Explanation: Carthage was the dominant naval power in the Mediterranean at the time of the First Punic War.
Rome had absolutely no naval combat experience.
So instead of trying to outmaneuver the Carthagineans, they mounted a drawbridge with a spike and just rammed the enemy ships. Then they lowered the drawbridge, holding the ship in place with its spike, and marched their regular soldiers across, who were VERY good at fighting in a tight formation.Are there any records of Carthage’s response? Just sailing further away before you’re spiked seems like the obvious strategy.
Reality is a little less meme-y.
The Corvus is only mentioned twice in the ancient historical records, and Rome won a lot of naval battles without it.
The main factor of Rome’s success was likely their incredible drive to devote all of their resources to building a navy quickly, and a naval doctrine that encouraged quick adjustments of tactics and strategy.Ah. I see.
I feel the need to point out memey doesn’t necessarily mean stupid, though. The all-spears phalanx and Roman all-shields formations were definitely kind of memey, but they dominated their era. In modern combat, cyber warfare is basically cute tricks used en mass. Aircraft carriers turn naval battles into air battles.
Basically, it was a great tool to equalize the field while the Romans gained an understanding of naval combat. IMPROVISE, ADAPT, OVERCOME
It basically worked once and then they found out that it does really poorly when there’s a storm cuz all the ships sank. And seeing as storms are usually more dangerous than the enemy when it comes Naval Warfare that was a problem.
Are there any records of Carthage’s response? Just sailing further away before you’re spiked seems like the obvious strategy.
Pre-steam engine ships turn pretty slowly. There’s not much of an agile dodge to be had while still remaining in maneuvering distance for archery, ramming, or traditional boarding. Shipboard artillery was used, but only sporadically and primarily as a harassing tool rather than dedicated ship-sinking devices (anything heavy enough to sink a ship is also heavy enough to be a bad idea to put on a ship; and generally too inaccurate to hit a moving target on the open seas).
Carthage was essentially in the position of choosing to either fight the Romans with their new spike bridges, or just not fighting them, which is effectively giving up control of the sea whenever a Roman fleet shows up.
Carthage chose to fight, considering, one presumes, that their more experienced marines with their sea legs would be a match for a bunch of landlubbers. Or simply considering that giving up control of the sea was unacceptable.
Hmm. I suppose so, although if the wind wasn’t going inland and their ships were faster, maneuvering downwind and setting the sails to run seems like an option. But then you don’t necessarily know where the Romans are, either… What’s the Roman equivalent of an armchair?
And yeah, it’s also a bit of a meme that Carthage couldn’t fight them up-close during a boarding.
Hmm. I suppose so, although if the wind wasn’t going inland and their ships were faster, maneuvering downwind and setting the sails to run seems like an option.
Winds are notoriously finicky! Before the ‘Age of Sail’, you had to wait for a good wind to make any kind of crossing. Even crossings as short as the English Channel could be held off for months until a fleet had a good wind ready for them! Caesar, famously, ran into wind-related delays in both of his crossings of the Channel to Britannia.
Rigging design in the Age of Sail reduced this by greatly increasing the angle at which the wind could be utilized in the sails, but even then delays for a good wind were not unknown.
What’s the Roman equivalent of an armchair?
A couch, or a curule seat if you’re feeling the authority of an official
I think a “curule general” would just be a general, lol.
“We can sail all around the Mediterranean in our ships and not drown” uh okay we can survive just long enough to destroy you and then have the entire fleet destroyed in a storm and conscript another 10,000 citizens for the glory of Rome 💪💪💪💪💪
Yeah, that’s the second secret to success:
If your entire fleet is annihilated, just build a new one in a year.
Repeat if necessary.
