A fire ship or fireship, used in the days of wooden rowed or
sailing ship
A sailing ship is a sea-going vessel that uses sails mounted on masts to harness the power of wind and propel the vessel. There is a variety of sail plans that propel sailing ships, employing square-rigged or fore-and-aft sails. Some ships ...
s, was a ship filled with combustibles, or gunpowder deliberately set on fire and steered (or, when possible, allowed to drift) into an enemy fleet, in order to destroy ships, or to create panic and make the enemy break formation. Ships used as fire ships were either warships whose munitions were fully spent in battle, surplus ones which were old and worn out, or inexpensive purpose-built vessels rigged to be set afire, steered toward targets, and abandoned quickly by the crew.
Explosion ships or "
hellburners
Hellburners (Dutch: ''hellebranders'') were specialised fireships used in the Siege of Antwerp (1584–1585) during the Eighty Years' War between the Dutch rebels and the Habsburgs. They were floating bombs, also called "Antwerp fire", and did ...
" were a variation on the fire ship, intended to cause damage by blowing up in proximity to enemy ships.
Fireships were used to great effect by the outgunned English fleet against the
Spanish Armada during the
Battle of Gravelines,
[The Fireship and its Role in the Royal Navy](_blank)
by James Coggeshall. Master's Thesis, Texas A&M University, 1997, pp. 7-11 the Dutch
raid on the Medway
The Raid on the Medway, during the Second Anglo-Dutch War in June 1667, was a successful attack conducted by the Dutch navy on English warships laid up in the fleet anchorages off Chatham Dockyard and Gillingham in the county of Kent. At t ...
, Chinese warlord
Sun Quan in the
Battle of Red Cliffs, and by the Greeks in
their war of independence.
History
Ancient era, first uses
![Chinese Fire Ships](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9a/Chinese_Fire_Ships.jpg)
The oldest known use of a fire ship was in
ancient China in the
Battle of Red Cliffs (208) on the
Yangtze River
The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ; ) is the longest list of rivers of Asia, river in Asia, the list of rivers by length, third-longest in the world, and the longest in the world to flow entirely within one country. It rises at Jari Hill in th ...
when
Huang Gai
Huang Gai () ( 180s–210s), courtesy name Gongfu, was a military general who served under the warlord Sun Quan during the late Eastern Han dynasty of China. He previously served under Sun Quan's predecessors – Sun Jian (Sun Quan's father) and ...
assaulted
Cao Cao's naval forces with a fire ship filled with bundles of kindling, dry reeds, and fatty oil.
Fire ships were decisively employed by the
Vandals
The Vandals were a Germanic people who first inhabited what is now southern Poland. They established Vandal kingdoms on the Iberian Peninsula, Mediterranean islands, and North Africa in the fifth century.
The Vandals migrated to the area betw ...
against the armada sent by the
Eastern Roman Empire
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantin ...
, in the
Battle of Cape Bon (468)
The Battle of Cape Bon was an engagement during a joint military expedition of the Western and Eastern Roman Empires led by Basiliscus against the Vandal capital of Carthage in 468. The invasion of the kingdom of the Vandals was one of the larg ...
.
The invention of
Greek fire in 673 increased the use of fire ships, at first by the Greeks and afterward by other nations as they came into possession of the secret of manufacturing this substance. In 951 and again in 953
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
n fleets narrowly escaped destruction by fire ships.
Age of fighting sail, refinement
![Brulot10](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/80/Brulot10.jpg)
While fire ships were used in the Medieval period, notably during the
crusades
The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were ...
, these were typically ships that were set up with combustibles on an adhoc basis. The career of the modern fire ship, as a naval vessel type designed for this particular function and made a permanent addition to a fleet, roughly parallels the era of cannon-armed sailing ships, beginning with the defeat of the
Spanish Armada in 1588 and lasting until the Allied victory over the Turks at the
Battle of Navarino in 1827. The first modern fireships were put to use in early 17th century Dutch and Spanish fleet actions during the
Thirty Years War
The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died as a result of battl ...
