Galleass

This article is about heavy military galleys. For the trade vessels used on the Baltic Sea, see Galeas.

A galleass was a warship that combined the sails and armament of a galleon or carrack with the maneuverability of the oared galley.^[1][2] Originally invented by the Republic of Venice for their use in the Mediterranean, they were also extensively used in the Atlantic by Spanish Empire. While never quite matching up to the full expectations for its design, the galleass nevertheless remained in use during the 16th and 17th centuries.^[3]

A galleass of the 1588 Spanish Armada

Engraving of a galleass from Plan de Plusieurs Batiments de Mer avec leurs Proportions (c. 1690) by Henri Sbonski de Passebon. Engraving by Claude Randon.

Development

Galleasses were higher, larger and slower than regular galleys. They had up to 32 oars, each worked by up to five men. They usually had three masts, and unlike galleys, proper forecastles and an aftcastles. Much effort was made in Venice to make galleasses as fast as possible to compete with regular galleys. The gun deck usually ran over the rowers' heads, but there are also pictures showing the opposite arrangement. Galleasses usually carried more sails than galleys and had far more firepower;^[4] a galley caught in a galleass's broadside was in great danger, since it exposed to a large amount of gunfire. Relatively few galleasses were built by Venice —one disadvantage was that, being more reliant on sails, their position at the front of the galley line at the start of a battle could not be guaranteed.

Galleasses were further developed by Spanish shipbuilder Álvaro de Bazán the Elder, who adapted them for their usage in the Atlantic (galeaza atlántica), finding in them much potential to hunt down sailing ships in absence of wind.^[5] Unlike the Mediterranean models, Atlantic galleasses were designed primarily as sailing ships and would only deploy their rows to strategically turn or sprint. This allowed them a better maneuverability than sailing ships, while the increased size also allowed for superior firepower compared to Mediterranean galleasses.^[6] His son Alonso de Bazán experimented with a similar model named galizabra, which combined traits of both a galley and a zabra.^[7]

Naval actions

Venetian Admiral Francesco Duodo receiving a palm leaf with the galleass he commanded at Lepanto in the background

The galleass was probably invented in Venice during the naval reforms of Cristoforo da Canal, after the end of the Ottoman-Venetian War in 1540.^[8]

Also in the 1540s, Bazán the Elder built a private fleet in Biscay, including Atlantic galleasses like the 800-ton Santa María and the 1200-ton Santa María Magdalena, carrying 100 guns each. They were employed with great success in counter-privateering.^[6][9] Bazán also proposed plans to replace the sailing ships Spanish treasure fleets with galleasses, which would again employ normally sails and switch to rows when necessary. The project was rejected by a mix of political and logistic problems, so he repurposed the ships of the project to escort the existent fleets, similarly gaining renown for their performance and reliability.^[10]

Spanish galleasses were also used in conjunction with carracks by Bazán the Younger to fight off pirates and privateers in the Atlantic, since these usually employed carracks and other sailing ships, which could be rendered easy prey to galleasses in conditions of little to no wind.^[2] However, with the end of the Italian Wars, Spain eventually redirected their resources to the Mediterranean, where Ottomans and Barbary corsairs mainly used galleys, leading them to be replaced by a similar squad of galleys due to galleasses' comparatively lesser speed.^[2]

Six Venetian galleasses fought at the Battle of Lepanto in 1571, their firepower helping to break the force of the first Ottoman attack.^[11] The Ottomans under Ali Pasha were forced to divide their line and bypass the galleasses in order to continue their advance and clash with the Christian line.^[12] The galleasses were left out of the battle, as unfavorable wind worsened their unmaneuverability and the chaos of the battle prevented them to fire from afar without hitting their own ships,^[12] but their contribution had helped to win victory for the Holy League fleet.^[13]

Four great Naples galleasses were deemed sufficiently seaworthy to accompany the Spanish Armada in 1588 (e.g. La Girona, eventually wrecked off Ireland), where they formed part of the front-line of fighting ships.^[14] During the Channel actions, they were repeatedly called on as a squad in any calm, to rescue Spanish stragglers or cut-off a stray English ship.^[15] With 50 guns apiece, 300 soldiers and sailors, and 300 rowers, they were formidable ships; but their leader was wrecked after the Calais fire ship attack, (the Battle of Gravelines), and only two of the four made it back safely to Spain.^[16]

In 1615, Pedro Téllez-Girón, Duke of Osuna built four heavy galleasses in Sicily in preparation of an Ottoman attack.^[17] A year later, the Venetian armada deployed six galleasses against Osuna's fleet the Battle of Ragusa, although with little success.^[18]

Later history and parallels

In the Mediterranean, with its less dangerous weather and fickle winds, both galleasses and galleys continued to be in use, particularly in Venice and the Ottoman Empire, long after they became obsolete elsewhere. Later, "round ships" and galleasses were replaced by galleons and ships of the line which originated in Atlantic Europe. The first Venetian ship of the line was built in 1660.

See also

• Galliot
• Great ship