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         Naval Warfare
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The need for warships in the Mediterranean Sea largely faded after the Romans
gained complete control of the surrounding lands. There was no other empire with
a navy to offer competition, and piracy was all but eliminated. Following the
collapse of the Western Roman Empire, new civilizations sprang up from the ruins
of the empire and piracy reappeared. Warships were needed again to defend
against invasion, project military power, and protect sea trade routes.

Byzantine Ships

The Byzantines were the great Mediterranean naval power of the early Middle
Ages. Naval power was critical to their survival and to their extended empire.
The land defenses of Constantinople were excellent and made outright assault of
the city very difficult, but the city had to keep its sea supply open to prevent
a successful siege. So long as the navy could bring in supplies, the city was
assured of survival.

The main Byzantine warship of the early Middle Ages was the dromen, an evolution
of the ancient oared warships, such as the trireme. A typical dromen was long
and narrow for speed. Power was supplied by 50 to 200 rowers and lateen sails. A
mast was placed in the middle of the front half and rear half of the ship. The
dromen carried a beak at the bow for pinning enemy vessels prior to boarding.
Rams were rarely seen. Platforms were built in the center, bow, and stern. From
these platforms archers and catapults could fire at enemy ships and crews. A
typical battle involved attempts to ram or disable enemy ships, then grappling
and boarding by marines.

The Byzantines effectively used a secret weapon called Greek fire. This was a
mixture of chemicals that burned fiercely upon contact with air. It was pumped
out of hoses against enemy ships or thrown in bombs. It was a devastating weapon
against wooden ships and decisive for the Byzantines in their naval battles
against the Arabs. The secret of Greek fire was so important and so closely
guarded that it was eventually lost and we do not know today exactly what it
was.

Mediterranean Ships

Oar-powered warships, called galleys, remained the principal warships of the
Mediterranean beyond the end of the Middle Ages because the waters were
relatively protected from fierce gales. At the same time, the Italian city-
states of Genoa and Venice gradually became naval powers in proportion to the
increasing importance of their trade with the Levant. The Arabs also built
navies to influence trade and support their conflict with the Byzantines and
other Christians for control of the Mediterranean. The beginning of the Crusades
in the eleventh century brought ships from Northern Europe that had evolved very
different designs.

European Ships

The Germanic tribes that occupied Northern Europe around 500 developed several
new ship types. The typical trading ship was wide-bodied and of deep draft. It
mounted a single mast at first and later more as it grew in size. The Norse
called this type of ship a knarr. We know a lot about this ship today because
one was recovered from the bottom of a harbor in Denmark in the 1960s. Much of
the trade and exploration of the Anglo-Saxons and Vikings was carried on in this
type of ship. It evolved into the cog, the principal merchant ship of the later
Middle Ages. This deep-draft ship was designed for easy sailing and high cargo
capacity.

Ship fighting in northern Europe was mainly an extension of land combat. Towers
were built on the bow and stern of the cog for protection and as firing
platforms for archers. Crews fired at each other with arrows as they closed, but
the intent was only to disable enemy crewmen and soldiers. Ships came together
and attempted to capture each other in hand-to-hand combat. Sailing ships in
these waters had no ability to ram. There was no weapon with which to do great
structural damage to another ship or sink it until cannon appeared in the
fourteenth century. Some 400 English and French cog-type warships carrying large
contingents of archers and foot soldiers engaged in a naval battle at Sluys in
1340 typical of the later Middle Ages. They simply jammed together for archery
fire and close combat.

The first cannon were mounted in the bow or stern of ships. Small cannon mounted
on the side rails were used against enemy crews. The English ship Christopher of
the Tower of 1406 was the first built purposely to carry guns. Ships began to
mount broadsides of cannon with the ability to puncture enemy hulls only at the
very end of the Middle Ages.

The Viking longship was more of a transport than a warship. Vikings rarely
fought from their longships. When they did, there are reports of boats being
lashed together to provide a platform for hand-to-hand fighting. The longship
was powered by oars until the eighth or ninth century when sails appear to have
been added. Although they looked fragile and unlikely vessels for ocean travel,
modern replicas proved to be very seaworthy. The additional range provided by
sails explains partially why the Vikings began reaching out to raid in the ninth
century.

The Irish curragh was a small boat used mainly for coastal trading and travel
but capable of deep ocean sailing also. This boat was built of animal hides
stretched over a wooden frame. The hide skin was sealed with pitch for
waterproofing. These incredibly light boats were powered with a small sail or
could be rowed. In rough weather the hide covering could be closed to make the
boat watertight and relatively unsinkable. Irish monks explored the North
Atlantic in these boats and reached Iceland long before the Vikings. There are
unsubstantiated tales that monks sailed to the New World as well.

The Crusades brought northern ships into the Mediterranean and contact between
the sailors and shipbuilders of north and south. The southerners began adopting
features of the cog, including its big hull and square sail. The northerners
learned about the compass, stern rudder, and lateen sail.

Chinese Ships

The greatest shipbuilders of the Middle Ages were probably the Chinese. The
familiar Chinese junk was a better ship than anything available in the West for
many centuries. It was an excellent combination of cargo space, sailing ability,
and seaworthiness. In 1405, Chinese Admiral Cheng Ho built a huge navy manned by
25,000 men and explored much of the Southwest Pacific and Indian Oceans. The
rulers of China disdained this feat and its discoveries. The greatest ships in
the world at the time were beached and allowed to rot.