. Their use increased throughout that century, with purpose-built fireships a permanent part of many naval fleets, ready to be deployed whenever necessary. Initially small and often obsolete smaller warships were chosen as fireships but by 1700 fireships were being purpose-built with specific features for their role. Most were adaptations of the usual small warships of the day –
brigs or ship-rigged
sloops-of-war
In the 18th century and most of the 19th, a sloop-of-war in the Royal Navy was a warship with a single gun deck that carried up to eighteen guns. The rating system covered all vessels with 20 guns and above; thus, the term ''sloop-of-war'' enc ...
with between 10 and 16 guns. The practical design features of purpose-built fireships included a lattice-work false deck below the planks of the main deck – the planks would be removed and the combustibles and explosives stacked on the lattice, which gave good draught and ensured the fire would hold and spread. A number of square-section
chimneys would be let into the forecastle and quarterdeck to also help ensure a good draught for the fire. The gunports would be hinged at the bottom (rather than the top as on other warships) so that they would be kept open by gravity rather than ropes (which would otherwise burn thorough), further ensuring a good air supply. On the other hand, the lower parts of the masts would be surrounded by 'coffer dams' to ensure that the fire would not bring down the masts prematurely and thus deprive the fireship of motive power.
Grappling hooks would be fitted to the ends of the yardarms so that the fireship would become entangled in its target's rigging. A large sally-port door was let into the rear quarter of the ship (usually the starboard side) to allow easy exit for the crew once the fire had been set and lit. There was often a chain fixed here for mooring the escape boat rather than a rope that may have been damaged by the fire. Because fireships were used relatively rarely and only in specific tactical conditions even in their heyday, and there was always demand for small cruisers and warships, most purpose-built 'fireships' served long careers as ordinary warships without ever being used for their actual purpose. Of the five fireships used in
Holmes's Bonfire
Holmes's Bonfire was a raid on the Vlie estuary in the Netherlands, executed by the English Fleet during the Second Anglo-Dutch War on 19 and 20 August 1666 New Style (9 and 10 August Old Style). The attack, named after the commander of the land ...
of 1666 three had been in service with the Royal Navy for over a decade before being deployed on their final mission.
While only used sparingly during the
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...
, fire ships as a distinct class were part of the
British Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against Fra ...
until 1808, at which point the use of permanently designated fire ships attached to British squadrons disappeared. Fire ships continued to be used, sometimes to great effect, such as by the U.S. Navy at the
Battle of Tripoli Harbor in 1804 and by the British Navy's
Thomas Cochrane at the
Battle of the Basque Roads
The Battle of the Basque Roads, also known as the Battle of Aix Roads (French: ''Bataille de l'île d'Aix'', also ''Affaire des brûlots'', rarely ''Bataille de la rade des Basques''), was a major naval battle of the Napoleonic Wars, fought in th ...
in 1809, but for the most part they were considered an obsolete weapon by the early 19th century.
Warships of the
age of sail were highly vulnerable to fire. Made of wood, with seams caulked with tar, ropes greased with fat, and stores of gunpowder, there was little that would not burn. Accidental fires destroyed many ships, so fire ships presented a terrifying threat. With the wind in exactly the right direction a fire ship could be cast loose and allowed to drift onto its target, but in most battles fire ships were equipped with
skeleton crew
A skeleton crew is the minimum number of personnel needed to operate and maintain an item such as a business, organization, or ship at its most simple operating requirements. Skeleton crews are often utilized during an emergency and are meant to ...
s to steer the ship to the target (the crew were expected to abandon ship at the last moment and escape in the ship's boat). Fire ships were most devastating against fleets which were at anchor or otherwise restricted in movement. At sea, a well-handled ship could evade a fire ship and disable it with cannon fire. Other tactics were to fire at the ship's boats and other vessels in the vicinity, so that the crew could not escape and therefore might decide not to ignite the ship, or to wait until the fire ship had been abandoned and then tow it aside with small maneuverable vessels such as
galleys.
The role of incendiary vessels changed throughout the age of the modern fire ship. The systematic use of fire ships as part of naval actions peaked around the
Third Anglo-Dutch War
The Third Anglo-Dutch War ( nl, Derde Engels-Nederlandse Oorlog), 27 March 1672 to 19 February 1674, was a naval conflict between the Dutch Republic and England, in alliance with France. It is considered a subsidiary of the wider 1672 to 1678 ...
. Whereas just twenty years before a naval fleet might have six to seven fire ships, by the
Battle of Solebay
The naval Battle of Solebay took place on 28 May Old Style, 7 June New Style 1672 and was the first naval battle of the Third Anglo-Dutch War.
