A
fire ship, used in the days of wooden rowed or
sailing ships, was a ship filled with combustibles, deliberately set on fire and steered (or, where 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 usually old and worn out or purpose-built inexpensive vessels. An
explosion ship or
hellburner was a variation on the fire ship, intended to cause damage by blowing up in proximity to enemy ships.
History
Ancient era, first uses
One famous use of a fire ship was in the
208 Battle of Red Cliffs, when
Huang Gai assaulted the enemy naval force with a fire ship filled with bundles of kindling, dry reeds, and fatty oil.
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
compound. In
951 and again in
953 Russian fleets narrowly escaped destruction by fire ships.
Age of Sail, refinement
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 crews 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.
During the period of the
Crusades their use was frequent. Their use peaked during the 18th and 19th centuries, with fireships such as
HMS Pluto a permanent part of any naval fleet, ready to be deployed whenever necessary. Such as the
Battle of Tripoli Harbor.
Use in the Greek war of independence
The attack on the Turkish flagship in the Gulf of Eressos at the Greek island of Lesvos by a fire ship commanded by Papanikolis during the
Greek War of Independence - Painting by Volanakis
In the
Greek War of Independence,
1821-
1832, Greek fire ships were manned and sailed alongside a small and medium Turkish ship attached to her with hooks, ropes and grips, and then set on fire by the captain alone when the crew was in the escape boat. As the small fire ships were much more manoeuvrable 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.
Modern age, obsolescence
Operation Crossroads (Event Baker), conducted at Bikini Atoll (1946).
From the beginning of the nineteenth century
steam propulsion and the use of iron, rather than wood, in shipbuilding gradually came into use, making fire ships useless, although ships or boats packed with explosives could still be effective. Such a case was
Operation Chariot of
World War II, in which the old destroyer
HMS Campbeltown was packed with explosives and rammed into the dry dock at
Saint-Nazaire,
France, 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 a explosive charge inside their
bow. Their most known action was the 1941
assault on Souda Bay, which resulted in the destruction of cruiser
HMS York and the
Norwegian tanker
Pericles, of 8,300
tn.
In 1946, as part of
Operation Crossroads, the American
landing ship demonstrated the potential of explosives ships containing
nuclear weapons. A total of eight vessels were sunk in the test in addition to
LSM-60, including the
aircraft carrier . The successful
attack by terrorists in a speedboat packed with explosives on the
USS Cole in 2000 is another extension of the idea.
Notable uses
Notable fire ship attacks include:
- Alexander the Great's Siege of Tyre in 332 BC. The Tyrians used the fire ship in attempt to destroy Alexander's mole.
- Syracuse in their battle with the Athenian fleet
See also
