Particularly from 1080 — 1348

An interesting choice of dates but ok, here goes.

During this time frame there are three principle ship classes in use in the Atlantic (and dozens of smaller types and one-ofs, as always). The first type is the longship and its close relative the Knarr. A knarr is basically a fat longship used to carry trade goods. These ships were quick, low draft and made excellent raiders or landing craft. William the Conqueror used ships of this sort to move his troops across the channel as seen in the Bayeux Tapestry.

Their endurance (this applies to all sailing ships) was directly related to how many supplies they carried instead of troops. A sailing vessel has functionally unlimited endurance as long as it can restock on food and water. In practice longships were good for raiding from Denmark and Scandinavia down into France and England. However, vessels of this type were also used to reach Iceland and Greenland. Assuming unlimited water and stored food the limit is going to be whenever the crew eats their last fresh vegetable + 4-6 weeks before scurvy sets in. Scurvy is a vitamin C deficiency so the only prevention is proper diet. It can take weeks or months to kill you and left untreated is 100% fatal. Treatment is simple, eat something with vitamin C, limes, rats, green veggies, whatever. So frequent stops at islands or ports to get fresh rations can keep it at bay.

The second group can be very loosely termed "roundships" as opposed to longships. This group includes things like hulks, cogs, caravels, and eventually the much larger carracks (naos in Spanish writings) These are mostly smallish < 100ft, sailing vessels with wide hulls. These are the forerunners of the ships from the age of sail most people are familiar with. The Bremen Cog is one of the best preserved examples. Here are some pictures of a model in front of the cogs remains. As warships most of these were replaced by carracks shortly after the period you are interested in.

Roundships are slow. Battles between roundships essentially resemble tiny castles fighting each other at sea. Here is a painting of the battle of Sluys. It was painted somewhat later than the 1340 battle by Loyset Liédet (1420-1479), but you can see how sea battles consisted of closing up with other ships and throwing spears, arrows, and other missiles at them before boarding. This is why many have structures at each end know as fore and aft castles. These are the raised ends of the ship where the bowsprit and steering gear are respectively. Eventually in carracks these would reach preposterous heights only to be cut down later with the addition of cannon (which are to heavy to mount high in a ship). High castles made a round ship hard to assault or throw missiles into and at the same time made it easier to throw missiles down onto lower ships.

The last type of ship in widespread use is also the oldest, the galley. Galleys date from ancient times and were most famously used by the Greeks and Romans. The Olympias is a famous replica galley built in Greece. Galleys as you can see are defined by a long lean shape and heavy banks of oars. Compared to wind power ships of the day they very fast and maneuverable. Refined versions of the galley remained in common use until the battle of Lepanto in 1571 as a primary warship and saw more sporadic use as harbor defense craft for centuries after that. Galleys carry a heavy ram at the bow which is their primary means of attack. When fighting against other galleys or oar powered ships they will also use the ram to shear an enemy's oars and leave him helpless. Lastly galleys carried small crews for boarding actions on their upper decks.

Galleys were mostly a Mediterranean craft because they are ill suited to open water but the Atlantic powers did use some. Galleys have a much shorter endurance than roundships or longships because they have very large crews and very little stowage space. Operating without land support they could only carry supplies for a few days.