fire ship
Sign in to saveAlso known as fireship, brander
ship filled with combustibles, deliberately set on fire, and then steered or allowed to drift into an enemy fleet
Wikidata facts
- Subclass of
- ship
- Image
- The Defeat of the French Fireships attacking the British Fleet at Anchor before Quebec.jpg
Show 3 more facts
- Commons category
- Fire ships
- described by source
- Encyclopædia Britannica 11th edition
- different from
- fireboat
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~16 min read
Encyclopedic overview
The burning of HMS Royal James at the Battle of Solebay, 28 May 1672
A fire ship or fireship is a large wooden vessel set on fire to be used against enemy ships during a ramming attack or similar maneuver. Fireships were used to great effect against wooden ships throughout naval military history up until the advent of metal-hulled ships; they could also serve a considerable function in shock and awe strategies to harm the morale of enemy crews. Ships used for fireship tactics were typically purpose-built or retrofitted from surplus or obsolete vessels, either of which could be filled with gunpowder or other combustibles before a battle, but could also be improvised from warships in active combat purposely set on fire during engagements, such as if a vessel expended its munitions or had some other reason to be abandoned in battle.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “fire ship” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.