{"id":35993,"date":"2019-04-07T00:01:23","date_gmt":"2019-04-07T00:01:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2019\/04\/07\/back-when-fireships-and-hellburners-terrorized-fleets\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T19:27:24","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T19:27:24","slug":"back-when-fireships-and-hellburners-terrorized-fleets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/your-navy\/2019\/04\/07\/back-when-fireships-and-hellburners-terrorized-fleets\/","title":{"rendered":"Back when fireships and hellburners terrorized fleets"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Fireships were vessels that, when filled with combustibles or explosives, could be floated or blown into enemy ships to disable or destroy them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the age of sail, fireships could wreak their flaming havoc with terrifying rapidity. They could also force an enemy fleet to break anchor or split its formation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Although fireships date to ancient times, their use peaked between the late 16th and early 19th centuries in Europe, during which time their design and deployment became increasingly sophisticated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A central fireroom, packed with flammable materials, provided the point of ignition; tin or wooden fire troughs \u2014 themselves filled with combustibles \u2014 quickly channeled the blaze throughout the ship, and fire barrels vented flames up to the sails and rigging. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Gunpowder charges in fire ports on each side of the hull would blow them open as the blaze took hold, ensuring a good flow of oxygen into the interior of the fireship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If these components were properly configured, the fireship (typically up to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rmg.co.uk\/discover\/explore\/rated-navy-ships-17th-19th-centuries\" target=_blank>fifth rate in size<\/a>) would be engulfed by flames from stem to stern within five minutes of the quickmatch fuses being lit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A skeleton crew would typically sail the fireship right up to an enemy vessel before igniting it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sally ports (exit doors) gave members of the crew a means of escape. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The ends of the fuses were typically located at these ports so the crew could light them and immediately flee in a small boat towed behind the fireship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Fireships largely died out with the advent of steel warships and rifled cannons, though old ships packed with explosives have occasionally been used the same way. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1315\" height=\"833\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Boston2.jpg.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-69767\" srcset=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Boston2.jpg.jpg 1315w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Boston2.jpg.jpg?resize=300,190 300w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Boston2.jpg.jpg?resize=768,486 768w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Boston2.jpg.jpg?resize=1024,649 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1315px) 100vw, 1315px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">&#8220;Attack on USS Independence in Boston Harbor by the British Frigate HMS Nymphe, 1814.&#8221; In the spring of 1814, Charles Goullet, Master&#8217;s Mate of the British 38-gun frigate Nymphe entered the port of Boston in a boat with six other persons for the purpose of destroying the United States ship of the line Independence then but recently launched. Having pulled past a whole tier of heavy batteries, the little band of adventurers entered the inner harbor, where they boarded a schooner, which they quickly fitted out as a fire ship, and then sent blazing in the direction of Independence. (U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command photograph of a watercolor)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomsbury.com\/author\/chris-mcnab\" target=_blank><i>Chris McNab <\/i><\/a><i>is a military historian based in the United Kingdom. His most recent book is <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/haynes.com\/en-gb\/falklands-war-manual\" target=_blank>The Falklands War Operations Manual <\/a><i>(Haynes Publishing, 2018). This article appears in the Spring 2019 issue (Vol. 31, No. 3) of <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.historynet.com\/mhq\" target=_blank>MHQ\u2014The Quarterly Journal of Military History<\/a>, <i>a sister publication of <\/i>Navy Times, <i>with the headline: <\/i>Weapons Check | The Fireship.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the age of sail, fireships could wreak their flaming havoc with terrifying rapidity. They could also force an enemy fleet to break anchor or split its formation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":69763,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":65,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[101,23,89,12,26,65],"tags":[],"coauthors":[8113],"class_list":["post-35993","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-home","category-middle-column","category-news","category-newsletters","category-your-navy"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"XEVZYYEVPFHA7GQE72T6XEYY6Q","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/your-navy\/2019\/04\/07\/back-when-fireships-and-hellburners-terrorized-fleets\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Back when fireships and hellburners terrorized fleets - Navy Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In the age of sail, fireships could wreak their flaming havoc with terrifying rapidity. 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