Warships The first warships were built by the ancient Greeks and Phoenicians during the 700s B C E They were called galleys a type of wooden ship powered by humans rowing long oars Galleys used many weapons including the catapult Galley ships were used in the navies of the Mediterranean until the 1700s The invention of the cannon then brought about a new type of warship the man-of-war It was powered by large square sails and armed with two to three rows of cannons on each side By the mid-1800s steam engines propellers and exploding shells changed naval warfare In the early 4
1900s steel battleships dominated the oceans These were big and fast and carried heavy guns Naval warfare evolved quickly during World War I WWI and World War II WWII Aircraft carriers made it easier to transport fighter jets that could destroy enemy ships beyond the range of the ships themselves Today modern weapons and stealth technology have again changed the way wars are fought A Nimitz-class aircraft carrier is flanked by Ticonderoga-class missile cruisers The aircraft carrier is still the capital ship of most navies 5
