Editing Medieval warfare (section)

===Introduction of guns===
The introduction of guns was the first step towards major changes in naval warfare, but it only slowly changed the dynamics of ship-to-ship combat. The first guns on ships were introduced in the 14th century and consisted of small wrought-iron pieces placed on the open decks and in the [[fighting top]]s, often requiring only one or two men to handle them. They were designed to injure, kill or simply stun, shock and frighten the enemy before boarding.<ref>Rodger (1997), pp. 205–206 .</ref>

[[File:HandCulverinWithSmallCannonsEurope15thCentury.jpg|thumb|Two views of a hand culverin and two small cannons from the 15th century.|left]]As guns were made more durable to withstand stronger gunpowder charges, they increased their potential to inflict critical damage to the vessel rather than just their crews. Since these guns were much heavier than the earlier anti-personnel weapons, they had to be placed lower in the ships, and fire from [[gunport]]s, to avoid ships becoming unstable. In Northern Europe the technique of building ships with [[clinker (boat building)|clinker]] planking made it difficult to cut ports in the hull; clinker-built (or clench-built) ships had much of their structural strength in the outer hull. The solution was the gradual adoption of [[Carvel (boat building)|carvel]]-built ships that relied on an internal skeleton structure to bear the weight of the ship.<ref>Marsden (2003), pp. 137–142.</ref>

The first ships to actually mount heavy cannon capable of sinking ships were galleys, with large wrought-iron pieces mounted directly on the timbers in the bow. The first example is known from a woodcut of a Venetian galley from 1486.<ref>Lehmann (1984), p. 31</ref> Heavy artillery on galleys was mounted in the bow which fit conveniently with the long-standing tactical tradition of attacking head-on and bow-first. The ordnance on galleys was quite heavy from its introduction in the 1480s, and capable of quickly demolishing medieval-style stone walls that still prevailed until the 16th century.<ref name="Guilmartin 1974, pp. 264–66">Guilmartin (1974), pp. 264–266</ref>

This temporarily upended the strength of older seaside fortresses, which had to be rebuilt to cope with gunpowder weapons. The addition of guns also improved the amphibious abilities of galleys as they could assault supported with heavy firepower, and could be even more effectively defended when beached stern-first.<ref name="Guilmartin 1974, pp. 264–66"/> Galleys and similar oared vessels remained uncontested as the most effective gun-armed warships in theory until the 1560s, and in practice for a few decades more, and were considered a grave risk to sailing warships.<ref>The British naval historian Nicholas Rodger describes this as a "crisis in naval warfare" which eventually led to the development of the galleon, which combined ahead-firing capabilities, heavy broadside guns and a considerable increase in manoeuvrability by the introduction of more advanced sailing rigs; Rodger (2003), p. 245. For more detailed arguments concerning the development of broadside armament, see Rodger (1996).</ref>