Dromone
The dromone (Greek δρόμων, runner) was a warship of the Byzantine navy from the 6th to 12th centuries.
The ship is based on the Greek trireme with roughly the same dimensions . In contrast to this one had two rows of oars one above the other and thus did not reach the maximum speed of the Greek ship with three levels. The ship with 100 oars and fifty rowers each, in two levels, on each side, in contrast to the Greek trireme, could also be moved by inexperienced rowers. Sails were used to support longer journeys .
In the 10th century, the dromone had a deck fort and a crew of up to 300 men, was up to 50 m long and 5.5 m wide. In battle, the ship could reach a speed of about 7 knots (about 13 km / h), but the construction probably required favorable weather conditions.
The main armament of the dromone consisted of a small ram as well as the Greek fire fired by catapults or sprayed from siphons , which was first used during the siege of Constantinople (674-678) .
The dromone was also used in conjunction with the smaller pamphile that was introduced into the Byzantine fleet in the 9th century.
See also
literature
- G. Makris: Ship, -building, -type, II. Byzantium, Eastern Mediterranean . In: Lexikon des Mittelalters , Vol. 7, Col. 1460–62 (there also further literature).
- John Pryor, Elizabeth Jeffreys : The Age of the Dromon: The Byzantine Navy ca. 500–1204 . Leiden 2006.