 
Operated: 5th Century BC
Displacement: Approx. 40 tons
Max Speed: 7+ knots
Length: 120 feet or more
Complement: Approx 200, plus a contingent of foot soldiers
Light yet sturdy and highly maneuverable, triremes ruled the Mediterranean for most of the 5th Century BC. The navies of Persia, Phoenicia and the Greek city-states used them extensively. Triremes had a square sail on a single mast, but the sail and mast were stowed during battle in favor of the oars. Three rows of oars on each side of the ship were manned by many as 170 oarsmen, depending on the size of the vessel.
At the Battle of Salamis in 480 BC, the Greek commander Themistocles lured King Xerxes' much larger Persian fleet into the straits near the island of Salamis. The outnumbered Greek triremes proved much more maneuverable than the Persian galleys in the narrow straits. Through ramming and boarding tactics, the Greeks managed to sink about 300 Persian ships while losing only about 40 triremes. The remainder of the Persian fleet dispersed, delaying Xerxes' planned invasion and giving the Greeks time to prepare their defenses. This victory signaled the beginning of the dominance of triremes, which lasted until the end of the Peloponnesian War in 404 BC.
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