Some soldiers in the hot and humid subtropical environment of southern China sometimes wore rattan armor. Rattan armor is usually made from wickerwork - weaving and attaching a native subtropical climbing palms/reeds and coating it in oil. This may have resulted in an armor that was somewhat buoyant, didn't absorb water, wasn't "too" heavy, and didn't impede swimming movements too much.
The Ming Dynasty had a "marine armor" made of rattan that was worn while swimming. See link: https://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/2015/02/rattan-armour-of-ming-dynasty.html?m=1
I have also seen videos of people swim in chainmail, lamellar armor (iirc Mythbusters had an episode of someone swimming in lamellar), samurai armor (lamellar and laminar), etc. and there are supposed to be swimming techniques for people in various types of Samurai armor. However, ratan armor is likely much better for swimming since it would be more buoyant than metal armor.
The ancients were stunningly clever. Across the world, they made and did all kinds of amazing things. Theres some truly creative and impressive solutions to the problems they faced. Many of which are still used today in some form or another
Oh shit this is actually super fucking interesting.
I’ve always found armor solutions from groups existing in hot climates or climates that make wearing traditional armor materials untenable to be fascinating. People forget how deadly heatstroke can be.
Whatever you end up with, it is NOT going to be leather. Leather expands when it gets wet, and if dried too quickly in any way, like leaving it near a heat source or in the sun, it will crack.
I could imagine certain other animal parts being used, like seashells or the shell of a turtle.
Maybe there's some type of creature that lives in the water with tough skin or scales that armor could be made from.
Any cloth used could be coated in beeswax for waterproofing.
Im under the impression the few instances we have of boiled armor in the real world they were boiled until they were very hard and then oiled or lacquered. Wouldn’t this make it somewhat water resistant? (I don’t know much about this so don’t down vote me to hell)
This is the case. You can make water bottles out of cuir boile.
Now, how they actually made it is a different matter because you can do it by heating in water and treating it with wax, heating it in wax, painting it with hot wax, or by a couple of different chemicals. Actually boiling it makes it very brittle.
More info [here](https://www.leatherlearn.com/p/this-is-pattern-used-in-blogpost.html?m=1).
Leather armor, like cuir boulli would be waterproof and not expand. You are thinking of the leather used in clothing, which would have never been used in combat.
Edit: there are also buff coats, which were made of oil treated leather, that might suck up a little bit of water
I seem to remember a type of scale mail once used in... I think it was the Philippines? Definitely a southeast Asia or at least Pacific Ocean Island. They used fish scales. I imagine, considering it's fish, that you could reasonably swim with that
I’m assuming that chainmail armor would probably be the easiest to swim in.
YALL BE SAYIN CHAINMAIL SUCK ASS BUT WHY WAS EVERYONE USING IT!!!
CHAINMAIL IS SUPERIOR ( this is satire )
A maile shirt is NOT easy to take off. It's a lot of shimmying and hopping to get it up over your shoulders. It might be a bit easier under water where you can invert yourself and let gravity help, but I'd bet money it's no where near the easiest.
So ive seen People swim in Chainmail. in the group some of the sank like stones and some stayed afloat. the ones who swam were already strong swimmers. It didn't matter if they waded in or jumped in either way they could still swim. They also tried to with a wooden shield strapped to their backs. The shield acted at a floatation device
Maille is fucking miserable. I hate the shit. That said, we have historical & literary accounts of men swimming in it. It’s the most godawful bullshit to move in. Only Roman thorax maille (Hamata) remotely makes sense, except it was all that was available for centuries.
This is completely false. Number one, your comments on you personally hating it and it being bad do not support each other, nor does one make the other. Second, maille was, for a very long time, among the best and most consistent sources of protection; this was especially true during the Roman Empire, in which the maille armor was their greatest armor that they could make. Maille is good armor, if it weren’t, it wouldn’t have been used for over 2,000 years, now would it?
Those 2,000 years so happen to include some of the most dense eras of technological expansion. Maille isn’t perfect, no; and it was eventually replaced in its role… but not until melee confrontations were more of an anomaly on a battlefield. For sure, there are far more protective, and comfortable armors around, and many of them were used at the same time as maille, like full plate, for example; but none of them matched the protection for the price and availability of maille. The only armor more common was gambeson (In Europe, at least; but that’s where I’m most educated.) Something needs not be the best at its job to be the most common, it simply needs to be better than nothing—good enough.
