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 sometimes surplus, obsolete or purpose-build vessels filled with gunpowder or other combustibles, but could also be improvised from active warships purposefully set on fire during engagements, such as if a vessel expended its munitions or had some other reason to be abandoned in battle.
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 burning of the Royal James at the Battle of Solebay, 28 May 1672
Hellburners were specialised fireships used in the Siege of Antwerp (1584–1585) during the Eighty Years' War between the Dutch rebels and the Habsburgs. They were floating bombs, also called "Antwerp fire", and did immense damage to the Spanish besiegers. Hellburners have been described as an early form of weapons of mass destruction.
Hellburners at Antwerp by Famiano Strada
