navy has had similar restrictions. Australia, Canada, Norway, and Spain previously opened submarine service to women sailors. A navy will typically have two sets of ranks, one for enlisted personnel and one for officers . Typical ranks for commissioned officers include

4559-560: The United Kingdom launched HMS  Dreadnought in 1906, but naval tactics still emphasized the line of battle. The first practical military submarines were developed in the late 19th century and by the end of World War I had proven to be a powerful arm of naval warfare. During World War II , Nazi Germany 's submarine fleet of U-boats almost starved the United Kingdom into submission and inflicted tremendous losses on U.S. coastal shipping . The German battleship  Tirpitz ,

4656-998: The beach, and to return to the ship. They are rugged, with powerful engines, and usually armed. There are many types in today's navies including hovercraft . They will typically have a power-operated bow ramp, a cargo well and after structures that house engine rooms, pilot houses, and stowage compartments. These boats are sometimes carried by larger ships. Special operations craft are high-speed craft used for insertion and extraction of special forces personnel and some may be transportable (and deployed) by air. Boats used in non-combat roles include lifeboats, mail boats, line handling boats, buoy boats, aircraft rescue boats, torpedo retrievers, explosive ordnance disposal craft, utility boats, dive boats, targets, and work boats. Boats are also used for survey work, tending divers, and minesweeping operations. Boats for carrying cargo and personnel are sometimes known as launches, gigs, barges or shore party boats. Naval forces are typically arranged into units based on

4753-450: The coastal periphery and along inland waterways, where larger ocean-going naval vessels can not readily enter. Regional powers may maintain a " green water navy " as a means of localized force projection. Blue water fleets may require specialized vessels, such as minesweepers , when operating in the littoral regions along the coast. A basic tradition is that all ships commissioned in a navy are referred to as ships rather than vessels, with

4850-460: The comments of Orosius that the larger ships in Antony's fleet were only as high as the quinqueremes (their deck standing at c.  3 m above water), it is presumed that "eights", as well as the "nines" and "tens", were rowed at two levels. An exceptionally large "eight", the Leontophoros , is recorded by Memnon of Heraclea to have been built by Lysimachus (r. 306–281 BC), one of

4947-522: The construction, and is, from the 5th century on, a hotly debated issue. For the history of the interpretation efforts and current scholarly consensus, see below . In the great wars of the 5th century BC, such as the Persian Wars and the Peloponnesian War , the trireme was the heaviest type of warship used by the Mediterranean navies. The trireme (Greek: τρῐήρης ( triḗrēs ), "three-oared")

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5044-488: The design of the "four", the "five" and the other later ships would proceed logically, i.e. that the quadrireme would have four rows of oars, the quinquereme five, etc. However, the eventual appearance of bigger polyremes ("sixes" and later "sevens", "eights", "nines", "tens", and even a massive " forty "), made this theory implausible. Consequently, during the Renaissance and until the 19th century, it came to be believed that

5141-539: The development and refinement of tactics that came to be called the line of battle . The next stage in the evolution of naval warfare was the introduction of metal plating along the hull sides. The increased mass required steam-powered engines, resulting in an arms race between armor and weapon thickness and firepower. The first armored vessels, the French Gloire and British HMS  Warrior , made wooden vessels obsolete. Another significant improvement came with

5238-775: The early 14th century, the word "navy" came via Old French navie , "fleet of ships", from the Latin navigium , "a vessel, a ship, bark, boat", from navis , "ship". The word "naval" came from Latin navalis , "pertaining to ship"; cf. Greek ναῦς ( naus ), "ship", ναύτης ( nautes ), "seaman, sailor". The earliest attested form of the word is in the Mycenaean Greek compound word 𐀙𐀄𐀈𐀗 , na-u -do-mo (* naudomoi ), "shipbuilders", written in Linear B syllabic script. The word formerly denoted fleets of both commercial and military nature. In modern usage "navy" used alone always denotes

