06-06-2014, 09:13 PM
Hi Nathan
Transportation of troops as you say seems to be somewhat confusing however based on Caesar's 55 BC invasion of 2 Legions in 80 transport ships which would appear to be about 100 - 125 men per ship with the officers in other ships - possibly warships - which acted as an escort and in this case as artillery to help the landing.
The troopships seem to have been only powered by sail in this instance.
In 54 BC Caesar designed the troop transports himself (wide and shallow drafted) and had hundreds of them built. These were powered by the troops rowing. It would appear from the figures that the troop transports in this instance held about 36 legionaries, similar to landing craft on D Day.
The Mainz boats give an idea of ships of this size and even smaller (14 men) but I expect that it would depend on the type of engagement.
Of course this is only regarding men -I would be interested in transports for horses. In 54 BC Caesar apparently took over 1,700 horses - let alone pack animals! I have not been able tofind any references to these.
Kind Regards - Deryk
Transportation of troops as you say seems to be somewhat confusing however based on Caesar's 55 BC invasion of 2 Legions in 80 transport ships which would appear to be about 100 - 125 men per ship with the officers in other ships - possibly warships - which acted as an escort and in this case as artillery to help the landing.
The troopships seem to have been only powered by sail in this instance.
In 54 BC Caesar designed the troop transports himself (wide and shallow drafted) and had hundreds of them built. These were powered by the troops rowing. It would appear from the figures that the troop transports in this instance held about 36 legionaries, similar to landing craft on D Day.
The Mainz boats give an idea of ships of this size and even smaller (14 men) but I expect that it would depend on the type of engagement.
Of course this is only regarding men -I would be interested in transports for horses. In 54 BC Caesar apparently took over 1,700 horses - let alone pack animals! I have not been able tofind any references to these.
Kind Regards - Deryk
Deryk