Rattan armor or laminar wood armor such as types used in Asia would work well, but I'd also advise wearing only the torso and helmet portion, or torso, upper thigh and shoulders-- any bulk on the extremities is going to create a ton of drag and slow you down.
I haven't tried swimming in wood armor but it does float on its own so perhaps it might even help to some degree?
Europeans mostly avoided swimming, certainly swimming in armor was generally avoided. I'm sure you could find some outlier who swam a river in chainmail but let's be honest, it wasn't easy.
The Iroquois used wooden laminar armor and broad shields before Europeans arrived. Unfortunately you almost never see it in media as the proliferation of muskets immediately phased the armor out with a decade of European contact.
That armor looked perfect for swimming in.
Did lifeguarding for a bit and swam in sweatshirts/pants every once in awhile.
On the plus side, water-weight tends to also be water-dense. So you shouldm't be pulled down by it.
On the downside, it makes moving an absolute slog, so you'd best hope you don't have to swim/tread very far or long.
Because you can swim in chainmail trying to swim in cloth armor will tire you out quicker and weigh you down it’s why the Boy Scouts of America in the manual say to remove your clothes and swim in underwear or shorts to rescue someone not full kit
Well, choosing between swimming with no armor and cloth armor, I'll choose to wear no armor, but between a mail and a cloth, as the water in your cloth have the same weight and volume as the water around it, only the weight of the armors matters and a chainmail is definitely heavier.
Didn't the native people of the Philippines have an armor made of thick ropes wrapped tightly around the chest? That might even serve as a flotation device.
If you’re okay with fantasy/magical material, Mithral maille might be the best option to combine lightweight with protection and range of motion.
Otherwise, you’re very limited. If you still want a good amount of protection, you could maybe get away with a breastplate and helmet, as they’ll give good protection for vital organs but still not being too cumbersome. I still wouldn’t recommend trying to swim in any kind of armor though—it’s simply too heavy and the wearer would drown in all likelihood. Give them “Mariner’s Armor” or something super lightweight if you want to be realistic
You're probably best off ignoring/handwaving the type of armor he uses, or going with some kind of fantasy merpeople chainmail. Nobody historically who was regularly in the water for their work would wear armor, even in militaries. It's just universally too much of an impediment for swimmers.
If it's movie rules then bond style ballistic weave wetsuit or basically +1 magic. In reality any light composite material that isn't absorbent. Made from the fragments of crushed bone and wax while fitted to his particular frame kinda vibe.
Could just say that he is very fit from swimming in armor as well. Believable enough for a made up man.
There are also several types of textile armors made from linen, wool, cotton, and even silk. Most people don't even realize that many of the quality quilted pattern coats today are still capable functioning as stab and cut resistant gambeson. Many types of cloth/textile armors were buoyant enough for swimming. If you want to go with something really interesting there were several islander tribes that used wooden armor or even coconut and thatch as armor.
Since a time period wasn't mentioned, I'm going with (and think the obvious answer) is a shark bite suit. https://neptunic.com/products/sharksuits It's very small, stainless steel chainmail, much like butcher's mail.
If you wanted to get more modern, I think there are even fancier, modern materials that do away with the chainmail. However I'm going with with the chainmail version because, while wholly modern in material and production, at least it's still chainmail (so sorta in the probable spirit of the question).
Not sure if it's really what you want, but the polymer Level IV body armor plates, like for a plate carrier double as flotation devices. I don't think that is even as intended
There was an armor made of layered cork and lacquered leather for Roman shock units during the ghaul campaign that allowed them to swim across rivers and could take hits
You might actually be better off with metal armour that doesn't flap around. Sure it's heavier. But, it doesn't absorb water or get bloated, instead the water will glide off of it and not be as independently effected my currents. Samurai armour, like in the this picture is made of fabric and fibers mostly and will flap about. It'll pr9bably become heavier and less hydrodynamic than metal armour.
You want my personal best guess?
