Birema ( Latin biremis , from bi- “double, double” + remus - “oar” ), diere ( dr. Greek δι-ῆρες , from δύο - “two” + ἐρέσσω - “row” ) - rowing military ship with two rows of oars . Equipped with rams . The bireme could have a battle tower and a large block to destroy the hull of an enemy ship. Length 30-38 m. Displacement from 60 to 100 tons.
History
First, military ships of this type appeared among the ancient Greeks , and then in the Roman fleet . The first type of warship of these peoples was a unireme - an oblong, flat-bottomed, single mast ship with one row of oars. A ram was equipped in the bow of the unirem, the middle part of it, where the rowers were placed, was open, and on the bow and stern there were elevated platforms for soldiers. Since the main weapon of these ships was a ram, which could be used only with a significant predominance in the course, all attention was paid to increasing the latter. To this end, the Greeks began to increase the number of oars, placing them in two (dieres) and three ( triremes ) rows. Along the way, they began to turn open vessels into deck vessels to protect rowers from enemy arrows, spears, and other throwing weapons . With the advent of the deck, a new space was obtained on the ship, where it was possible to place a larger number of warriors for boarding than before, when they were allocated places on the bow and stern of the ship. The length of the bireme varied from 60 to 150 feet, the width from 25 to 40 feet, the number of oars from 30 to 40 [1] .
There was no permanent helm, it was replaced by a feed oar. The crew of rowers reached 80-100 people, the number of soldiers for boarding fights up to forty. In addition to them, there were several more sailors to control the sail . The ram was the head of an animal poured out of metal or a simple tip. There were usually two rams - surface and underwater, or only one last. The battle came down to ramming or boarding in the event of a collision with the sides. Being wide and flat-bottomed, biremes did not possess good agility and did not differ in marine qualities, therefore, they could act only off the coast and in relatively calm weather [1] .
If necessary, to make long voyages, the detachments of these ships marched along the coast, stopping at night and camping, like the ground forces. The command staff of the bireme consisted of a comra (hierarch, duorarch, trirarch), a gortator, who was in charge of rowers and supervised rowing, and a helmsman, who controlled the ship and sails. Rowers for the most part were slaves or prisoners, sometimes hired people [1] .
The armament of the warriors consisted of swords, bows, spears and darts. To help the oars and to use the tailwind, a mast with a sail was put on biremes. Usually one platform (Mars) was arranged on the mast for observing and firing from it an aborted vessel. Birems of the Romans usually had bow and stern decorations, painted in bright colors and wore the badges of those cohorts to which the warriors and arrows belonged [1] .
Types of bireme
- Phoenician bireme
- greek bireme
- roman bireme
- libourne
- Dromon - a Byzantine ship, usually had two rows of oars
See also
- Ivliya (Diera)
- Unirema
- Trier
- Quadrrem
- Quinquireme
- Hexer
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 Bireme // Military Encyclopedia : [in 18 vol.] / Ed. V.F. Novitsky [et al.]. - SPb. ; [ M. ]: Type. t-va I. D. Sytin , 1911-1915.