For a people like the Phoenicians, constantly voyaging by sea, the warship was of fundamental
importance. Carthage, in particular, possessed many types of warship. There were at least three officers in charge of each vessel, while there were never more than thirty sailors and the number of oarsmen varied in relation to the size of the ship, risin
g to as many as three hundred in the quinquereme.\par
In battle the fleet was organized into squadrons, each consisting of twelve ships. In addition there were fast boats used for liaisons and to rescue the crews of rammed ships, with the result that a
fleet would normally have as many as a hundred and twenty ships, or even more.\par