A good medium-size, multipurpose ship, the liburne can fight in great battles and perform scouting duties.

Covered Liburnes Fleet

Many bad things can be said about pirates, but everybody has to agree that their ships are among the best in the world. Senatores! The Republic needs a great fleet to destroy these enemies who provoke us. Our spies tell us that pirates in northern Iliria - Liburnia are using a ship type suitable for reinforcing the Republic's navy. Shipwrights building these ships for the Republic have proposed a slight change in construction – a deck covering the entire hull. We believe it's a good investment as more marines could be placed on board and oarsmen are better protected.

Historically, liburnes (navis liburnae) were middle sized vessels (length about 36m). Technically they were biremes - having two rows of thirty oars on each side with one man at each oar. This type of liburnian has a deck covering the oarsmen’s seats and a small cabin in the back for officers. The crew numbered around 180 - 120 oarsmen, 40+ marines and about 20 sailors and officers. The main weapon of the liburne was a ram and some light ballistae on board. As with other roman warships liburnes were equipped with sails on two masts - main in the middle of the ship and another on a small foremast.