Fire ship

Fire ships were employed to decisive effect by the Vandals against the armada sent by the Eastern Roman Empire, in the Battle of Cape Bon (468).

The first modern fireships were put to use in early 17th century Dutch and Spanish fleet actions during the Thirty Years War.

The gunports would be hinged at the bottom (rather than the top as on other warships) so that they would be kept open by gravity rather than ropes (which would otherwise burn thorough), further ensuring a good air supply.

A large sally-port door was let into the rear quarter of the ship (usually the starboard side) to allow easy exit for the crew once the fire had been set and lit.

Many naval battles of the Greek war of independence were won by the use of fire ships, notably the burning of the Ottoman flagship off Chios in June 1822.

[citation needed] From the beginning of the 19th century, steam propulsion and the use of iron, rather than wood, in shipbuilding gradually came into use, making fire ships less of a threat.

[citation needed] During the American Civil War, the Confederate States Navy occasionally used fire rafts on the Mississippi River.

Such a case was Operation Chariot of 1942, 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.

Each boat, called by the Italians MTM (Motoscafo da Turismo Modificato), carried 300 kilograms (660 lb) of explosive charge inside its bow.

Their best-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 tons.

[8][9] The successful attack by Yemeni insurgents in a speedboat packed with explosives on the guided missile destroyer USS Cole in 2000 could be described as an extension of the idea of a fireship.

In an apparent suicide bombing, one blew up and sank a rigid inflatable boat from USS Firebolt as it pulled up alongside, killing two US Navy personnel and one member of the US Coast Guard.

During Operation Prosperity Guardian, Houthis used several kamikaze unmanned surface vehicles to attack ships in the red sea.

The burning of the Royal James at the Battle of Solebay , 28 May 1672
Chinese fire ships of the Song dynasty (960–1279)
French fireship at anchorage. Note specialized features including the exit door between the two aftmost gunports; the chain securing an escape boat; an aperture below the exit door to light a fuse ; and grappling hooks on the yardarms.
The attack on the Ottoman ship of the line in the Gulf of Eressos at the Greek island of Lesvos by a fire ship commanded by Dimitrios Papanikolis during the Greek War of Independence. Painting by Konstantinos Volanakis .
The attack on the Ottoman flagship at the Greek island of Chios by a fire ship commanded by Konstantinos Kanaris during the Greek War of Independence. Painting by Ivan Aivazovsky .