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Image # 16 of 16
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| Greek Trireme |
Greeks built their war ships on the pattern of Phoenicians and the Crete island inhabitants. But they made them of oak or beech and not of cedar as the latter. Greeks owned triconteras with 30 rowers on board of one and penteconteras with 50 rowers. By the 7th century B. C. Greeks added their fleet by biremes and a hundred years later a new type of a war ship appeared - a trireme (or triere). She had three tiers of oars. On a Greek bireme rowers of the upper tier were placed differently as compared with Phoenician vessels where they sat in special nests above the boards (remember Nike Thracian from the Louver installed just in that nest at the bow part of the bireme). In such a manner the trireme was built. The bas-relief from Acropolis in the Athena's museum helps to understand the trireme's construction. The crew of the third tier consisted of 30 rowers, the crew of the second tier consisted of 27 rowers and the first between decks tier contained 27 people. The oars of the second and the third tiers moved on axes-rowlocks. The oars of the first lower tier went through holes in boards and leather covers closed these holes. Such a ship had a length of 36 m, a width of 6 m, and her draught was 1 m. So she was low, long and sharpened but she lacked power to break the enemy's hull. A monoreme had a ram in the form of a dolphin's head and a trireme it consisted of 2-3 sharp points of a spear-shaped form. Iron boar-spears above the ram to destroy boards of an attacked ship were installed on some triremes. The crew of the trireme (excluding rowers in a number of 170 on board the ship) consisted of 20 sailors and 12 soldiers. Rowers gathered speed to five knots and when a sail was hoisted the speed reached to 8 knots (14.8 km/h). The sail was used only at storms and during long voyages. At the moment of preparation for a battle the sails were furled and the masts were lowered. Usually the mainmast was installed in the middle of the ship and the foremast was placed in the fore part and it was strongly inclined forward. It also carried the second square sail that helped to maneuver. Trireme became famous under the command of Phemistocle in the Salamin battle (480 B. C.) where they destroyed the Persian fleet in spite of their superiority. High speeds of triremes and a destroying force of their metal rams were justified.
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