stylistic:style_transfer, structural:summarization
Navy

The navy was the main armed force of the Republic for centuries, at least until the 15th century when it was also supported by a land army. The fleet was administered by the Magistrate of the Militia of the Sea, a sort of ministry composed of different magistracies that divided the tasks of governing the preparation of the fleet, weapons and crews. The preparation of the fleet was administered by the supervisors of the Venetian Arsenal, the key structure of the Venetian navy. In this extensive complex of workshops and shipyards, ships were built and armed. The Arsenal also contained several schools in which personnel were trained, also with the help of French and English workers, to make the construction of ships and vessels more efficient and of higher quality. The preparation of the fleet was decided by the armament supervisors who took care of the maintenance of the decommissioned ships and the assignment of the soldiers and rowers. The recruitment operations for sailors were instead carried out by the presidents of the Militia of the Sea, who following the War of Candia began to recruit personnel from abroad and not only from the territory of the Republic.

The fleet located in the Stato da Màr was managed by the Superintendent General of the Sea, who resided in Corfu and in the overseas dominions was also head of the army and administration. In wartime, command passed to the Captain General of the Sea, who was immediately elected and who had more extensive powers than the Superintendent General. The fleet was divided into a small army and a large army. The thin army was made up of galleys and galleasses and the admirals in command, all patricians, had different degrees of specialisation; for example there were those responsible for navigating rivers and lakes, those dedicated to the war against piracy and those dedicated to surveillance of the islands. The large army, made up of warships, was managed in wartime by the Commissioner in the Army and the command of the ships was assigned to naval officers who did not belong to the Veneto patricians. Until the end of the 16th century the large armada was also used for the defense of commercial ships.