The battle began as an attempted raid on Solebay port where an English fleet was anchored and large ...
in 1672 both the Dutch and English fleets employed typically between 20 and 30 fire ships, and sometimes more. By this time, however, admirals and captains had become very experienced with the limitations of fire ship attacks and had learned how to avoid them during battle. Great numbers of fire ships were expended during the Third Dutch War without destroying enemy men-of-war, and fire ships had become a way to harass and annoy the enemy, rather than destroy him. The successful use of fire ships at the
Battle of La Hogue
The Battles of Barfleur and La Hougue took place during the Nine Years' War, between 19 May O.S. (29 May N.S.) and 4 June O.S. (14 June N.S.) 1692. The first was fought near Barfleur on 19 May O.S. (29 May N.S.), with later actions occurring ...
and Cherbourg in 1692 marked both the greatest achievement of a fire ship attack since the Spanish Armada, and also the last significant success for fire ships. Though fire ships as a specified class sailed with the British Royal Navy for another century, they would never have a significant impact on a naval victory. Once the most feared weapons in naval arsenals, fire ships had declined in both importance and numbers, so that by the mid-18th century only five to six British fire ships would be at sea at a time, and the Royal Navy attempted only four attacks using modern fire ships between 1697 and 1800. Hastily outfitted ad hoc fire ships continued to be used in naval warfare; for example, a large number of fire rafts were used in mostly ineffective attacks on the British fleet by American forces during the American Revolution at Philadelphia, on the Hudson River, and elsewhere. The end of the modern fire ship came in the early 19th century, when the British began to use hastily outfitted fire ships at engagements such as Boulogne and Dunkirk despite the presence of purpose-built fire ships in the fleet. The last modern fire ship in the British Royal Navy was ''Thais'', the only designated fire ship out of the entire navy of 638 warships when she was converted to a ship sloop in 1808.
Use in the Greek War of Independence
![Fire ship by Volanakis](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b7/Fire_ship_by_Volanakis.jpg)
In the
Greek War of Independence, 1821–1832, the extensive use of fire ships by the Greeks allowed them to counterbalance the Turkish naval superiority in terms of ship size and artillery power. As the small fire ships were much more maneuverable than enemy
ships of the line, especially in the coasts of the Aegean Sea where the islands, islets, reefs, gulfs and straits restrained big ships from being easily moved, they were a serious danger for the ships of the Turkish fleet. Many naval battles of the Greek war of independence were won by the use of fire ships. The successful use of fireships required the use of the element of surprise (a visible similarity with modern-day naval special operations). It is considered an important landmark in
Greek naval tradition.
19th and 20th centuries, obsolescence
From the beginning of the 19th century,
steam propulsion and the use of iron, rather than wood, in shipbuilding gradually came into use, making fire ships less of a threat.
During the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...
, the
Confederate States Navy
The Confederate States Navy (CSN) was the Navy, naval branch of the Confederate States Armed Forces, established by an act of the Confederate States Congress on February 21, 1861. It was responsible for Confederate naval operations during the Amer ...
occasionally used fire rafts on the
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it fl ...
. These were
flatboats
A flatboat (or broadhorn) was a rectangular flat-bottomed boat with square ends used to transport freight and passengers on inland waterways in the United States. The flatboat could be any size, but essentially it was a large, sturdy tub with a ...
loaded with flammable materials such as pine knots and
rosin
Rosin (), also called colophony or Greek pitch ( la, links=no, pix graeca), is a solid form of resin obtained from pines and some other plants, mostly conifers, produced by heating fresh liquid resin to vaporize the volatile liquid terpene comp ...
.
The fire rafts were set alight and either loosed to drift on the river's current towards the enemy (for example at the
Battle of the Head of Passes
The Battle of the Head of Passes was a bloodless naval battle of the American Civil War. It was a naval raid made by the Confederate river defense fleet, also known as the “mosquito fleet” in the local media, on ships of the Union blockade s ...
)
or else pushed against Union ships by tugboats (as at the
Battle of Forts Jackson and St. Philip
The Battle of Forts Jackson and St. Philip (April 18–28, 1862) was the decisive battle for possession of New Orleans in the American Civil War. The two Confederate forts on the Mississippi River south of the city were attacked by a Union Nav ...
).