5335-459: The efficiency of the engines has improved, in terms of fuel, and of how many sailors it takes to operate them. In World War II, ships needed to refuel very often. However, today ships can go on very long journeys without refueling. Also, in World War II, the engine room needed about a dozen sailors to work the many engines, however, today, only about four or five are needed (depending on the class of

5432-602: The enemy vessel so its occupants could be attacked hand-to-hand. Naval warfare continued in this vein through the Middle Ages until the cannon became commonplace and capable of being reloaded quickly enough to be reused in the same battle. In ancient China , large naval battles were known since the Qin dynasty ( also see Battle of Red Cliffs , 208), employing the war junk during the Han dynasty . However, China's first official standing navy

5529-496: The era of the Roman empire , naval forces included marine legionaries for maritime boarding actions . These were troops primarily trained in land warfare, and did not need to be skilled at handling a ship. Much later during the age of sail, a component of marines served a similar role, being ship-borne soldiers who were used either during boarding actions, as sharp-shooters, or in raids along shorelines. The Spanish Infantería de Marina

5626-417: The exception of destroyers and submarines, which are known as boats. The prefix on a ship's name indicates that it is a commissioned ship. An important tradition on board naval vessels of some nations has been the ship's bell . This was historically used to mark the passage of time, as warning devices in heavy fog, and for alarms and ceremonies. The ship's captain, and more senior officers are "piped" aboard

5723-531: The fleet of Antigonus I Monophthalmus (r. 306–301 BC) were "fours". Subsequently, the quadrireme was favoured as the main warship of the Rhodian navy, the sole professional naval force in the Eastern Mediterranean. In the Battle of Naulochus in 36 BC, "fours" were the most common ship type fielded by the fleet of Sextus Pompeius , and several ships of this kind are recorded in the two praetorian fleets of

5820-451: The following, in ascending order ( Commonwealth ranks are listed first on each line; USA ranks are listed second in those instances where they differ from Commonwealth ranks): "Flag officers" include any rank that includes the word "admiral" (or commodore in services other than the US Navy), and are generally in command of a battle group , strike group or similar flotilla of ships, rather than

5917-535: The funds or the social structure to do. Using multiple oarsmen reduced the number of such highly trained men needed in each crew: only the rower at the tip of the oar had to be sufficiently trained, and he could then lead the others, who simply provided additional motive power. This system was also in use in Renaissance galleys, but jars with the evidence of ancient crews continuing to be thoroughly trained by their commanders. The increased number of oarsmen also required

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6014-454: The idea of an evolutionary progression from the one type to the other. The reasons for the evolution of the polyremes are not very clear. The most often forwarded argument is one of lack of skilled manpower: the trireme was essentially a ship built for ramming , and successful ramming tactics depended chiefly on the constant maintenance of a highly trained oar crew, something which few states aside from Athens with its radical democracy had

6111-527: The invention of the rotating turrets, which allowed the guns to be aimed independently of ship movement. The battle between CSS  Virginia and USS  Monitor during the American Civil War (1861–1865) is often cited as the beginning of this age of maritime conflict. The Russian Navy was considered the third strongest in the world on the eve of the Russo-Japanese War , which turned to be

6208-631: The last two decades of the 4th century, but in the West, they remained the mainstay of the Carthaginian navy. When the Roman Republic , which hitherto lacked a significant navy, was embroiled in the First Punic War with Carthage, the Roman Senate set out to construct a fleet of 100 quinqueremes and 20 triremes. According to Polybius , the Romans seized a shipwrecked Carthaginian quinquereme and used it as

6305-402: The later Punic tradition heightened the ship, and had all three tiers of oars projecting directly from the side hull. Based on iconographic evidence from coins, Morrison and Coates have determined that the Punic triremes in the 5th and early 4th centuries BC were largely similar to their Greek counterparts, most likely including an outrigger. From the mid-4th century, however, at about the time

