Even the early naval cannons were slow to impact warship design, as their short range combined with long reload times meant the enemy could close to board before a second shot could be fired. Warship designs hardly changed at all conceptually for well over the next two millennia! Hulls grew broader but remained much more slender than their cargo-hauling contemporaries, trading capacity for faster oar-propelled sprints, and with prows designed for inflicting damage by collision. Grappling hooks were particularly effective. Bows, ballistae, onagers, and crossbows ( Note 4) were just some of the weapons used with the intent to kill or disrupt enemy crew to facilitate boarding. One of the most significant was the Roman "Corvus" ( Note 3), introduced in the First Punic War, that allowed Legionnaires to board and capture Carthaginian galleys. Many notable innovations did occur despite the technology constraints of manual warship propulsion. Until this time, the Egyptians appear not to have even had a word for "warship" and had to create one. The earliest recorded naval battle appears to be the Battle of the Delta, fought about 1175 BC, when the Egyptians led by Ramses III repulsed a major invasion by the Sea Peoples.
Unsurprisingly, ramming and boarding became the standard tactics. Weapons were both short ranged and inaccurate, especially on those small, moving and pitching platforms. Such design considerations go back to the earliest warships.Īlthough usually equipped with sails, the earliest warships were generally propelled in battle by oars. The shapes of both ships and planes have always depended on technology, so it should come as no surprise that space warcraft should be similarly affected.
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