During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
in September 1940, there was a British sortie codenamed
Operation Lucid to send old
oil tanker
An oil tanker, also known as a petroleum tanker, is a ship designed for the bulk transport of oil or its products. There are two basic types of oil tankers: crude tankers and product tankers. Crude tankers move large quantities of unrefined cru ...
s into French ports to destroy barges intended for
the planned invasion of Britain; it was abandoned when both tankers broke down. Ships or boats packed with explosives could still be effective. Such a case was
Operation Chariot
The St Nazaire Raid or Operation Chariot was a British amphibious attack on the heavily defended Normandie dry dock at St Nazaire in German-occupied France during the Second World War. The operation was undertaken by the Royal Navy (RN) a ...
of 1942, in which the old destroyer was packed with explosives and rammed into the dry dock at
Saint-Nazaire,
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
, to deny its use to the battleship ''
Tirpitz'', which could not drydock anywhere else on the French west coast. In the Mediterranean, the
Italian Navy made good use of high-speed boats filled with explosives, mostly against moored targets. Each boat, called by the Italians
MTM (''Motoscafo da Turismo Modificato''), carried of explosive charge inside its
bow. Their best-known action was the 1941
assault on Souda Bay, which resulted in the destruction of cruiser and the
Norwegian
Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to:
*Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe
* Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway
* Demographics of Norway
*The Norwegian language, including ...
tanker ''Pericles'', of 8,300
tons.
The successful
attack by Yemeni insurgents in a speedboat packed with explosives on the guided missile destroyer in 2000 could be described as an extension of the idea of a fireship. Another explosive ship attack took place in April 2004, during the
Iraq War
{{Infobox military conflict
, conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق ( Kurdish)
, partof = the Iraq conflict and the War on terror
, image ...
, when three motor craft laden with explosives attempted the bombing of Khawr Al Amaya Oil Terminal in the
Persian Gulf
The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a mediterranean sea in Western Asia. The bod ...
. In an apparent
suicide bombing, one blew up and sank a
rigid inflatable boat
A rigid inflatable boat (RIB), also rigid-hull inflatable boat or rigid-hulled inflatable boat (RHIB), is a lightweight but high-performance and high-capacity boat constructed with a rigid hull bottom joined to side-forming air tubes that are i ...
from as it pulled up alongside, killing two US Navy personnel and one member of the
US Coast Guard
The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and maritime law enforcement, law enforcement military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight Uniformed services ...
.
Notable uses
Notable fire ship attacks include:
*
Huang Gai
Huang Gai () ( 180s–210s), courtesy name Gongfu, was a military general who served under the warlord Sun Quan during the late Eastern Han dynasty of China. He previously served under Sun Quan's predecessors – Sun Jian (Sun Quan's father) and ...
's attack on
Cao Cao at the
Battle of Red Cliffs.
*Alexander the Great's
Siege of Tyre in 332 BC. The Tyrians used the fire ship in attempt to destroy Alexander's
mole
Mole (or Molé) may refer to:
Animals
* Mole (animal) or "true mole", mammals in the family Talpidae, found in Eurasia and North America
* Golden moles, southern African mammals in the family Chrysochloridae, similar to but unrelated to Talpida ...
.
* Syracuse in their battle with the Athenian fleet.
*
Geiseric
Gaiseric ( – 25 January 477), also known as Geiseric or Genseric ( la, Gaisericus, Geisericus; reconstructed Vandalic: ) was King of the Vandals and Alans (428–477), ruling a kingdom he established, and was one of the key players in the dif ...
used fire ships in great effect during the
Battle of Cap Bon (468)
The Battle of Cape Bon was an engagement during a joint military expedition of the Western and Eastern Roman Empires led by Basiliscus against the Vandal capital of Carthage in 468. The invasion of the kingdom of the Vandals was one of the larg ...
*
Battle of San Juan de Ulúa in 1568.
John Hawkins
John is a common English name and surname:
* John (given name)
* John (surname)
John may also refer to:
New Testament
Works
* Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John
* First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John
* Second ...
' flagship ''
Jesus of Lübeck
'' Jesus of Lübeck'' was a carrack built in the Free City of Lübeck in the early 16th century. Around 1540 the ship, which had mostly been used for representative purposes, was acquired by Henry VIII, King of England, to augment his fleet. The s ...
'' was attacked by a fire ship before being stormed by Spanish seamen.
*
Siege of Antwerp in 1585. Both fire ships and exploding vessels were employed together for the first time.
*
Francis Drake's attack on the
Spanish Armada moored at
Gravelines
Gravelines (, ; ; ) is a commune in the Nord department in Northern France. It lies at the mouth of the river Aa southwest of Dunkirk. It was formed in the 12th century around the mouth of a canal built to connect Saint-Omer with the sea. As ...
in 1588. The fire ships did no damage, but the Spanish scattered in panic and were easy prey for English ships.