6402-499: The later hexareme by placing two rowers on every level. Other interpretations of the quinquereme include a bireme warship with three and two oarsmen on the upper and lower oar banks, or even a monoreme (warship with a single level of oars) with five oarsmen. The "double-banking" theory is supported by the fact that the 4th-century quinqueremes were housed in the same ship sheds as the triremes, and must therefore have had similar width ( c.  16 feet (4.9 m) ), which fits with

6499-450: The liburnian. The trihemiolia ( Greek : τριημιολία [ναῦς] ) first appears in accounts of the Siege of Rhodes by Demetrius Poliorcetes in 304 BC, where a squadron of trihemioliai was sent out as commerce raiders . The type was one of the chief vessels of the Rhodian navy, and it is very likely that it was also invented there, as a counter to the pirates' swift hemioliai . So great

6596-481: The number of files of oarsmen on each side of the ship, and not an increased number of rows of oars. The most common theory on the arrangement of oarsmen in the new ship types is that of "double-banking", i.e., that the quadrireme was derived from a bireme (warship with two rows of oars) by placing two oarsmen on each oar, the quinquereme from a trireme by placing two oarsmen on the two uppermost levels (the thranitai and zygitai , according to Greek terminology), and

6693-458: The number of ships included, a single ship being the smallest operational unit. Ships may be combined into squadrons or flotillas , which may be formed into fleets . The largest unit size may be the whole Navy or Admiralty . A task force can be assembled using ships from different fleets for an operational task. Despite their acceptance in many areas of naval service, female sailors were not permitted to serve on board U.S. submarines until

6790-472: The numerous United States carrier battle groups . Only two nations, the United States and France , presently operate CATOBAR carriers of any size, while Russia , China and India operate sizeable STOBAR carriers (although all three are originally of Russian design). The United Kingdom is also operating two Queen Elizabeth -class carriers, which are the largest STOVL vessels in service, and India

6887-432: The prow of the ship. Firing a cannon salute partially disarms the ship, so firing a cannon for no combat reason showed respect and trust. As the tradition evolved, the number of cannons fired became an indication of the rank of the official being saluted. Historically, navy ships were primarily intended for warfare. They were designed to withstand damage and to inflict the same, but only carried munitions and supplies for

6984-405: The quinquereme was introduced in Phoenicia, there is evidence of ships without outriggers. This would have necessitated a different oar arrangement, with the middle level placed more inwards, as well as a different construction of the hull, with side-decks attached to it. From the middle of the 3rd century BC onwards, Carthaginian "fives" display a separate "oar box" that contained the rowers and that

7081-418: The radio transmitter, or the flashing light when radio silence was needed. A " blue water navy " is designed to operate far from the coastal waters of its home nation. These are ships capable of maintaining station for long periods of time in deep ocean, and will have a long logistical tail for their support. Many are also nuclear powered to save having to refuel. By contrast a " brown water navy " operates in

7178-627: The rank of Fleet Admiral in the U.S. Navy, the chief of the Royal Australian Navy holds the rank of Vice Admiral, and the chief of the Irish Naval Service holds the rank of Commodore. Naval infantry, commonly known as marines , are a category of infantry that form part of a state's naval forces and perform roles on land and at sea, including amphibious operations , as well as other, naval roles. They also perform other tasks, including land warfare, separate from naval operations. During

7275-452: The rowing system of the trireme and its descendants was similar to the alla sensile system of the contemporary galleys, comprising multiple oars on each level, rowed by one oarsman each. 20th-century scholarship disproved that theory, and established that the ancient warships were rowed at different levels, with three providing the maximum practical limit. The higher numbers of the "fours", "fives", etc. were therefore interpreted as reflecting

7372-534: The sea. Polybius said the quinquereme was superior to the old trireme, which was retained in service in significant numbers by many smaller navies. Accounts by Livy and Diodorus Siculus also show that the "five", being heavier, performed better than the triremes in bad weather. The Republic of Venice in the 1520s built what was called a quinquereme based on the design of Vettor Fausto , who based it on his readings of classical texts. The hexareme or sexireme ( Latin : hexēris ; Greek : ἑξήρης , hexērēs )

