Page 242 - Encyclopedia Of World History Vol V

warfare, naval 2019

The USS Pennsylvania,
a battleship and three
cruisers support an Am-
erican landing in the
Philippines in 1944.

crews to beach the vessels at
night to forage, to water (the
technical term for replenish-
ing a ship’s supply of water),
and to prepare food. The
roundship, of deeper draught,
smaller length-to-width
ration, and driven by sail and
oars, served as the auxiliary
vessel of the day. Their larger
hulls transported troops and
supplies. Roundships were
often the critical element of
any invasion (for example,
the destruction by storm of
a Persian support fleet in
square sail, the vessel’s single row of oarsmen propelled 492 BCE delayed an invasion of Greece by two years).
it into battle. An Egyptian temple carving of 1190 BCE Though archery and boarding occurred during battles,
depicts scenes from a large naval engagement against the the chief tactic of the time appears to have been ramming
Sea People. Archers provided ranged fire, stout bulwarks enemy vessels. Specific maneuvers emerged to support
protected rowers, and spearmen in armor waited to fight ramming, such as the periplus (the extension of the line
their way aboard enemy vessels. The Ugarit Tablet, also of battle to flank enemy vessels), the diekplus (an attack
dated to 1190 BCE, contains the first written report of a in column to shear enemy oars and split the enemy bat-
naval battle, fought between the Hittites and the Sea Peo- tle line), and the kyklos (a circular defensive formation).
ple off Cypress. Greeks also pioneered naval strategy, especially the inter-
Despite the fact that navies arose throughout the diction of enemy supply lines through raiding or block-
Mediterranean, the topic of sea power is typically asso- ades and the naval support of invasions. Over time,
ciated with the rise of the Greek city states because of other cultures placed their stamps upon the Age of Oars.
the efforts of two early historians, Herodotus, writing on For example, the Phoenicians developed superb naviga-
the Persian Wars of the 490s and 480s BCE, and Thucy- tional skills, while the Romans made ramming secondary
dides, who wrote about the Peloponnesian War of 431– to boarding, turning their superb legions into marines
404 BCE.The navies described by Herodotus and Thucy- through the use of the corvus (a boarding ramp) and
dides depended on galleys driven by one (unireme), two harpax (a machine to fire grapples).
(bireme), or three (trireme) banks of oars. Also known Naval engagements under oars stretched across over
as longships, these vessels featured high length-to-width four thousand years of recorded history, from the battles
ratios, relatively flat bottoms, bronze- or metal-sheathed of Egyptians and Sea People to the last large fleet action
wooden rams, and masts and sails for cruising. These between galleys at Lepanto in 1571 and beyond. Two
galleys were extremely fragile and because of their events sounded the death knell of the oar-driven warship,
shallow draught lacked holds to carry supplies. They the venturing of Europeans across the stormy Atlantic
typically operated within easy reach of land, both to and the introduction of cannons. Together, they would
shelter them from severe weather and to allow the usher in a new era in naval warfare.