*
Maarten Tromp
Maarten Harpertszoon Tromp (also written as ''Maerten Tromp''; 23 April 1598 – 31 July 1653) was a Dutch army general and admiral in the Dutch navy.
Son of a ship's captain, Tromp spent much of his childhood at sea, including being capture ...
's attack on the Spanish fleet moored off the Kent coast in the
Battle of the Downs
The Battle of the Downs took place on 21 October 1639 (New Style), during the Eighty Years' War. A Spanish fleet, commanded by Admiral Antonio de Oquendo, was decisively defeated by a Dutch force under Lieutenant-Admiral Maarten Tromp. Vict ...
in 1639. The Spanish fleet was destroyed.
* A joint attack from the Swedish and Dutch fleets against the Danish fleet at the
Battle of Fehmarn (1644). Two Swedish fire ships were used (Lilla Delfin and Meerman) and one Danish capital ship exploded. The battle was a decisive Swedish and Dutch victory.
* The 1667 Dutch
Raid on the Medway
The Raid on the Medway, during the Second Anglo-Dutch War in June 1667, was a successful attack conducted by the Dutch navy on English warships laid up in the fleet anchorages off Chatham Dockyard and Gillingham in the county of Kent. At t ...
, with 12 available fireships (8 actually used).
*
Michiel de Ruyter
Michiel Adriaenszoon de Ruyter (; 24 March 1607 – 29 April 1676) was a Dutch admiral. Widely celebrated and regarded as one of the most skilled admirals in history, De Ruyter is arguably most famous for his achievements with the Dutch N ...
's attack on the anchored English fleet at the
battle of Solebay
The naval Battle of Solebay took place on 28 May Old Style, 7 June New Style 1672 and was the first naval battle of the Third Anglo-Dutch War.
The battle began as an attempted raid on Solebay port where an English fleet was anchored and large ...
in 1672 in which was burned, killing Vice-Admiral
Edward Montagu, 1st Earl of Sandwich
Edward Montagu, 1st Earl of Sandwich, KG PC FRS JP (27 July 162528 May 1672) was an English military officer, politician and diplomat, who fought for the Parliamentarian army during the First English Civil War and was an MP at various time ...
, and wounding ''Royal James'' captain,
Richard Haddock
Admiral Sir Richard Haddock (c. 1629 – 26 January 1715 Old Style) was an officer of the Royal Navy. He served during the Anglo-Dutch Wars, eventually rising to the rank of Admiral in August 1690. In Herge's ''Adventures of Tintin'', Rich ...
.
* The destruction of 15 French ships of the line, including
''Soleil Royal'', ''Admirable'' and ''Triomphant'', in 1692, after the
Battle of La Hougue
The Battles of Barfleur and La Hougue took place during the Nine Years' War, between 19 May O.S. (29 May N.S.) and 4 June O.S. (14 June N.S.) 1692. The first was fought near Barfleur on 19 May O.S. (29 May N.S.), with later actions occurring ...
.
The Fireship and its Role in the Royal Navy
by James Coggeshall. Master's Thesis, Texas A&M University, 1997, pp. 16–18
* US attack on Tripoli during the First Barbary War
The First Barbary War (1801–1805), also known as the Tripolitan War and the Barbary Coast War, was a conflict during the Barbary Wars, in which the United States and Sweden fought against Tripolitania. Tripolitania had declared war against Sw ...
in 1804 by .
* The Russian attack on the Turkish fleet at the Battle of Chesma
The naval Battle of Chesme took place on 5–7 July 1770 during the Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774) near and in Çeşme (Chesme or Chesma) Bay, in the area between the western tip of Anatolia and the island of Chios, which was the site of a numb ...
, 1770.
* Thomas Cochrane's attack on the French in the Battle of the Basque Roads
The Battle of the Basque Roads, also known as the Battle of Aix Roads (French: ''Bataille de l'île d'Aix'', also ''Affaire des brûlots'', rarely ''Bataille de la rade des Basques''), was a major naval battle of the Napoleonic Wars, fought in th ...
, 1809.
* Multiple successful Greek attacks on large Ottoman ships of the line during the Greek War of Independence, 1821–1832.
See also
*List of fireships of the Royal Navy
Fireships served in the Royal Navy over a period of several centuries. The earliest fireships – ships filled with combustible and flammable materials and explosives and sent into lines of enemy ships to attempt to set them on fire – were sm ...
* MT explosive motor boat
* Operation Lucid
* ''Shin'yō''-class suicide motorboat
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fire Ship
Naval sailing ship types
*
Naval warfare tactics