[Rumil]

Hail and well met again F and G,

I'd agree with you that this engagement was not really a ship to ship action. However I'd contend that if there was a Gondorian navy at the time of the War of the Ring it could have at least put up a fight against the Corsairs.

The Corsair dromunds appear to be similar to the Mediterranean galleys of ancient times, can we assume that Gondorian ships would be similar? They could be powered by both sails and oars, but the sail was not of a very effective design so they needed the oarsmen to move up-wind. They would also have furled the sails before combat, to avoid the fire hazard. Ships with rams would attempt to destroy the oars of the opposition, or even pierce their hulls. The damaged ships would then be 'ganged up on' later and taken by foot soldiers. The Romans invented the 'corvus' which was a big gangplank with a spike on it to allow their marines to board enemy ships.

The Byzantines also used 'Greek fire' which was an early version of the flamethrower (though possibly nearly as dangerous to the Byzantine ship as to its enemy!).

Surely Gondor's ships should have tried to defend the mouth (or mouths) of the Anduin? Perhaps there was a naval battle that the hobbits forgot to record (after all they associated the sea with death), or could the Gondorian fleet have performed so poorly that the fiasco was covered up after the war?