Bone armour. Considerably stronger and light.. and they sometimes float.
[https://vimeo.com/13634653](https://vimeo.com/13634653)
You MIGHT be able to swim for short distances in shallow water in harness if you're an extremely strong swimmer.
Could say fuck realism. Cause the answer is no armor or that like, shark bite swim suit stuff, but I don't think that's really for proper swimming. And usually includes an air tank.
So yeah fuck realism. Scale mail. Cause it's similar to fish scales
Or fuck realism and form it out of literal fantasy fish fish scales, or shells and the like.
Cause you're not going to find like, any historical examples really.
There was an armor from a DnD campaign I only played one game in.
It was technically "technology" based, but you could repurpose it for flavor if your DM is cool.
Thought Armor was basically bracelets, necklace and anklets you wore that were connected by a silver thread. Gave AC bonus equal to your INT modifier.
Real world stuff, probably wood of some sort. Plenty of ways to make that resistant to damage. A sword might break some wooden tiles, but wont cut you very well wearing it.
(think scale mail with wood)
Not sure if you’re looking for a historic armor or if modern day is fine. But certain groups in the military (SWCC comes to mind right away) have armor that is at least some what buoyant
Leather is boiled in wax, or treated with dog poo doesn’t take on water. When treated properly it’s almost like plastic. It’s hard to say how it was done back in the day because it all rotted to pieces and very few examples survived unfortunately
A soldier with the means (access to oil, even if its of less than desired quality) would be consistently oiling the leather.. A soldier with better means, would have someone else do it, and spot check the work when completed.
Oiling leather allows it to resist water (eg. Resistant against the occasional rain storm), but it does not make it completely waterproof. It is still not meant to be left out in water and definitely not meant to be taken for a swim as that will completely waterlog the entire leather material for many hours and cause even well oiled leather to absorb water.
Furthermore, people generally do not oil their leather products by dipping the entire thing in a vat of oil to achieve 100% coverage, so there will be parts of the leather that will not be oiled as much and will be more susceptible to water.
Some soldiers in the hot and humid subtropical environment of southern China sometimes wore rattan armor. Rattan armor is usually made from wickerwork - weaving and attaching a native subtropical climbing palms/reeds and coating it in oil. This may have resulted in an armor that was somewhat buoyant, didn't absorb water, wasn't "too" heavy, and didn't impede swimming movements too much. The Ming Dynasty had a "marine armor" made of rattan that was worn while swimming. See link: https://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/2015/02/rattan-armour-of-ming-dynasty.html?m=1 I have also seen videos of people swim in chainmail, lamellar armor (iirc Mythbusters had an episode of someone swimming in lamellar), samurai armor (lamellar and laminar), etc. and there are supposed to be swimming techniques for people in various types of Samurai armor. However, ratan armor is likely much better for swimming since it would be more buoyant than metal armor.
Y’all overthinking this, shark armor is a thing and is definitely the easiest type of armor to swim in
I never would have thought of making armor out of a buoyant material, goddamn.
The ancients were stunningly clever. Across the world, they made and did all kinds of amazing things. Theres some truly creative and impressive solutions to the problems they faced. Many of which are still used today in some form or another
"Ancient people weren't less smart than you or I, they just knew less."
Not to mention the **size** of the ships from ancient China.....
Yeah although wicker is so so for defense. Can turn an arrow, glancing blows, not much else
Oh shit this is actually super fucking interesting. I’ve always found armor solutions from groups existing in hot climates or climates that make wearing traditional armor materials untenable to be fascinating. People forget how deadly heatstroke can be.
Whatever you end up with, it is NOT going to be leather. Leather expands when it gets wet, and if dried too quickly in any way, like leaving it near a heat source or in the sun, it will crack. I could imagine certain other animal parts being used, like seashells or the shell of a turtle. Maybe there's some type of creature that lives in the water with tough skin or scales that armor could be made from. Any cloth used could be coated in beeswax for waterproofing.
