A Naval ram was a weapon carried by varied types of ships, dating back to antiquity. The weapon consisted of an underwater prolongation of the bow of the ship to form an armoured beak, usually between 6 feet and twelve feet in length. Bow of the Cruise ship Spirit of Endeavour The bows of lifeboat 17-31 (Severn class) in Poole Harbour, Dorset, England The bow (pronounced to rhyme with how) is a nautical term that refers to the forward part of the hull of a ship or boat, the point that is...

The ram was a naval weapon in the Grecian/Roman antiquity and was used in such naval battles as Salamis and Actium. For the last stage of the attack the ship would be propelled by oarsmen rather than sails. Ancient Greece is a period in Greek history that lasted for around nine hundred years. ... Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew from a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula circa the 9th century BC to a massive empire straddling the Mediterranean Sea. ... For other uses, see Battle of Salamis (disambiguation). ... Combatants Octavian Mark Antony, Cleopatra VII of Egypt Commanders Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa Mark Antony Strength 260 warships, mostly liburnian vessels 220 warships, mostly quinqueremes and 60 egyptian warships Casualties Unknown Almost all of Antonys fleet The Battle of Actium was a naval battle of the Roman Civil War between...

A trireme bronze cast ram has been found off Athlit (Israel) without any other wreckage around it which gives credit to the idea often expressed by some scholars that the ancient shipbuilders and carpenters built the ship's keel with some sort of carpenter's trick enabling the ram to be sheared off the keel without endangering the ramming (attacking) ship, which could otherwise have sprung a leak or be driven to the bottom by the sinking opponent. Rams were always made of bronze, and weighed anywhere from 8 to 20 tons. A Greek trireme. ... For other uses, see Keel (disambiguation). ...

USS General Price, a Union ram and gunboat, near Baton Rouge, LA, January 18, 1864

In more modern examples, many 19th Century ironclad battleships were so equipped; in fact, many ironclad ships were designed specifically to ram opponents, such as the General Price, pictured to the right. In ships of this type, the armour belt was prolonged to brace both sides of the ram to increase structural integrity. Image File history File links USSGeneralPrice. ... Image File history File links USSGeneralPrice. ... Laurent Millaudon was a wooden side-wheel river steamboat launched at Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1856 operating in the New Orleans, Louisiana area, and captained by W.S. Whann. ... Capitol Building Baton Rouge is the capital of Louisiana, a state of the United States of America. ... is the 18th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1864 (MDCCCLXIV) was a leap year starting on Friday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a leap year starting on Sunday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar. ... Laurent Millaudon was a wooden side-wheel river steamboat launched at Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1856 operating in the New Orleans, Louisiana area, and captained by W.S. Whann. ... Belt armor is armor added to the hulls of battleships. ...

The theory behind the revival of the weapon derived from the fact that, in the period around 1860, armour held superiority over the ship-mounted cannon. That is to say, it was believed that an armoured warship could not be seriously damaged by the naval artillery in existence at the time. In order to achieve a decisive result in a naval engagement, therefore, alternative methods of action were believed to be necessary. As it followed, from the same belief, that a ship armed with a ram could not be seriously damaged by the gunfire of its intended victim, the ram became, for a brief period, the main armament of Royal Navy and contemporary foreign battleships. This article does not cite any references or sources. ... USS Iowa (BB-61) fires a full broadside of nine 16/50 and six 5/38 guns during a target exercise near Vieques Island, Puerto Rico, 1 July 1984. ...

When it became clear, towards the end of the nineteenth century, that breech-loading cannon could hit, and hit effectively, enemy ships at several thousand yards range, the ineffectiveness of the ram became clear and ships ceased to be fitted with them. A breech-loading weapon, usually a gun or cannon, is one where the bullet or shell is inserted, loaded, into the gun at the rear of the barrel, the breech; the opposite of muzzle-loading. ...

No other ironclad was ever sunk by an enemy ship in time of war by the use of the ram, although the ram was regarded by all major navies for some thirty years as primary battleship armament. A number of ships were, however, rammed in peacetime by ships of their own navy. The most serious in terms of loss of life was the collision between HMS Victoria and HMS Camperdown, which took place in the Mediterranean in 1893. (See HMS Victoria) The only battleship over submarine victory in history occurred during World War I, when the battleship HMS Dreadnought rammed and sank a German U-Boat, but this was incidental, and Dreadnought's bow was not intended for ramming enemy vessels. HMS Victoria was one of two Victoria-class battleships of the Royal Navy. ... HMS Camperdown was an Admiral class battleship of the UK Royal Navy. ... HMS Victoria was one of two Victoria-class battleships of the Royal Navy. ... The sixth HMS Dreadnought of the Royal Navy was a revolutionary battleship which entered service in 1906. ... U-boat is also a nickname for some diesel locomotives built by GE; see List of GE locomotives October 1939. ...

See also

• Ramming at sea