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In warfare, ramming is a technique used in air, sea, and land combat. The term originated from
battering ram A battering ram is a siege engine that originated in ancient times and was designed to break open the masonry walls of fortifications or splinter their wooden gates. In its simplest form, a battering ram is just a large, heavy log carried b ...
, a siege weapon used to bring down fortifications by hitting it with the force of the ram's momentum, and ultimately from male
sheep Sheep or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are domesticated, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus '' Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to domesticate ...
. Thus, in warfare, ramming refers to hitting a target by running oneself into the target. Today, hand-held battering rams are one tool among many used by law enforcement and military personnel for door breaching. Forcible entry by criminals has been implemented using such methods as vehicles rammed into buildings.


Naval warfare

Navies in antiquity commonly used the ram: the "beak" ( la , rostrum) became an important part of the armament of the
galley A galley is a type of ship that is propelled mainly by oars. The galley is characterized by its long, slender hull, shallow draft, and low freeboard (clearance between sea and gunwale). Virtually all types of galleys had sails that could be u ...
s of
Imperial Rome The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post- Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Medite ...
. The
ancient Greeks Ancient Greece ( el, Ἑλλάς, Hellás) was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity ( AD 600), that comprised a loose collection of cult ...
used their
trireme A trireme( ; derived from Latin: ''trirēmis'' "with three banks of oars"; cf. Greek ''triērēs'', literally "three-rower") was an ancient navies and vessels, ancient vessel and a type of galley that was used by the ancient maritime civilizat ...
vessels for ramming as well. In
ancient China The earliest known written records of the history of China date from as early as 1250 BC, from the Shang dynasty (c. 1600–1046 BC), during the reign of king Wu Ding. Ancient historical texts such as the '' Book of Documents'' (early chapt ...
, rams were largely unknown, as the lack of a
keel The keel is the bottom-most longitudinal structural element on a vessel. On some sailboats, it may have a hydrodynamic and counterbalancing purpose, as well. As the laying down of the keel is the initial step in the construction of a ship, in Br ...
and the flat shape of the junk's bow was not conducive to constructing an elongated underwater spur. The first recorded use of a ram in modern times in fighting between major warships occurred in the
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and t ...
at the
Battle of Hampton Roads The Battle of Hampton Roads, also referred to as the Battle of the ''Monitor'' and ''Virginia'' (rebuilt and renamed from the USS ''Merrimack'') or the Battle of Ironclads, was a naval battle during the American Civil War. It was fought over t ...
in March 1862, when the armored Confederate warship rammed the Union frigate , sinking her almost immediately. Another significant use of the naval ram occurred during the Third Italian War of Independence (June to August 1866) at the battle of Lissa, between
Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
and
Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
. The Italian ironclad ''Re d'Italia'', damaged aft by gunfire, had no functioning rudder. Lying helpless in the water, she was struck three times by the Austrian ''Erzherzog Ferdinand Max'', the flagship of the Austrian Commander-in-Chief Admiral Tegetthoff. The Austrian ship retreated unharmed as the Italian vessel rolled over and sank. During the War of the Pacific of 1879-1884, the Peruvian ironclad repeatedly rammed the Chilean corvette , sinking the wooden steam- and wind-powered ship (May 1879). During
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
(1914-1918), rammed and sank German submarine in 1915. This was an incidental use of the ship's bow, however. In 1918 the British
troop ship A troopship (also troop ship or troop transport or trooper) is a ship used to carry soldiers, either in peacetime or wartime. Troopships were often drafted from commercial shipping fleets, and were unable land troops directly on shore, typical ...
HMT ''Olympic'' rammed - the submarine sustained such heavy damage that its crew was forced to scuttle and abandon ship. In
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
(1939-1945), naval ships often rammed other vessels, though this was often due to circumstances, as considerable damage could be caused to the attacking ship. The damage that lightly-constructed
destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed ...
s took from using the tactic led the
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against Fr ...
to officially discourage the practice from early 1943, after spent three months in dry dock following her sinking of in December 1942, and after was torpedoed and sunk after damaging her propellers during the ramming of in March 1943. rammed and was rammed by in May 1944; and rammed in 1943. On 29 January 1943 the
New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island coun ...
naval trawler Naval trawlers are vessels built along the lines of a fishing trawler but fitted out for naval purposes; they were widely used during the First and Second World Wars. Some—known in the Royal Navy as "Admiralty trawlers"— were purpose-built ...
s, and rammed and wrecked the Japanese submarine in shallow water at Kamimbo Bay,
Guadalcanal Guadalcanal (; indigenous name: ''Isatabu'') is the principal island in Guadalcanal Province of Solomon Islands, located in the south-western Pacific, northeast of Australia. It is the largest island in the Solomon Islands by area, and the se ...