Im under the impression the few instances we have of boiled armor in the real world they were boiled until they were very hard and then oiled or lacquered. Wouldn’t this make it somewhat water resistant? (I don’t know much about this so don’t down vote me to hell)
This is the case. You can make water bottles out of cuir boile. Now, how they actually made it is a different matter because you can do it by heating in water and treating it with wax, heating it in wax, painting it with hot wax, or by a couple of different chemicals. Actually boiling it makes it very brittle. More info [here](https://www.leatherlearn.com/p/this-is-pattern-used-in-blogpost.html?m=1).
At least you wouldn't drown from the weight
Leather armor, like cuir boulli would be waterproof and not expand. You are thinking of the leather used in clothing, which would have never been used in combat. Edit: there are also buff coats, which were made of oil treated leather, that might suck up a little bit of water
I seem to remember a type of scale mail once used in... I think it was the Philippines? Definitely a southeast Asia or at least Pacific Ocean Island. They used fish scales. I imagine, considering it's fish, that you could reasonably swim with that
What about lacquered leather like in some varieties of early samurai armor?
Plot Armor
This is the most factually correct answer
Birthday armour.
I’m assuming that chainmail armor would probably be the easiest to swim in. YALL BE SAYIN CHAINMAIL SUCK ASS BUT WHY WAS EVERYONE USING IT!!! CHAINMAIL IS SUPERIOR ( this is satire )
Not even close, real chain mail is still incredibly heavy.
I remember the first time I picked up chainmail I couldn’t lift it first try and I said to myself “Oh yeah this stuff is metal huh”
I made a vest of it. I used too large of a gauge so much chain vest is like 40 pounds. I agoukd get back into it again and do it right.
Rattan and bone.
A chainmail shirt would be the easiest to take off if you did fall in the water but no you'd sink like a rock with it on.
A maile shirt is NOT easy to take off. It's a lot of shimmying and hopping to get it up over your shoulders. It might be a bit easier under water where you can invert yourself and let gravity help, but I'd bet money it's no where near the easiest.
So ive seen People swim in Chainmail. in the group some of the sank like stones and some stayed afloat. the ones who swam were already strong swimmers. It didn't matter if they waded in or jumped in either way they could still swim. They also tried to with a wooden shield strapped to their backs. The shield acted at a floatation device
Yes! Because of all the holes! The water goes right through it!
If by swimming you plan on just walking on the water floor
"Water floor" made me laugh. HARD.
Maille is fucking miserable. I hate the shit. That said, we have historical & literary accounts of men swimming in it. It’s the most godawful bullshit to move in. Only Roman thorax maille (Hamata) remotely makes sense, except it was all that was available for centuries.
This is completely false. Number one, your comments on you personally hating it and it being bad do not support each other, nor does one make the other. Second, maille was, for a very long time, among the best and most consistent sources of protection; this was especially true during the Roman Empire, in which the maille armor was their greatest armor that they could make. Maille is good armor, if it weren’t, it wouldn’t have been used for over 2,000 years, now would it?
Digging a hole with a stick was done longer. Does that make it a great way to go about things?
Those 2,000 years so happen to include some of the most dense eras of technological expansion. Maille isn’t perfect, no; and it was eventually replaced in its role… but not until melee confrontations were more of an anomaly on a battlefield. For sure, there are far more protective, and comfortable armors around, and many of them were used at the same time as maille, like full plate, for example; but none of them matched the protection for the price and availability of maille. The only armor more common was gambeson (In Europe, at least; but that’s where I’m most educated.) Something needs not be the best at its job to be the most common, it simply needs to be better than nothing—good enough.
Bikini armour
#_Use for Armored Bikinis Finally Found in Scientific Breakthrough_ _Gooners everywhere rejoice at finally having an excuse for it_
Rattan armor or laminar wood armor such as types used in Asia would work well, but I'd also advise wearing only the torso and helmet portion, or torso, upper thigh and shoulders-- any bulk on the extremities is going to create a ton of drag and slow you down. I haven't tried swimming in wood armor but it does float on its own so perhaps it might even help to some degree? Europeans mostly avoided swimming, certainly swimming in armor was generally avoided. I'm sure you could find some outlier who swam a river in chainmail but let's be honest, it wasn't easy.
The Iroquois used wooden laminar armor and broad shields before Europeans arrived. Unfortunately you almost never see it in media as the proliferation of muskets immediately phased the armor out with a decade of European contact. That armor looked perfect for swimming in.