7469-706: The seafaring local people (either Malays of Srivijaya or Javanese of Mataram ) to attack as far as the coast of Tanzania and Mozambique with 1000 boats and attempted to take the citadel of Qanbaloh, about 7,000 km to their West, in 945–946 AD. In 1350 AD Majapahit launched its largest military expedition, the invasion of Pasai , with 400 large jong and innumerable smaller vessels. The second largest military expedition, invasion of Singapura in 1398, Majapahit deployed 300 jong with no less than 200,000 men. The average jong used by Majapahit would be about 76.18–79.81 m LOA , carrying 600–700 men, with 1200–1400 tons deadweight . The mass and deck space required to carry

7566-494: The ship using a Boatswain's call . In the United States, the First Navy Jack is a flag that has the words, "Don't Tread on Me" on the flag. By English tradition, ships have been referred to as a "she". However, it was long considered bad luck to permit women to sail on board naval vessels. To do so would invite a terrible storm that would wreck the ship. The only women that were welcomed on board were figureheads mounted on

7663-411: The ship was relatively low, with a boxed-in superstructure, a displacement of c.  40 tonnes, and capable of reaching speeds comparable with those of a full trireme. The trihemiolia was a very successful design, and was adopted by the navies of Ptolemaic Egypt and Athens among others. Despite being classed as lighter warships, they were sometimes employed in a first-line role, for instance at

7760-482: The ship's maintainable speed. It is unclear however whether this design was applied to heavier warships, and although the Romans copied the Punic model for their quinqueremes, there is ample iconographic evidence of outrigger-equipped warships used until the late imperial period . In the Athenian Sicilian Expedition of 415–413 BC, it became apparent that the topmost tier of rowers, the thranitai , of

7857-507: The ship). Today, naval strike groups on longer missions are always followed by a range of support and replenishment ships supplying them with anything from fuel and munitions, to medical treatment and postal services. This allows strike groups and combat ships to remain at sea for several months at a time. The term "boat" refers to small craft limited in their use by size and usually not capable of making lengthy independent voyages at sea. The old navy adage to differentiate between ships and boats

7954-417: The successors of the 6th and 5th-century BC triacontors (τριακόντοροι, triakontoroi , "thirty-oars") and pentecontors (πεντηκόντοροι, pentēkontoroi , "fifty-oars"). Their primary use was in piracy and scouting, but they also found their place in the battle line. The term lembos (from Greek : λέμβος , "skiff", in Latin lembus ) is used generically for boats or light vessels, and more specifically for

8051-416: The two Roman consuls each had a hexareme, Ptolemy XII (r. 80–58 and 55–51 BC) had one as his personal flagship, as did Sextus Pompeius. At the Battle of Actium , hexaremes were present in both fleets, but with a notable difference: while in the fleet of Octavian they were the heaviest type of vessel, in the fleet of Mark Antony they were the second smallest, after the quinqueremes. A single hexareme,

8148-400: The two upper files would have been accommodated in an oarbox, with the half-file located beneath them in the classic thalamitai position of the trireme. The Lindos relief also includes a list of the crews of two trihemioliai , allowing us to deduce that each was crewed by 144 men, 120 of whom were rowers (hence a full file numbered 24). Reconstruction based on the above sculptures shows that

8245-400: The vessels, and various repair facilities. During times of war temporary bases may be constructed in closer proximity to strategic locations, as it is advantageous in terms of patrols and station-keeping. Nations with historically strong naval forces have found it advantageous to obtain basing rights in other countries in areas of strategic interest. Navy ships can operate independently or with

8342-695: The voyage (rather than merchant cargo). Often, other ships that were not built specifically for warfare, such as the galleon or the armed merchant ships in World War II , did carry armaments. In more recent times, navy ships have become more specialized and have included supply ships, troop transports, repair ships, oil tankers and other logistics support ships as well as combat ships. Modern navy combat ships are generally divided into seven main categories: aircraft carriers , cruisers , destroyers , frigates , corvettes , submarines , and amphibious assault ships . There are also support and auxiliary ships, including

