Warship. History. The age of sailing ships

Ships have been used in combat for at least 3,000 years. Until the 1600's, however, there were few differences between warships and cargo ships. Any ship that fought in combat might also transport goods or carry explorers on long voyages.

Early warships. The ancient Greek and Roman navies used long, narrow wooden ships called galleys. These vessels were powered by oarsmen, who sat in one or more rows on each side. Galleys also had a rectangular sail called a square sail, which was used in a favorable wind. The bow ended in a long, sharp point that was rammed into the hull of an enemy ship.

During the A.D. 700's, the Vikings of northern Europe developed the long ship. It was powered by rowers and a square sail but weighed only about half as much as a galley. Long ships were strong and seaworthy, and they helped the Vikings control the seas until the 1000's.

Southern Europeans continued to use galleys in battle but gradually stopped attacking by ramming enemy ships. Instead, the rowers maneuvered their galley close to an enemy ship and then boarded it.

By the 1 500's, most warships carried guns, and so battles no longer were fought aboard ship. Navies began to use warships as floating gun platforms and replaced galleys with larger, more heavily armed ships.

The age of sailing ships. During the 1500's, Europeans began to build large, heavy sailing ships designed for long ocean voyages by explorers. Such ships included galleons, which were also used as warships.

The Spanish Navy built large galleons that sailed high on the water. English galleons were smaller, lower, and easier to maneuver. In 1 588, the Spanish Navy tried to invade England. The Spaniards called their fleet the "Invincible Armada" because they were sure it could not be defeated. But the English defeated the Spaniards, partly because their galleons were more maneuverable.

After Spain's defeat, navies began to build specialized fighting ships. These vessels included capital ships, an important type of warship during the 1600's and 1700's. Capital ships were fairly easy to maneuver and large enough to carry more than 100 guns. They became known as ships of the line because they could serve in the line of battle.

Warships of the 1800's. In 1814, Robert Fulton, an American artist and inventor, built the first steam-powered warship. Navies then began to use warships driven by steam, but the vessels were also powered by sails until the mid-1800"s.

Naval guns that fired explosive shells, rather than solid cannon balls, were developed in the 1820's. The shells could easily tear huge holes in the sides of wooden ships. Therefore, navies began to build iron vessels and also ironclad ships. The hulls of these vessels were made of wood or iron, and were covered with thick plates of iron. Ironclads could withstand attack far better than wooden ships could. The first battle between these new types of warships occurred in 1862, during the American Civil War. The North's iron Monitor fought the South’s ironclad Merrimack (then called the Virginia) at Hampton Roads, Virginia. Neither ship won, but the battle marked the beginning of the age of steel ships. It was also one of the first battles between ships powered only by steam.

Rotating gun turrets were invented in the mid-1800's, and the Monitor was the first ship in the U.S. Navy to use them. They enabled guns to be turned in various directions and ended the need for extensive maneuvers by warships. Heavy rifles became standard armament on combat vessels and greatly improved the range and accuracy of naval gunfire.

The birth of the modern battleship, in 1906, the British Navy introduced the Dreadnought, the first modern battleship. It was the forerunner of the massive battleships that ruled the seas for more than 35 years. The Dreadnought was more powerfully armed and more heavily armored than any earlier warship.

During the early and mid-1900"s, navies improved the basic design of the Dreadnought to make battleships larger and faster. Better communications methods developed within the ships increased the efficiency of their command. The battleship became the chief combat warship, and nations measured their power in the world by the number of battleships in their navies.