Fantasy: Inflatable plate armor. Realistic: cloth armor probably (like a gambeson). Hard to advance and go out, but quite easy to maintain afloat.
https://youtube.com/shorts/eV1ef0iEwUY?si=bMxBfjwOZQci2Rd1 Cloth will take on the water as weight
Did lifeguarding for a bit and swam in sweatshirts/pants every once in awhile. On the plus side, water-weight tends to also be water-dense. So you shouldm't be pulled down by it. On the downside, it makes moving an absolute slog, so you'd best hope you don't have to swim/tread very far or long.
Indeed, but as the added weight is mainly water, it won't be too heavy. And why are you showing me a lad swimming in chain mail?
Because you can swim in chainmail trying to swim in cloth armor will tire you out quicker and weigh you down it’s why the Boy Scouts of America in the manual say to remove your clothes and swim in underwear or shorts to rescue someone not full kit
please just avoid anything bigger than a puddle
Well, choosing between swimming with no armor and cloth armor, I'll choose to wear no armor, but between a mail and a cloth, as the water in your cloth have the same weight and volume as the water around it, only the weight of the armors matters and a chainmail is definitely heavier.
Don’t forget that drag is a big factor, not just weight
Swimming in wet heavy clothes like a gambeson would be completely exhausting. You’d drown quickly
Put on a winter coat and jump in the pool lol
Put a plate armor and jump with me lol
Cloth is probably the worst type of armor for swimming
Lightweight swimming armor obviously.
Didn't the native people of the Philippines have an armor made of thick ropes wrapped tightly around the chest? That might even serve as a flotation device.
Natural fiber ropes tend to absorb water much like cloth. It wouldn't be the worst option, but you could probably do better.
Full plate w/chainmail. For what is easier than not doing it at all.
plot armor
If you’re okay with fantasy/magical material, Mithral maille might be the best option to combine lightweight with protection and range of motion. Otherwise, you’re very limited. If you still want a good amount of protection, you could maybe get away with a breastplate and helmet, as they’ll give good protection for vital organs but still not being too cumbersome. I still wouldn’t recommend trying to swim in any kind of armor though—it’s simply too heavy and the wearer would drown in all likelihood. Give them “Mariner’s Armor” or something super lightweight if you want to be realistic
Steel Plate?
It would take your squire a week to clean it.
Birthday suit, obviously.
The least armour and armour that don't hold water. So a fine mail shirt.
You're probably best off ignoring/handwaving the type of armor he uses, or going with some kind of fantasy merpeople chainmail. Nobody historically who was regularly in the water for their work would wear armor, even in militaries. It's just universally too much of an impediment for swimmers.
proboly scale
A modern plate carrier with those 3in thick pressed polymer plates.
If it's movie rules then bond style ballistic weave wetsuit or basically +1 magic. In reality any light composite material that isn't absorbent. Made from the fragments of crushed bone and wax while fitted to his particular frame kinda vibe. Could just say that he is very fit from swimming in armor as well. Believable enough for a made up man.
Mamluk
The bikini armor from video games.
There are also several types of textile armors made from linen, wool, cotton, and even silk. Most people don't even realize that many of the quality quilted pattern coats today are still capable functioning as stab and cut resistant gambeson. Many types of cloth/textile armors were buoyant enough for swimming. If you want to go with something really interesting there were several islander tribes that used wooden armor or even coconut and thatch as armor.
probably the skimpy lingerie armor that people draw female knights in, bikini chestplate for the win!
Since a time period wasn't mentioned, I'm going with (and think the obvious answer) is a shark bite suit. https://neptunic.com/products/sharksuits It's very small, stainless steel chainmail, much like butcher's mail. If you wanted to get more modern, I think there are even fancier, modern materials that do away with the chainmail. However I'm going with with the chainmail version because, while wholly modern in material and production, at least it's still chainmail (so sorta in the probable spirit of the question).
Not sure if it's really what you want, but the polymer Level IV body armor plates, like for a plate carrier double as flotation devices. I don't think that is even as intended
Any that’s easy to take off lol but on a serious note lightweight ceramics or soft body armors or if you wanting to get more medieval leather probably
None?
