Q&A · 13:30-13:45

Why Persia could not feed more troops into Salamis

The narrow water that neutralized Persian ship numbers also made it impractical to move embarked troops through the congested fleet to reinforce the fighting front.

Question

Why did the Persians not move embarked troops forward to reinforce the ships fighting at Salamis?

Short answer

The congested fleet made that transfer extremely difficult, and Persia did not manage to feed those troops into the fighting front.

Notes

A viewer asks why Persia could not move embarked troops forward once only a fraction of its fleet could engage. Transferring and feeding those men through the packed formation was an extremely difficult maneuver, and the Persians did not accomplish it. The problem reinforces the central tactical point: naval units cannot pass through one another as readily as soldiers can rotate through a land formation. The confined approach restricted both the Persian ships' frontage and their ability to reinforce the action from the rear.