, during
Operation Ke was the largely successful withdrawal of Japanese forces from Guadalcanal, concluding the Guadalcanal Campaign of . The operation took place between 14 January and 7 February 1943, and involved both Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) and Imperial ...
. The submarine of 2,135 tons was much larger and more heavily armed than the minesweeping trawlers of 607 tons each. On 5 November 1942 the rammed the Soviet submarine in the Sea of Åland and sank it. ''Vetehinen'' was on a night patrol searching for Soviet submarines. A contact was found, and after confirmation of an enemy contact, ''Vetehinen'' launched a torpedo, which missed - probably due to launching at too short a distance. ''Vetehinen'' then opened fire with its deck guns and managed to damage the Soviet submarine, which by then had started an emergency dive. The captain of ''Vetehinen'', determined not to let the other submarine escape, ordered his submarine to ram the other vessel, which at last was a success. During anti-submarine action, ramming was an alternative if a destroyer was too close to a surfaced submarine for her main guns to fire into the water. The famous British anti-submarine specialist Captain Frederic John Walker used this tactic from December 1941 to the end of World War II. The British destroyer (formerly USS ''Buchanan'', supplied under
Lend-Lease Lend-Lease, formally the Lend-Lease Act and introduced as An Act to Promote the Defense of the United States (), was a policy under which the United States supplied the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and other Allied nations with food, oil, ...
) was disguised as a German destroyer for the purpose of ramming the gates of the Normandie dry dock at
St. Nazaire Saint-Nazaire (; ; Gallo: ''Saint-Nazère/Saint-Nazaer'') is a commune in the Loire-Atlantique department in western France, in traditional Brittany. The town has a major harbour on the right bank of the Loire estuary, near the Atlantic Oce ...
on 28 March 1942. This action aimed to prevent the Normandie dock ever being used by the German battleship . (It was the only dock on the ''
Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the '' Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previo ...
''-occupied Atlantic coast capable of repairing such a large vessel.) The operation succeeded, and a large explosive
time-bomb A time bomb (or a timebomb, time-bomb) is a bomb whose detonation is triggered by a timer. The use (or attempted use) of time bombs has been for various purposes including insurance fraud, terrorism, assassination, sabotage and warfare. They ar ...
charge hidden in the bow of the ship exploded the next day, putting the dock out of commission for five years. On 2 August 1943, while returning from a " Tokyo Express" night reinforcement mission in the
Solomon Islands Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its capit ...
, the Japanese destroyer ''Amagiri'' spotted USN PT boats at a range of about 1,000 yards. Rather than open fire—and give away their position—the destroyer captain, Lieutenant Commander Kohei Hanami, turned to intercept and closed in the darkness at 30 knots. The slower, less maneuverable Japanese destroyer rammed and crushed ''PT-109'', commanded by Lt. John F Kennedy. Lt. Commander Gerard Roope, the captain of the G-class destroyer , posthumously won the
Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previousl ...
for the 1940 ramming of the German heavy cruiser following a close-range action in bad weather off the Norwegian coast. Recent claims suggest that ''Admiral Hipper'' was actually attempting to ram ''Glowworm'' and that the two ships simply collided. During the so-called
Cod Wars The Cod Wars ( is, Þorskastríðin; also known as , ; german: Kabeljaukriege) were a series of 20th-century confrontations between the United Kingdom (with aid from West Germany) and Iceland about fishing rights in the North Atlantic. Each of ...
of 1958 to 1976 between Britain and Iceland, unarmed British fishing trawlers found themselves opposed by Icelandic Coastguard vessels and converted trawlers. As well as
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against Fr ...
coastguard vessels, Britain sent large, ocean-going
tugs A tugboat or tug is a marine vessel that manoeuvres other vessels by pushing or pulling them, with direct contact or a tow line. These boats typically tug ships in circumstances where they cannot or should not move under their own power, suc ...
and
frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied somewhat. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed an ...
s to protect its subjects, and numerous ramming incidents occurred against both sides, sometimes with very serious consequences. The whole Icelandic fleet of naval trawlers and at least 15 Royal Navy frigates suffered damage in the third conflict only (1975-1976). In 1988 the Soviet Mirka II-class light frigate (FFL 824) and the Burevestnik-class frigate ''Bezzavetny'' (FFG 811) lightly rammed two US naval ships (the destroyer and the cruiser ) inside contested Soviet territorial waters in the Black Sea, near the port of Foros. None of the ships involved suffered significant damage. On 30 March 2020 the Venezuelan patrol-boat ''Naiguatá'' rammed the cruise ship ''
RCGS Resolute ''Heritage Adventurer'' is an ice-strengthened expedition cruise ship built in 1991 by Rauma shipyard in Finland. She was originally named ''Society Adventurer'', but after Discoverer Reederei was unable to take delivery of the vessel due to ...
'' after failing to damage it with a volley of gunfire. The ''Naiguatá'' was badly damaged from striking the strengthened hull of the ''Resolute'', built to break ice, and sank shortly afterwards.


