Fire Ship - Notable Uses

Notable Uses

Notable fire ship attacks include:

• Alexander the Great's Siege of Tyre in 332 BC. The Tyrians used the fire ship in attempt to destroy Alexander's mole.
• Syracuse in their battle with the Athenian fleet
• Huang Gai's attack on Cao Cao at the Battle of Red Cliffs, 208.
• Battle of San Juan de Ulúa in 1568. John Hawkins' flagship Jesus of Lúbeck was attacked by a fire ship before being stormed by Spanish seamen
• Siege of Antwerp in 1585. Both fire ships and exploding vessels were employed together for the first time.
• Francis Drake's attack on the Spanish Armada moored at Gravelines in 1588. The fire ships did no damage, but the Spanish scattered in panic and were easy prey for English ships.
• Maarten Tromp's attack on the Spanish fleet moored off the Kent coast in the Battle of the Downs in 1639. The Spanish fleet was destroyed.
• Michiel de Ruyter's attack on the anchored English fleet at the battle of Solebay in 1672 in which HMS Royal James was burned, killing Vice-Admiral Edward Montagu, 1st Earl of Sandwich, and wounding Royal James's captain, Richard Haddock.
• The destruction of 15 French ships of the line, including Soleil Royal, Admirable and Triomphant, in 1692, after the Battle of La Hougue.
• US attack on Tripoli during the First Barbary War in 1804 by USS Intrepid.
• The Russian attack on the Turkish fleet at the Battle of Chesma, 1770.
• Thomas Cochrane's attack on the French in the Battle of the Basque Roads, 1809.
• Multiple successful Greek attacks on large Turkish ships of the line during the Greek War of Independence, 1821-1832.
• Chinese attacks on British ships during the First Opium War, 1839-1842.