Venetian navy
The Venetian navy was the navy of the Venetian Republic which played an important role in the history of the republic and the Mediterranean world. It was the premier navy in the Mediterranean Sea for many centuries between the medieval and early modern periods, providing Venice with control and influence over trade and politics far in excess of the republic's size and population. It was one of the first navies to mount gunpowder weapons aboard ships, and through an organised system of naval dockyards, armouries and chandlers was able to continually keep ships at sea and rapidly replace losses. The Venetian Arsenal was one of the greatest concentrations of industrial capacity prior to the Industrial Revolution and responsible for the bulk of the republic's naval power.
Driven at first by a rivalry with the Byzantine Empire, and later the maritime republics of Pisa and Genoa for primacy over trade with the Levant, the Venetian navy was at times technically innovative and yet operationally conservative. With the final fall of Constantinople it played a key role in checking the maritime advance of the Ottoman Empire for over three centuries. The navy's long decline mirrored that of the republic, beginning in the 16th century and ending with the capitulation of the city to Napoleon in 1797.
Evolution of the Venetian navy
Giving shelter to refugees fleeing Hunnic invaders in the 6th century, Venice grew in the Venetian Lagoon in the northern Adriatic. From the very beginning, it focused on establishing and maintaining maritime trade routes across the Eastern Mediterranean to the Levant and beyond; Venice's commercial and military strength, and continued survival, was founded on the strength of its fleet. This allowed it for centuries to check the maritime advance of the numerically superior forces of the Ottoman Empire.Origins, 8th to 11th centuries
The origins of the Venetian navy lay in the traditions of the Roman and Byzantine navies. Before developing into the Empire's archnemesis, Venice was originally a vassal, later an ally of the Byzantine Empire and it utilised Byzantine naval and military techniques. At this time there was little difference between the merchant and naval fleets; all ships had to be able to defend themselves if the need arose. In the event of hostilities ships and crews were taken up from trade to reinforce the war fleet, being dispersed back to the pursuit of commerce on the ending of the emergency. Even so, there were two types of vessels one primarily military and one predominantly mercantile.- The nave sottile, a narrow-beamed galley, derived from the trireme, which for a millienium was the principal ship of the Mediterranean. When not in use as warships, galleys were used to transport low bulk high value cargoes.
- The nave tonda derived from the Roman navis oneraria, this was a stubby broad-beamed ship with a high freeboard and multiple decks. It was designed for a profitable transport of cargo. Propelled mainly by the wind, the round ship was limited to sailing before the wind, and were therefore less maneuverable and more vulnerable to enemy attack than oar-propelled vessels. However, in the event of war, they would be used as supply and support ships.
- The galea sottile, an agile narrow-beamed ship with a single deck, propelled as needed by oars or lateen sails. It was an uncomfortable ship as, save perhaps a tent for the officers, the entire crew had to live exposed to the elements, the hold being devoted to supplies and cargo. However, the size of the crew, speed and maneuverability in combat, and the fact that it could sail against the wind or be rowed in the absence of the wind, made it ideal both as a warship and as a transport of the most valuable of cargoes. Length was about 45 metres and the beam 5, provision was made for about 25 banks of rowers.
- the galandria, a masted galley, with a raised archery platform or "castle"
- the palandria, another type of war galley
- the dromon, similar to contemporary Byzantine ships of the same name, but often larger, they were twin decked and equipped with "castles" and Greek fire projectors, making them useful in maritime sieges
- the gumbaria, mentioned in the time of Pietro II Candiano, a term mostly associated with Muslim heavy warships
- the ippogogo, a cavalry transport
- the buzo, the great war galley, twin or triple masted, a possible progenitor of the Bucentaur
- fireships
- the gatto
Towards the end of this period Venice had accumulated a large and powerful fleet. Although still nominally a vassal of the Byzantine Empire, Venice was increasingly independent and a rival of the Byzantines for primacy in the Eastern Mediterranean. Rather than depending on the Byzantines for their survival, the Venetians held, with their fleet, the balance of power, and was able to use it to leverage concessions from both the Byzantines and their rivals in Western Christendom, profiting from both. In return for Venetian aid against the Normans, in the Byzantine–Norman wars, Alexios I Komnenos the Byzantine Emperor granted the Venetians far-reaching commercial privileges in the Chrysobull, or Golden Bull, of 1082.
Twelfth century to first half of the fifteenth century
In the 12th century, following the Chrysobull of 1082, and the Crusades, Venetian commercial interests in the Levant led to the first great revolution of the Venetian navy, the building of the Venetian Arsenal.At this great public shipyard, under the direct control of the Republic, were concentrated all that was needed to construct and maintain the Venetian fleet. With this move, control of the galleys also passed into public ownership, private citizens being limited to chartering freightage aboard the vessels that undertook the muda trade convoys.
