Why did Viking ships had oars?

The Vikings genius was to join these two methods with a truly seaworthy hull. The hull of a sailing ship needs to be wider and higher along the sides than a ship which will sail with oars alone. This problem was resolved with the introduction of the keel, which gave the ship strength, stability and flexibility. read more

To launch the ship, the Vikings pushed it into the water. They slid it over log rollers to make the pushing easier. Back to top. Sails and oars. A Viking ship had one big square sail made of woven wool. In some ships, the mast for the sail could be folded down. When there was not enough wind for the sail, the men rowed with long wooden oars. read more

The Oesberg ship has is a 15 "room" ship, meaning it has 15 pairs of oars, or "rooms" for 15 pairs of rowers (30 men in all). The Norse and early English ships seem to be divided that way into "rooms," from what we know from record-keeping; Alfred the Great seems to have ordered several ships of 20 rooms and there were some that were larger. read more