8439-624: The world's total numbers and total tonnage of naval vessels of 1,000 tons or greater. Throughout the rest of the 20th century, the United States Navy would maintain a tonnage greater than that of the next 17 largest navies combined. During the Cold War , the Soviet Navy became a significant armed force, with large numbers of large, heavily armed ballistic missile submarines and extensive use of heavy, long-ranged antisurface missiles to counter

8536-482: Was an important fact in an age where naval engagements were increasingly decided not by ramming but by less technically demanding boarding actions . It has even been suggested by Lionel Casson that the quinqueremes used by the Romans in the Punic Wars of the 3rd century were of the monoreme design (i.e., with one level and five rowers on each oar), being thus able to carry the large contingent of 120 marines attested for

8633-458: Was arguably the largest naval battle in history ; it was also the last battle in which battleships played a significant role. By the end of World War II , the carrier had become the dominant force of naval warfare. World War II also saw the United States become by far the largest naval power in the world. In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, the United States Navy possessed over 70% of

8730-441: Was attached to the main hull. This development of the earlier model entailed further modifications, meaning that the rowers would be located above deck, and essentially on the same level. This would allow the hull to be strengthened, and have increased carrying capacity in consumable supplies, as well as improve the ventilation conditions of the rowers, an especially important factor in maintaining their stamina, and thereby improving

8827-526: Was classed as a "major ship" ( maioris formae ) by the Romans, but as a light craft, serving alongside triremes, in the navies of the major Hellenistic kingdoms like Egypt . Perhaps the most famous of the Hellenistic-era warships, because of its extensive use by the Carthaginians and Romans, the quinquereme (Latin: quīnquerēmis ; Greek : πεντήρης , pentērēs ) was invented by the tyrant of Syracuse , Dionysius I (r. 405–367 BC) in 399 BC, as part of

8924-428: Was credited by Aristotle to the Carthaginians . Far less is known with certainty about the construction and appearance of these ships than about the trireme. Literary evidence is fragmentary and highly selective, and pictorial evidence unclear. The fact that the trireme had three levels of oars ( trikrotos naus ) led medieval historians, long after the specifics of their construction had been lost, to speculate that

9021-482: Was especially important, and common, before 20th-century military technology existed, when merely adding artillery and naval infantry to any sailing vessel could render it fully as martial as any military-owned vessel. Such privateering has been rendered obsolete in blue-water strategy since modern missile and aircraft systems grew to leapfrog over artillery and infantry in many respects; but privateering nevertheless remains potentially relevant in littoral warfare of

9118-411: Was formed in 1537, making it the oldest, current marine force in the world. The British Royal Marines combine being both a ship-based force and also being specially trained in commando frogman -style operations and tactics, operating in some cases separately from the rest of the Royal Navy. The Royal Marines also have their own special forces unit . In the majority of countries, the marine force

9215-591: Was not established until the Southern Song dynasty in the 12th century, a time when gunpowder was a revolutionary new application to warfare. The Chola Dynasty in Southern India had a navy composed of trade ships transporting armies overseas. The Chola Navy reached its peak under Rajendra I , and was most notably used in invasions of Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia . Nusantaran thalassocracies made extensive use of naval power and technologies. This enabled

9312-415: Was propelled by three banks of oars, with one oarsman each. During the early 4th century BC, however, variants of the trireme design began to appear: invention of the quinquereme (Gk.: πεντήρης ( pentḗrēs ), "five-oared") and the hexareme (Gk. hexērēs , "six-oared") is credited by the historian Diodorus Siculus to the tyrant Dionysius I of Syracuse , while the quadrireme (Gk. tetrērēs , "four-oared")

9409-504: Was the attachment of the Rhodians to this type of vessel, that for a century after their navy was abolished by Gaius Cassius Longinus in 46 BC, they kept a few as ceremonial vessels. The type was classed with the trireme, and had two and a half files of oarsmen on each side. Judging from the Lindos relief and the famous Nike of Samothrace , both of which are thought to represent trihemioliai ,

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