The 13th century opened with overseas conquest and an expansion of the Stato da Màr, giving the Venetian a chain of bases, outposts and colonies across the trade routes to the Levant. Partially at the instigation of Venice, the Fourth Crusade diverted to Constantinople and with the Sack of Constantinople in 1204, Venice had become the pre-eminent maritime power in the Eastern Mediterranean. Venice also developed a new type of galley more suitable for the muda.
- The galea grossa da merchado, also known simply as the da mercato ; with a greater beam than the previous galea sottile and consequently a reduction in hydrodynamic performance in exchange for enhanced cargo capacity. Essentially a compromise between military and commercial needs the merchant galley was particularly suitable for the trade in high value cargoes with the East. Length was about 50 metres and beam about 7, provision was for 25 banks of rowers.
From 1268, virtually uniquely for the time, Venice maintained a standing fleet so as to maintain control of the Adriatic, which for Venetians was simply il Golfo, the Gulf. With this naval force, Venice imposed its authority on the Adriatic, which it regarded as its own, patrolling, inspecting all ships passing, and attacking those it considered hostile. At the Battle of Curzola in 1298, Venice suffered a major defeat at the hands of the Genoese navy, which saw the loss of 83 galleys out of a fleet of 95, 7,000 men killed and another 7,000 captured. However, Venice was able to immediately equip a second fleet of 100 galleys and was able to obtain reasonable peace conditions that did not significantly hamper its power and prosperity.
The 14th century saw a great change in construction techniques, with the replacement of the twin steering oar for the single stern rudder and with the introduction of the magnetic compass, a radical change in the nature of going out to sea. This century saw the culmination of the long smouldering Venetian–Genoese wars which came to an end of sorts during the War of Chioggia, after which Genoese ships were not seen again in the Adriatic. The Battle of Chioggia, from which the wider conflict takes its name, is notable in being the first recorded use of ship-mounted gunpowder weapons being used in combat. The Venetians, who were already using gunpowder siege weapons on land, mounted small bombards to many of their galleys during the battle to keep the Genoese force cordoned off in Chioggia.
The conflict was nearly equally disastrous for both sides, and Genoa was certainly crippled, losing the naval ascendency that the city-state had enjoyed prior to the war. Venice might have suffered equally as badly, but for the existence of the Arsenal, which allowed Venice to make good its losses in next to no time. By this time the Arsenal had a mothballed fleet of at least 50 decommissioned hulks that could be rearmed and brought rapidly back into service.
Nevertheless, the severe financial strain of the War of Chioggia imposed drastic economies in the post-war, which also affected the navy. Thus, despite the mounting Ottoman threat in the Balkans, the continuing rivalry with Genoa, and the simultaneous expansion of Venetian holdings in the southern Balkans the size of the "guard fleet" or "Squadron of the Gulf" mobilized each year was much reduced: instead of the usual ten galleys, in 1385 only four were mobilized, and of these two in Crete rather than Venice, since the colonies were obliged to cover the maintenance of galleys out of their own pockets, rather than the state treasury. This set the pattern for the next decade; when the Senate mobilized ten galleys in 1395, of which only four in Venice, it was considered an extraordinary effort. This was also dictated by the Senate's reluctance to interrupt the peaceful relations with the Ottomans, and thereby also the extremely lucrative trade with the East; even when Venice pledged to support the Crusade of Nicopolis in 1396, this was done half-heartedly, particularly since the crusade was led by the Republic's arch-rival over control of Dalmatia, the King of Hungary. The Turks were well aware of these factors, and sought to placate the Venetians whenever possible so as to dissuade them from allying with the other Christian powers against them.
In the immediate aftermath of the crushing Ottoman victory at Nicopolis, the Venetians instructed the captains of the Squadron of the Gulf to assist beleaguered Constantinople. The Venetian ships were instructed to co-operate with the Genoese fleets operating in the area under Marshal Boucicault, although the customary distrust of the two maritime republics still meant that they pursued their own agendas and eyed each other's military and diplomatic moves warily. Nevertheless, Venice's policy in this period was ambivalent: while it strengthened its overseas garrisons, it avoided an open rupture with the Sultan, and sought to negotiate with him, indeed allowing its local colonies to make their own deals with regional Turkish potentates. As Camillo Manfroni writes, "it was not real war, it was not even peace". This situation was brought to an end by the decisive Ottoman defeat in the Battle of Ankara in July 1402.
The early 15th century saw the spread of a new ship type, developed for use in the North Sea by the Hanseatic League, it then spread to the rest of Europe, and was adopted by Venice for its trade with the North.
- The cog, a "round ship" designed to cope with the rough waters of the North Sea, the hulls of Venetian built cogs had a pronounced teardrop shape, with a narrow bow mounting a high forecastle.