Galleys

thumb|upright=1.35|Colourised engraving of a French galley (27 pairs of oars) built according to the design that was standard in the Mediterranean from the early 17th century; Henri Sbonski de Passebon, 1690|alt=A two-masted ship with several sails set A galley is a type of ship optimised for propulsion by oars. Galleys were historically used for warfare, trade, and piracy mostly in the seas surrounding Europe. It developed in the Mediterranean world during antiquity and continued to exist in various forms until the early 19th century. It typically had a long, slender hull, shallow draft, and

thumb|Fleet of triremes made up of photographs of the modern full-sized replica Olympias (trireme)|Olympias A trireme ( ; ; cf. ) was an ancient vessel and a type of galley that was used by the ancient maritime civilizations of the Mediterranean Sea, especially the Phoenicians, ancient Greeks and Romans.

thumb|right|250px|Illustration from the Madrid Skylitzes showing the Byzantine fleet repelling the Rus' attack on Constantinople in 941, and the use of the spurs to smash the oars of the Rus' vessels. Boarding actions and hand-to-hand fighting determined the outcome of most naval battles in the Middle Ages.

A bireme (, ) is an ancient oared warship (galley) with two superimposed rows of oars on each side. Biremes were long vessels built for military purposes and could achieve relatively high speed. They were invented well before the 6th century BC and were used by the Phoenicians, Assyrians, and Greeks. thumb|right|250px|Greek bireme circa 500 BC, image from a Greek vase in the British Museum, which was found at [[Vulci in Etruria.]] thumb|Phoenician warship with two rows of oars, relief from Nineveh, ca. 700 BC

thumb|A galleass of the 1588 Spanish Armada

thumb|The Spanish xebec of [[Antonio Barceló (center) fighting two Algerian galiotes (1738)]] thumb|A Dutch galiot from Willaumez's Dictionnaire de la Marine in the 17th century thumb|250px|18th century half galleys. A galiot, galliot or galiote, was a small galley boat propelled by sail or oars. There are three different types of naval galiots that sailed on different seas.

A liburna was a type of small galley used for raiding and patrols. Originally utilized by the Liburnians, a pirate tribe from Dalmatia, it later became a staple of the Roman navy.

thumb thumb|Coinage of Tennes, king of [[Sidon, dated 351/0 BC. Phoenician pentekonter sailing left. Date above (here faint), waves below. King of Persia standing right, holding up lion by lock of mane; Aramaic T’ between.]] The penteconter (alt. spelling pentekonter, pentaconter, pentecontor or pentekontor; , pentēkónteros, "fifty-oared"), plural penteconters, was an ancient Greek galley in use since the archaic period.

Chelandion () was a Byzantine galley warship, a variant of the dromōn that also functioned as a cargo transport.

oared warships

English sailing ship captained by William Kidd

former military arsenal located in Marseille

modern reconstruction of an ancient Greek rowing warship

Ottoman galley