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SCDARS
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I've found some infomation about
"naval ship(s)" in the Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
quote:
After Salamis, the trireme continued as the backbone of the Greek fleet, with the ram continuing as its primary weapon. Its keel, like those of its predecessors, formed the principal-strength member, running the length of the ship and curving upward at each end. The ram, usually shod in bronze, formed a forward prolongation that gained effectiveness from the heavy keel back of it. Additional longitudinal strength came from a storming bridge, a gangway along the centreline from bow to stern along which the crew raced to board when a foe was rammed. Gradually, with ships becoming steadily heavier, boarding assumed greater importance and the ram lost some of its importance.
A trireme of the 5th century BC may have had a length of about 125 feet, a beam of 20 feet, and a draft of three feet. Manned by about 200 officers, seamen, and oarsmen (perhaps 85 on a side), with a small band of heavily armed epibatai (marines), under oars it could reach seven knots (seven nautical miles per hour; one knot equals 1.15 statute miles per hour or 1.85 kilometres per hour). Extremely light and highly maneuverable, the classical trireme represented the most concentrated application of human muscle power to military purposes ever devised. The oarsmen sat on three levels, which were slightly staggered laterally and fore and aft to achieve the maximum number of oarsmen for the size of the hull. In rowing, the oarsmen slid back and forth on leather cushions strapped to their buttocks; this enabled full use of the powerful muscles of the thighs and abdomen.
With only scant room for provisions, such warships could not remain long at sea, and a voyage usually consisted of short hops from island to island or headland to headland. Even the largest triremes put into shore and beached for the night, resuming the passage in the morning, weather permitting. Light construction and little endurance made short distances between bases essential and frequent refits imperative.
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Then it says about "Later developments":
quote:
The trireme reached its peak development in Athens. By the middle of the 4th century BC, Athenians employed quadriremes (four-bank seating), with quinqueremes appearing soon thereafter. In the late 4th and early 3rd century BC an arms race developed in the eastern Mediterranean, producing even larger multibanked ships. Macedonia's rulers built 18-banked craft requiring crews of 1,800 men. Ptolemaic Egypt capped them with 20s and 30s. Ptolemy III even laid down a 40 (tesseraconter) with a design length of over 400 feet and calling for a crew of 4,000 rowers. The vessel was never actually used. (The multiplicity of "banks," once a puzzle to historians, signifies the number of rowers on each oar or row of oars rather than an almost unimaginable vertical piling-up of banks.)
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That's it! - The 4000 soldiers mentionened in your first post, Bernd...
The following is just for those who're really interested and have not already given up reading because of boredom... 
quote:
This same arms race brought other changes of significance. Until the late 4th century BC, maneuver, marines, and the ram constituted a warship's offensive strength, and archers provided close-in fire. Demetrius I Poliorcetes of Macedonia is credited with introducing heavy missile weapons on ships at the end of the century, starting a trend that has continued to the present day. Demetrius' ships mounted crossbowlike catapults, for hurling heavy darts, and stone-throwing machines of the type the Romans later called ballistae. From this time on, large warships carried these weapons, enabling them to engage a foe at standoff ranges, though ramming and boarding also continued. Temporary wooden turrets--forecastles and sterncastles--were similarly fitted to provide elevated platforms for archers and slingers.
Following the fragmentation of the brief empire of Alexander the Great, sea power developed elsewhere. The city-state of Rhodes built a small but competent fleet to protect its vital shipping. Meanwhile to the west, Carthage, a state with ancient maritime origins, rose to prominence on the north coast of Africa and by about 300 BC had become the foremost Mediterranean naval power. Carthage's navy consisted probably of the same ram-galley types developed by its ancestral Phoenicians and by the Greeks.
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[This message has been edited by SCDARS (edited June 25, 2000).]
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SCDARS
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BTW, it's a very fun and interesting scenario, and we should all look forward to the promised update...
[This message has been edited by SCDARS (edited June 25, 2000).] - I regret this double post...
[This message has been edited by SCDARS (edited June 25, 2000).]
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Stefan Härtel
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Eddie's best friend
Jul 1999
time: 06:12
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Prometeus: I ran the infos about that book of yours thru www.buch.de, a German major online bookstore. Schweizer seems to be an important professor of Islamic and near eastern history. I have indeed seen the book of yours in its German version in Berlin, but it was called "Iran- Drehscheibe zwischen Ost und West".
BeBro: Is your scenario the one that was called "Antike" on the Largest German page?
If I remember correctly, it goes back into Achaemenid times. In that case, I would suggest that you replace Nearchus' voyage either by Hanno's voyage, or Skylax' voyage. Hanno was a carthaginian explorer who sailed from Carthage around northern Africa as far as Guniea (I have a map of his voyage, if you want to have it... ), Skylax was a Greek seafarer, who sailed through the Persian Gulf, the waters of the Arabian sea and around the Arabian penninsula and finally demanded the Great King of Persia to complete the "Suez" canal of antiquity.
Both voyages were of much more importance than Nearchus' puddle walk.
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Follow the masses!
30,000 lemmings can't be wrong!
Our survival is based on continouus changing.
-Mao Tse-Tung
God might have created us as equals, but democracy and science pretty
much screwed that whole idea..
-Onepaul
Visit my Homepage at: http://members.xoom.com/SHaertel/Index.html
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Stefan Härtel
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Eddie's best friend
Jul 1999
time: 06:12
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BeBro: I'll send the map as soon as I can scan it. Right now my scanner is blocked because I needed some room to put my books on which I had to take out of my shelf in order to re-place it
Coastal fortifications.... well, as far as I know these existed mainly in the large maritime cities: Carthage, Tyros, Alexandria, Rhodes, Syracuse etc. But yes, since I use them regularily in my scenarios...
It could also be called "harbor blockade". These were more common than real coastal fortifications, since they were easier to set up, often more effective and built up in minimum of time.
What I would love to see is a pre-punic war scenario about the relations between Rome and Carthage that makes use of the Carthaginian-Roman naval area that makes it impossible for Roman ships to pass through Carthaginian territory (invisible units would do the trick).
------------------
Follow the masses!
30,000 lemmings can't be wrong!
Our survival is based on continouus changing.
-Mao Tse-Tung
God might have created us as equals, but democracy and science pretty
much screwed that whole idea..
-Onepaul
Visit my Homepage at: http://members.xoom.com/SHaertel/Index.html
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25-06-2000 14:52
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