If you don’t know much about maritime, you may think that ships are generally either heavy and slow or fast and weak. Indeed, at one time many ships were designed by choosing either one, until the 16th century. A new type of ship, called galleon ship, emerged during this period. These ships were considered invincible because they were strong and fast, as well as carrying a lot of artillery.
Spanish galleons are heavier because they carry cargo, but the galleons used by other countries are also extremely good at speed. Perhaps the most striking feature is that, thanks to the large number of cannons carried, it allows the transition to the method of smashing the ship with cannon shots from afar, instead of the old method of capturing the ship.
Let’s first make a basic definition, what is a galleon ship?
The galleon ship is a type of warship developed by English sailors in the 16th century. These three-masted and sailing ships move with the power of the wind. It has a much higher maneuverability due to its low upper deck. The most important feature is that it can carry a lot of balls. Thanks to this feature, it has pioneered the development of the method of remote destruction by eliminating the tradition of climbing on the deck of the enemy ship.
What is the difference between galleon ships and other ships?
According to experts, galleon ships; It was developed by taking the best features of the galley, caravel and caravel ship types. Galleys, one of the oldest types of ships, were ships with a shallow draft, although they had a sail behind the deck, they were moved by about fifty oarsmen with the power of the wrist.
Caravels are a type of ship that was widely used in the 15th century, especially by Europeans going to their colonies. It has both fixed sails and rowers. His biggest problem was that he needed the wind to come from behind, no matter what the sails and the rigging were. Therefore, sailing to the high seas was always a risk.
Caravels, on the other hand, are much larger versions of caravels. The purpose of production is to be able to transport the loaded goods from the colonies. It had a strong and heavy body, carrying hundreds of tons of cargo. Therefore, it had a very low maneuverability. Of course, let’s not be fair, many important names such as Christopher Columbus and Ferdinand Magellan used ships of the character type.
What are the galleon ship characteristics, why is it so important for maritime?
The most important feature of galleon ships is that they are large, but they do not experience loss of maneuver due to their size. Because a ship is expected to carry as much cargo as possible and to perform powerful maneuvers at sea. The galleon ship type had all these features.
Inspired by the beak-like bow structure of galleys, galleon ships had an aspect ratio of 3:1. In general, it was made from hardwoods grown in the Asian continent such as teak, Brazilian oak, molave, lanang. The bottom was covered with black tar to prevent rotting, black pitch was used to increase water resistance, and a mixture of pitch and tallow, or animal fat, was applied to the entire hull to prevent sea creatures such as shipworms from damaging the ship.
By the design of galleon ships, their superstructures were small. The captain, officers, and marines generally remained in this small area. The crew, which could be more than 300 from time to time, remained below deck. Before the hammock was invented, hundreds of people had to cram into this area.
Thanks to dozens of cannons, galleon ships became heroes of naval wars:
To support the general structure of galleon ships, guns were lined up on both sides under the deck. The ends of the cannons protruded from windows that could be closed when there was no war. Depending on the size of the ship, sometimes these windows may appear as more than one floor.
A large Spanish galleon can carry at least 40 guns of 90 mm caliber below deck. Since the cannons were too heavy, they could not be rotated, and the ship’s direction would be completely turned to shoot at the enemy. Galleon ships are also capable of firing from the stern.
Speed galleons and Spanish galleons have different characteristics:
The galleons developed by the British began to be rebuilt with new features in line with different needs over time. For example, Spanish sailors began to build much larger galleons, both to carry much more goods from the colonies and to increase the number of cannons they carried. Of course, as the galleon got larger and less maneuverable, such ships, called Spanish galleons, became the number one target of pirates.
Speed galleons were developed by the French, who were fed up with pirate attacks. Speed galleons were smaller in size and did not have a deck. The part above the waterline was tapered and the center of gravity was lowered. On the other hand, speed galleons, which continued to carry the characteristics of the galleon, became small warships with both high firepower and high maneuverability.
Among the countries using galleon ships in the Ottoman Empire:
Ottoman Empire II. During the Beyazid period, it became one of the states using galleon ships. But the galleons made by us were called the sky. Gökeler was used until the time when steamships were invented in the Ottoman Empire. Of course, when the world’s sailors started to use much stronger and faster ships instead of galleons, our skies started to become useless.
Some of the most famous galleon ships that changed the course of history:
One of the most famous galleon ships in history is the Golden Hind, owned by Sir Francis Drake. Drake became the second name after Magellan to circumnavigate the world with this 150-ton ship, 30 meters long and 6 meters wide. Nearly 100 crew members took part in the expedition between 1577 and 1580.
The ship named Revenge is one of the most important examples that reveal the combat power of galleon ships. Revenge, an English galleon, faced a Spanish armada of 56 ships in 1591. She resisted the sea power far superior to hers for a full 15 hours, sinking two of them and damaging many of them.
The Vasa, built in the 17th century, is the only original example of a galleon ship that has survived. Vasa is a Swedish galleon weighing 1200 tons with 64 guns in its two gun decks. Unfortunately, since such a large weight is disadvantageous against the instantaneously changing wind, it sank in front of the viewers from the shore shortly after its first launch in 1628.
We tried to get to know this special type of ship more closely by answering questions such as what is a galleon ship, which opened the doors of a new era in maritime history, and what are its features. Galleon ships were soon replaced by thinner and longer designed ships such as gulets, barracks and frigates.
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