fireships

Ablaze naval weapons

Fireships were vessels loaded with combustibles and explosives, set ablaze and directed toward enemy fleets to spread fire and chaos.

The tactic was effective in the age of wooden warships: English fireships scattered the Spanish Armada.

The term now serves mainly as historical reference, though it occasionally appears in metaphorical use for anything deployed as a destructive sacrifice.

historical

Armada

Named naval force

Howard · Tudor

effects

conflagration

Large destructive blaze

  • blazeIntense burning fire
  • infernoDevastating, uncontrollable blaze
  • flamesVisible burning combustion

smoke · burning · panic · scattering · chaos · destruction · ignition · collision · grounding · capsizing

construction

hulk

Massive body or shell

  • pitchFrequency of sound
  • tarFile bundling utility
  • gunpowderCombustible propellant mixture

combustibles · rigging · sails · timber · fuses · oil · resin · sulfur · kindling · unmanned

Categories
Opposites
naval tactical purpose

fireshipsships of the line

Heavy warships forming battle formations

capital ships · flagships · battleships · men-of-war · treasure ships

elemental weapon type

fireshipstorpedoes

Self-guided underwater explosives

submarines · depth charges

Family

fireship

Familiarity
Top 1,000,000
Profile
Used worldwide · Timeless · Concrete · Rated PG