Trireme was the Roman name for the warship that first appeared in Greece in the navy of the city of Corinth around 650 B.C.E. It was such an effective warship that its use quickly spread throughout Greece and beyond. The Phoenicians and Egyptians also built triremes. In Greek the trireme was called a trieres, meaning three-fitted. This designation referred to the arrangement of rowers in groups of three.
Dimensions, Rowing Arrangements and Speed
Triremes were very sleek wooden vessels. They were built on a 10:1 length to width ratio. On average these warships were about 35 meters (120 feet) long by 3.5 meters (12 feet wide) and drew only about one meter of water. The Greek trireme had a low profile with a deck located only slightly above the uppermost level of rowers. Phoenicians triremes had a higher freeboard and were wider. They also had a raised fighting deck.
Each ship had a complement of 170 rowers arranged 85 to each side of the ship in three rows imposed one above the other. Each man pulled one oar. Rowers were typically volunteers and very well paid professionals.
These factors made the trireme a very fast ship. A trireme with a well trained crew at maximum rowing speed could make about 12-15 knots. Triremes were also equipped with sails. A mainsail was used for cruising and giving oarsmen rest. They also had an emergency sail that was used to help the ship escape, especially when defeated in battle. A trireme could manage about 4-6 knots under sail.
Officers and Other Crew
The commander of the trireme was the trierarch. In the Athenian navy the trierarch was a wealthy man assigned the duty by lot. He may or may not have much sea experience. Second in command was the pilot. He was always an experienced sailor and effectively commanded the ship if the trierarch was inexperienced. Another important officer was the keleustes who was in charge of the rowers. There were about ten deck hands that took care of the sails and rigging. Each Athenian trireme carried four archers and ten marines equipped as heavy infantrymen. Other navies carried more marines. The total number of men that an Athenian trireme carried was about 200.
Ancient Naval Warfare
The main weapon of the trireme was its bronze ram located on the prow of the ship. A two line formation was preferred for fighting between fleets. The second line functioned to deter opponents from turning to ram ships in the first line. Such a maneuver would expose them to being rammed themselves by ships in the second line. Two standard tactics were the breakthrough and the envelopment. Ramming required a great deal of skill and was why the trireme was designed for speed. Some navies were not so skillful and preferred boarding tactics. They typically placed more marines on their ships to enable them to more easily overpower the opposing crew. The most famous fight between trireme fleets was the Battle of Salamis in 480 B.C.E. Both ramming and boarding tactics were used in the engagement.
End of the Trireme
The heyday of the trireme was the two-hundred-year period from the middle of the sixth to the middle of the fourth century B.C.E. Then larger ships began to be built. In addition to more rowers these could carry more marines and also catapults and other missile weapons. But the trireme remained popular as a second line vessel right up to Roman imperial times. It was cheaper to build and operate than the larger ships and adequate enough for anti-pirate operations.
Source:
Casson, Lionel. Ships and Seamanship in the Ancient World, Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1995. Reprint.
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