Naval Warfare Across Civilizations

Compares fleet battles in Greek, Roman, Iranian, Ottoman/Latin and Atlantic contexts using records in this patch.

Details

| battle | date | civilizations | ship/loss figures (stub unless noted) |

|---|---|---|---|

| Salamis | 480 BCE | Greco-Roman vs Persian | Greek 371-378 ships; losses ~40 vs ~300 |

| Lepanto | 1571 | Latin/Atlantic vs Islamic | Ottoman ~200 galleys lost; Christian 13 |

| Trafalgar | 1805 | Atlantic | Franco-Spanish 17 ships captured +1 destroyed; no British ship losses listed in source |

Technology progression: oared triremes -> gun-armed galleys -> sailing ships of the line (Morrison et al. 2000; Guilmartin 1974; Rodger 2004). Non-Western navies are an open gap (no verified sources this pass).

Citations

• morrison2000-athenian-trireme [formal] J. S. Morrison, J. F. Coates, N. B. Rankov (2000). The Athenian Trireme: The History and Reconstruction of an Ancient Greek Warship (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press. https://openlibrary.org/works/OL119125W. Verified 2026-10-11 (Open Library record found; edition exists, page-level not checked).
• guilmartin1974-gunpowder-galleys [formal] John F. Guilmartin Jr. (1974). Gunpowder and Galleys: Changing Technology and Mediterranean Warfare at Sea in the Sixteenth Century. Cambridge University Press. https://openlibrary.org/works/OL2919403W. Verified 2026-10-11 (Open Library record found; edition exists, page-level not checked).
• rodger2004-command-of-the-ocean [formal] N. A. M. Rodger (2004). The Command of the Ocean: A Naval History of Britain, 1649-1815. Allen Lane / Penguin. https://openlibrary.org/works/OL933928W. Verified 2026-10-11 (Open Library record found; edition exists, page-level not checked).

Review status

SOFT draft; not Official.