<h3><br><span class="mw-headline"></span></h3>Our discussion of the triremes led me to start reading up on trireme
development and It seems that they were so 400 BC.  By 31 BC Mark Antony was using "eights" a large example of which had 1600 rowers and 1200 marines (non Roman eight). Check this excerpt out.  <br><br>Here's the
link if your interested in more info.  <br><br><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quinquereme#Quinquereme">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quinquereme#Quinquereme</a><br><h3><br></h3><h3><span class="mw-headline">Quinquereme</span></h3>

<p>Perhaps the most famous of the Hellenistic-era warships, because of
its extensive use by the Carthaginians and Romans, the quinquereme (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_language" title="Latin language" class="mw-redirect">Latin</a>: <span lang="la"><i>quinqueremis</i></span>; <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_language" title="Greek language">Greek</a>: <span lang="el">πεντήρης</span>, <i>penteres</i>) was invented by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dionysius_I_of_Syracuse" title="Dionysius I of Syracuse">Dionysius I of Syracuse</a> (r. 405–367 BC) in 399 BC as part of a major naval armament program directed against the Carthaginians.<sup id="cite_ref-31" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quinquereme#cite_note-31" title=""><span>[</span>32<span>]</span></a></sup>
During most of the 4th century, the "fives" were the heaviest type of
ship, and often used as flagships of fleets composed of triremes and
quadriremes.<sup id="cite_ref-Galley69_32-0" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quinquereme#cite_note-Galley69-32" title=""><span>[</span>33<span>]</span></a></sup> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidon" title="Sidon">Sidon</a> had them by 351, and Athens fielded some in 324.<sup id="cite_ref-Cam358_6-3" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quinquereme#cite_note-Cam358-6" title=""><span>[</span>7<span>]</span></a></sup></p>

<p>In the East, they were superseded as the heaviest ships by the
massive polyremes that begun appearing in the last two decades of the
4th century,<sup id="cite_ref-Cam358_6-4" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quinquereme#cite_note-Cam358-6" title=""><span>[</span>7<span>]</span></a></sup>
but in the West, they remained the mainstay of the Carthaginian navy.
When Rome, which hitherto lacked a significant navy, was embroiled in
the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Punic_War" title="First Punic War">First Punic War</a> with Carthage, the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Senate" title="Roman Senate">Roman Senate</a> set out to construct a fleet of 100 quinqueremes and 20 triremes.<sup id="cite_ref-33" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quinquereme#cite_note-33" title=""><span>[</span>34<span>]</span></a></sup> According to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polybius" title="Polybius">Polybius</a>, the Romans seized a shipwrecked Carthaginian quinquireme, and used it as a blueprint for their own ships,<sup id="cite_ref-34" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quinquereme#cite_note-34" title=""><span>[</span>35<span>]</span></a></sup> but it is stated that the Roman copies were heavier than the Carthaginian vessels, which were better built.<sup id="cite_ref-Galley69_32-1" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quinquereme#cite_note-Galley69-32" title=""><span>[</span>33<span>]</span></a></sup>The
quinquereme provided the workhorse of the Roman and Carthaginian fleets
throughout the conflicts, although "fours" and "threes" are also
mentioned. Indeed, so ubiquitous was the type that Polybius uses it as
a shorthand for "warship" in general.<sup id="cite_ref-35" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quinquereme#cite_note-35" title=""><span>[</span>36<span>]</span></a></sup></p>
<p>According to Polybius, the Roman quinqueremes carried a total crew of 300.<sup id="cite_ref-36" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quinquereme#cite_note-36" title=""><span>[</span>37<span>]</span></a></sup>
Leaving aside a deck crew of ca. 20, and accepting the 2–2–1 pattern of
oarsmen, the quinquereme would have 90 oars in each side, and 30-strong
files of oarsmen.<sup id="cite_ref-Galley69_32-2" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quinquereme#cite_note-Galley69-32" title=""><span>[</span>33<span>]</span></a></sup> The fully-decked quinquereme could also carry a marine detachment of 70 to 120, giving a total complement of about 400.<sup id="cite_ref-Coates138_12-2" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quinquereme#cite_note-Coates138-12" title=""><span>[</span>13<span>]</span></a></sup>
A "five" would be ca. 45 m long, displace around 100 tonnes, be some 5
m wide at water level, with its deck standing ca. 3 m above the sea.<sup id="cite_ref-Coates138_12-3" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quinquereme#cite_note-Coates138-12" title=""><span>[</span>13<span>]</span></a></sup> Polybius is explicit in calling the quinquereme superior as a warship to the old trireme,<sup id="cite_ref-37" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quinquereme#cite_note-37" title=""><span>[</span>38<span>]</span></a></sup> which was retained in service in significant numbers by many smaller navies. Accounts by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Livy" title="Livy">Livy</a> and Diodorus Siculus also show that the heavier "five" performed better than the triremes in heavy weather.</p>
<p><br></p><p><br><sup id="cite_ref-Galley69_32-3" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quinquereme#cite_note-Galley69-32" title=""><span></span></a></sup></p>