A Greek Trireme was used for war battles on sea and they used oars and sails to travel quickly to and from each battle. Athenians used these ships from the 7th to the 4th century B.C. It was the fastest warship in the Mediterranean, going about 7.5 knots with 170 oarsmen in three files on each side and one oar per man.
The Greek fleet of triremes spent eight months at sea, with 90 ships in the fleet being the usual. They also had 10 hoplite warriors, mariners, sail crew, a carpenter, a helmsman, a piper, and a captain onboard. The ship also had a ram in front so it could sink enemy ships with few hand to hand casualties.
Under sail, the Greeks could have reached a maximum 14 knots in fair weather. In battle, they would take the sail down and store it away. They used manpower after that to guide them through the battle to an opponent’s position. Harbors designed for these ships were found at Piraeus, where archeologist’s actually found three such harbors, one of them for triremes and the others for trading vessels.
-Captain Blogbeard
