All warships in the ancient world were limited in size by a number of practical considerations. This meant most warships were triremes or 'threes', or perhaps quinqueremes or 'fives', usually named for the number of banks of oars or the number of rowers. Being propelled by oars brought limits: there were only so many rowers that could operate a single oar; there was a practical limit to the stroke and angle of an oar; and so forth. There was also a limit to how long and slender a galley could be before it would flex too much in any kind of sea and tear itself to pieces, but too broad a beam would make it a lumbering target. None of these constraints mattered a jot to some nations, who built increasingly large vessels, culminating in a few '30s' and even a couple of '40s'. These gargantuan vessels must have been catamarans with fighting platforms linking the hulls, but they were all little more than vanity projects for the kings and Pharaohs who ordered them built.