Air warfare

Ramming in air combat is a last-ditch tactic that was used when all else had failed. The ramming pilot could use his entire aircraft as a ram or he could try to destroy the enemy's controls using the propeller or wing to chop into the enemy's tail or wing. Ramming took place when a pilot ran out of ammunition, yet was still eager to destroy an enemy, or when his plane had already been damaged beyond saving. Most ramming occurred when the attacker's aircraft was economically, strategically, or tactically less valuable than the enemy's, such as by pilots flying obsolescent aircraft against superior ones or by single-engine aircraft against multiple-engine bombers. Defenders rammed more often than invaders. A ramming attack was not considered suicidal in the same manner as ''
kamikaze , officially , were a part of the Japanese Special Attack Units of military aviators who flew suicide attacks for the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, intending ...
'' attacks—the ramming pilot stands a chance of surviving, though it was very risky. Sometimes, the ramming aircraft itself could survive to make a controlled landing, though most were lost due to combat damage or the pilot bailing out. Ramming was used in air warfare in the first half of the 20th century, in both
World War A world war is an international conflict which involves all or most of the world's major powers. Conventionally, the term is reserved for two major international conflicts that occurred during the first half of the 20th century, World WarI (1914 ...
s and in the interwar period. In the jet age, as air combat speeds increased, ramming occurred much less frequently—the probability of successfully executing (and surviving) a ramming attack approached zero.


Ground warfare

In World War II, at least one incident of a tank ramming an enemy tank has been reported. In 1944, an Irish Guards Sherman rammed a Tiger II during Operation Goodwood.


Siege warfare

In ancient and medieval conflicts, breaching of a fortification during sieges would commonly be attempted by repeated battering of an area of a wall or gate with a
battering ram A battering ram is a siege engine that originated in ancient times and was designed to break open the masonry walls of fortifications or splinter their wooden gates. In its simplest form, a battering ram is just a large, heavy log carried b ...
, a type of
siege engine A siege engine is a device that is designed to break or circumvent heavy castle doors, thick city walls and other fortifications in siege warfare. Some are immobile, constructed in place to attack enemy fortifications from a distance, while oth ...
.


Vehicle ramming attacks in terrorism

The FBI describes "vehicle ramming attacks—using modified or unmodified vehicles—against crowds, buildings, and other vehicles". Such attacks are often carried out by lone-wolf terrorists. Examples of ramming attacks as acts of
terrorism Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...
include the
September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...
, the 2014 Jerusalem tractor attack, the 2006 UNC SUV attack, the
2008 Jerusalem bulldozer attack On July 2, 2008, an Arab resident of East Jerusalem identified as Hussam Taysir Duwait (also referred to as Hussam Duwiyat, Hossam Dawyyat, or erroneously as Jabr Duwait) attacked several cars on Jaffa Road in Jerusalem in a vehicle-ramming at ...
, and the 2008 Jerusalem vehicular attack.
Ram-raiding Ram-raiding is a type of burglary in which a heavy vehicle is driven into the windows or doors of a building, usually a department store or jeweller's shop, to allow the perpetrators to loot it. Overview The term came into widespread use after ...
is sometimes used by criminals to breach shops to steal cash or merchandise.


References

;Notes ;Bibliography * Hardesty, Von
''Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power 1941–1945''.
Smithsonian, 1991. * * Sakaida, Henry. ''Japanese Army Air Force Aces 1937–45''. Botley, Oxford, UK: Osprey Publishing, 1997. * Sherrod, Robert. ''History of Marine Corps Aviation in World War II''. Washington, D.C.: Combat Forces Press, 1952. * Takaki, Koji and Sakaida, Henry. ''B-29 Hunters of the JAAF''. Botley, Oxford, UK: Osprey Publishing, 2001. * Tillman, Barrett. ''Corsair''. United States Naval Institute, 1979. {{ISBN, 1-55750-994-8 Military doctrines es:Taran ru:Таран (морской)