Etruscan naval strenght.

[Sean Manning]

If by the battle of Alalia, you mean the one off Corsica between the Phocaean refugees and a combined Etruscan and Carthaginian fleet, Herodotus 1.166 just says νῆες "ships" and πλοῖα "(merchant) ships" which had rams to break. The date and place of invention of the trireme is quite controversial, but Lionel Casson argued for the 7th century BCE in Ships and Seamanship in the Ancient World.