Ranma Al'Thor wrote:

I am writing a story which contains multiple naval battles.  I need
people who actually know something about naval battles with Sailing and
Oared ships who can look at the battles and tell me if they actually make
any sense :)

I'm also looking for answers to the following questions:

1.  What kind of tactics did the Anglo-saxons use in naval combat?

>From what I've read, most naval battles (Bar Byzantine who used Greek
fire) in this time frame either depended on ramming for oared warships
(Greek/Roman) where the object was to destroy the enemy ship, or
boarding where the object was to capture (Viking/Pirate).  It wasn't
until the development of effective naval gunnery that ramming and
boarding actions declined. The tech simply wasn't up to destroying ships
without getting up close and personal (disabling and killing crew, and
slowing them down yes serious structural damage  was difficult).

Galleys never did very well outside the Med, (on the Atlantic anyway,
poor seaboats and limited endurance due to large crews in a small hull)
Viking longships an exception, but I'm not sure they were ram capable
(Structurally not braced for it) I think Norse tended to basically come
up alongside and board, they wanted to capture and take home booty not
destroy.

2.  Do Fingernails burn?

Yep!  Even bone will burn if you get it hot enough.

3.  What is the name of Hel's ship made from the fingernail clippings of
the dead?  (Don't laugh, this is a real norse myth)

Nargalfer or something, starts with N anyway, have to hit the books...

4.  Exactly WHEN did the Romans abandon the use of oared ships like Triremes?

The Romans were initially poor sailors, so they invented the Corvus, a
droppable bridge for boarding and turned a sea fight that the
Carthaginians were good at into a land fight that the Roman's were good
at. (As well, they simply didn't stop, and played for keeps.  Carthage
was razed at the end of the Punic wars.)  Eventually they developed into
a sea power (Caeser and Pompey made themselves a reputation for pirate
busting if memory serves) and Rome was fed by grain convoys from Egypt
through the Empire.

Oared warships were still used past the Napoleonic wars in the Med.  The
Venetians used fleets of galleys against similar Turkish fleets in the
15th centuary, and in light winds they could outmaneuver a sailing ship
and ruin it's whole day.  It was the development of effective Steam
warships that ended the Galley.

5.  Anyone know any good books on 5-6th century naval combat?

Off the top of my head, no

Most of the time ships were treated as simple transport, get people
where they wanted to go, especially in the North sea, this was the Dark
Ages, no-one had the economic surplus to maintain specialised fighting
ships and crews.  Pirates (Vikings or otherwise) were basically bandits
in small ships.  Get alongside the target ship, board, kill everyone or
make them slaves, take the ship and cargo.  The only difference between
this and raiding villages is you could take the boat home too.  Dark
Ages...

6.  Which way does the wind blow in the English Channel during December?

Errr.. Ummm... 

7.  There is no question #7.

-- 
Barry Cadwgan ( BCADWGAN@FL.NET.AU )
Professional Engineer/Amateur Historian/Bookworm 
"The end does not justify the means.  
 The end is the sum of the means,
 as the road travelled determines the destination." 
Valijon Starbringer (Hellflower Trilogy, Eluki bes Shahar)