Bireme

Uses

These ships were frequently used by the Romans, as during the second of Caesar's invasions of Britain. The bireme eventually evolved into the trireme. A unit commandant (who was given a tent on the open deck) directed a group of marines. The bireme was also recorded in ancient history on the 8th and early 7th-century BC Assyrian reliefs, where they were used to carry out an amphibious attack on the coast of Elam and the lagoons of the Persian Gulf during the reign of Sennacherib.

Medieval galleys are also described as "bireme" or "trireme" depending on the number of their banks of oars. The terminology can lead to confusion, since the terms are also used for rowed warships of the Greco-Roman period built on entirely different design principles.

Dimensions and development

In 1275, Charles of Anjou, king of Sicily, issued an order for the construction of several galleys that provide the earliest evidence for the dimensions of the bireme galleys. Because of increased weight and breadth, which brought increased friction through the water, a trireme galley was not dramatically faster than a bireme. But the change to trireme produced more significant developments than a gain in tactical speed over short distances. Early bireme galleys escorted merchant ships but were rarely used to carry goods. A few Genoese freight contracts of the mid-13th century record charters for bireme galleys.