Before a battle, the mast and sail were taken off and left on the shore. In battle, triremes would attempt to ram or board each other. Some triremes had catapults and ballistas on them, but they were hard to use in battle. Many ancient sea battles involved hundreds of triremes. In the Battle of Salamis, there were around 360 ships on the Greek side and 600 to 800 ships on the Persian side. 