Even prior to the Viking Age, ships played a crucial role in the daily lives of the Scandinavians. Their homeland featured an abundance of waterways, extensive coastlines, and geographical isolation from the rest of the Eurasian continent, making sea travel essential for long-distance journeys. Fortunately, Scandinavia had access to abundant shipbuilding resources like wood, iron, and wool, positioning the Norse people to develop maritime capabilities more rapidly and effectively than many other Eurasian cultures.
Before the eighth century AD, Scandinavians exclusively constructed rowing ships and had not yet adopted sail technology. This absence of sails is somewhat puzzling, considering that the technology was available at the time and was already in use by neighboring peoples like the Germans and the English.
However, with the advent of sailing ships in Norse shipbuilding, the Viking Age burst into existence almost immediately. These fast and agile sailing vessels, capable of transporting sizable groups of warriors, formed the core of the Vikings' dominant military strategy. This strategy involved sudden and unexpected appearances, raids, ransom collection, and swift departures before organized opposition could gather. The Vikings' ships were indispensable to their way of life, and without them, there would have been no Vikings and no Viking Age.
These ships relied on the wind to propel them toward their destinations. When winds were unfavorable, they could still make progress in the intended direction, albeit at a much slower pace.
However, when the winds were favorable, Viking warships demonstrated remarkable speed. Modern reconstructions of Viking ships have achieved speeds exceeding fifteen knots (equivalent to over seventeen miles per hour or twenty-seven kilometers per hour) when sailing. When rowed instead of sailed, they maintained a speed just under six knots – notably slower than sailing but still impressively fast for such large vessels. These reconstructed ships have also demonstrated exceptional seaworthiness by withstanding the challenges of North Atlantic gales.
Viking warships were often referred to as "longships" due to their considerable length, a feature that allowed them to accommodate numerous warriors and cargo. When Old Norse sagas described massive ships with space for sixty or more rowers, these accounts were not exaggerations, as archaeological discoveries have confirmed. However, smaller ships that could accommodate around twenty-six rowers were likely the norm, offering greater maneuverability and thus proving more useful for the lightning-fast Viking raids that characterized the era.
While the ship’s sails were hoisted and propelling it along, the men on board entertained themselves by telling stories and playing games. When the ships had to be rowed, the rowers sat on chests filled with their belongings – including, of course, the spoils of raids.
For the Viking chieftains who owned these ships, they were a major source of pride. Chieftains competed with one another to have the biggest and most lavish ships. When two or more chieftains fought one another, their ships were among the most valuable plunder that the other side could acquire. After a sea battle, if the losing side’s ships were still in usable condition, they were taken by the happy victor.