<P> In the Battle of the Delta, the Ancient Egyptians defeated the Sea Peoples in a sea battle circa 1175 BC . As recorded on the temple walls of the mortuary temple of pharaoh Ramesses III at Medinet Habu, this repulsed a major sea invasion near the shores of the eastern Nile Delta using a naval ambush and archers firing from both ships and shore . </P> <P> Assyrian reliefs from the 8th century BC show Phoenician fighting ships, with two levels of oars, fighting men on a sort of bridge or deck above the oarsmen, and some sort of ram protruding from the bow . No written mention of strategy or tactics seems to have survived . </P> <P> Josephus Flavius (Antiquities IX 283 - 287) reports a naval battle between Tyre and the king of Assyria who was aided by the other cities in Phoenicia . The battle took place off the shores of Tyre . Although the Tyrian fleet was much smaller in size, the Tyrians defeated their enemies . </P> <P> The Greeks of Homer just used their ships as transport for land armies, but in 664 BC there is a mention of a battle at sea between Corinth and its colony city Corcyra . </P>

Who had the first navy in the world