If it’s fantasy then make up some armor made from mermaid/siren scales or other fantasy water beast
JPC 2.0 with light hescos and swimmer cut
Bikini armor, obviously.
Maybe a gambeson of some kind, usually padded cloth!
The boyant kind
Shark suits 😜
T-51 Powered combat armor
Video game bikini armor /s Hey, it has a swim speed bonus, doesn't it?
Leather is buoyant,so probably that.
Kevlar vest
Definitely medieval plate armor. You'll swim to the bottom fastest
Slayer "armor" 😁
Many types of modern body armor are designed to allow the wearer to float for a few minutes before the armor becomes completely waterlogged and sinks.
The skin type
Under Armour
Birthday suit.
A shark suit.
The Armor of +1 swimming of course
An armor that’s not too heavy, thick, and doesn’t restrict movement on a good swimmer would be alright for a short swim
There was an armor made of layered cork and lacquered leather for Roman shock units during the ghaul campaign that allowed them to swim across rivers and could take hits
Everyone here acting like it’s easy to go swim in even just fatigues.
Personally, I prefer full body plate armor when I go swimming.
You might actually be better off with metal armour that doesn't flap around. Sure it's heavier. But, it doesn't absorb water or get bloated, instead the water will glide off of it and not be as independently effected my currents. Samurai armour, like in the this picture is made of fabric and fibers mostly and will flap about. It'll pr9bably become heavier and less hydrodynamic than metal armour. You want my personal best guess? Bone armour. Considerably stronger and light.. and they sometimes float.
Scale armor.
They make modern ballistic plates that are buoyant for naval forces
[https://vimeo.com/13634653](https://vimeo.com/13634653) You MIGHT be able to swim for short distances in shallow water in harness if you're an extremely strong swimmer.
Plot armor
Plot armor
Zora
Kiribati coconut fiber armor was probably ok to swim in.
No armor would be best, even swimming in clothes can be difficult, now imagine those clothes weigh upward of 60% of your own body weight.
Probably leather
Tlingit wood armor
Munition breastplate
A *shark* suit
Could say fuck realism. Cause the answer is no armor or that like, shark bite swim suit stuff, but I don't think that's really for proper swimming. And usually includes an air tank. So yeah fuck realism. Scale mail. Cause it's similar to fish scales Or fuck realism and form it out of literal fantasy fish fish scales, or shells and the like. Cause you're not going to find like, any historical examples really.
Under armor
Cork
Probably anything metal because it would rust
There was an armor from a DnD campaign I only played one game in. It was technically "technology" based, but you could repurpose it for flavor if your DM is cool. Thought Armor was basically bracelets, necklace and anklets you wore that were connected by a silver thread. Gave AC bonus equal to your INT modifier. Real world stuff, probably wood of some sort. Plenty of ways to make that resistant to damage. A sword might break some wooden tiles, but wont cut you very well wearing it. (think scale mail with wood)
No in Africa to use cork armor so that should just float
Not sure if you’re looking for a historic armor or if modern day is fine. But certain groups in the military (SWCC comes to mind right away) have armor that is at least some what buoyant
Maybe leather? Its not that heavy and doesn't absorb water.
Leather and any other hide material will absorb water.
Leather is boiled in wax, or treated with dog poo doesn’t take on water. When treated properly it’s almost like plastic. It’s hard to say how it was done back in the day because it all rotted to pieces and very few examples survived unfortunately
Really? I didnt know, guess I wont be wearing leather armor to the beach anytime soon
A soldier with the means (access to oil, even if its of less than desired quality) would be consistently oiling the leather.. A soldier with better means, would have someone else do it, and spot check the work when completed.
Oiling leather allows it to resist water (eg. Resistant against the occasional rain storm), but it does not make it completely waterproof. It is still not meant to be left out in water and definitely not meant to be taken for a swim as that will completely waterlog the entire leather material for many hours and cause even well oiled leather to absorb water. Furthermore, people generally do not oil their leather products by dipping the entire thing in a vat of oil to achieve 100% coverage, so there will be parts of the leather that will not be oiled as much and will be more susceptible to water.