Technological Advances Have Revolutionized Naval Warfare Time
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quick end. However, Carthage, (Liparae) Islands. Scipio sailed to though defeated on land, was still Lipara and anchored offshore, Technological advances have supreme at sea. The Punic navy while negotiating the surrender. revolutionized naval warfare time kept coastal Sicily in its grasp, and again in modern history. and even raided Italy on a regular The Carthaginian admiral Cannons, steam power, ironclads, basis. Rome could never conquer Hannibal, son of Gisgo, was at submarines, powered flight, Sicily under these circumstances. Panormus when he received word sonar, radar ... the list goes on. The Roman Senate decided in 260 of Scipio's activity. He dispatched Generally, in the ancient world, that the time had come to build a Boodes, a Carthaginian senator naval technology evolved very fleet. and naval captain, with a slowly. The trireme emerged in squadron of 20 quinqueremes to the sixth century BC and was not Polybius tells a quaint tale of this attack the rash Romans. That he supplanted by the quinquereme first fleet. With no ships of her only sent 20 ships is a measure of until the fourth century BC. Yet, own, Rome used a Carthaginian the low esteem he felt for the new the Raven was a device that quinquereme that had washed Roman navy. Boodes sailed by overturned the naval balance of ashore as a model. Without this night, and appeared at the mouth power in the Western ship, the whole program would of the harbor at dawn. The Roman Mediterranean overnight. have been impossible. One squadron was trapped. The crews hundred copies were built. While abandoned their vessels and fled One of GMT's latest volumes in the construction was ongoing, inland, while Scipio surrendered. the GBOH series, WAR GALLEY, new crews of rowers were trained It was an inauspicious start for includes three First Punic War on specially-built benches on the new Roman navy, to be sure. battles, Ecnomus, Drepanum and land. Pliny adds that the whole Scipio, by the way, was named Aegates. Ecnomus was the process took just 60 days. Asina ("she-ass"), perhaps for this greatest victory for the Raven. However, the German historian incident. Before Ecnomus, the Raven was a Hans Delbruck debunked this little-known experiment. The first story as a mere legend. Rome did Hannibal, even with Scipio's battles where it was employed not need a wrecked Punic ship, blunder fresh in his mind, made were bold and risky endeavors. because the quinquereme had his own rash move. Hannibal This is the story of the Raven, and been invented by her ally heard the main Roman fleet was its first use in combat. Here are Syracuse. Rome had plenty of on the move along the Italian two new WAR GALLEY scenarios experienced maritime personnel coast. He decided to scout it out which let you try it out yourself: upon which to draw from the with a squadron of 50 galleys. As Mylae (260 BC) and Tyndaris (257 Greek cities of the Italian coast. Hannibal rounded Cape Vaticano BC). (on the north side of the toe of The First Moves at Sea Italy), he came face to face with Rome Builds a Navy Once the fleet was outfitted, the main Roman fleet in battle Rome entered the First Punic War Consul Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio array. The Romans had over 100 practically without a navy, only a (and you thought only the ships, including 83 quinqueremes small squadron of 20 triremes. Carthaginians used the same and 20 triremes. Hannibal's fleet Carthage on the other hand, had a names over and over for their was shattered, with many ships fleet of 200 first-line generals) was placed in sunk or captured. Hannibal quinqueremes plying the seas. At command. Scipio sailed to escaped with only a handful of first, Rome was able to campaign Messana with an advance guard ships. successfully in Sicily without a of 17 ships, ordering the navy. Rome won a great land remainder to join him when The Raven at Mylae victory with four legions at ready. While at Messana, Scipio When the Roman navy arrived at Agrigentum in 262 BC, and learned there was an opportunity Messana, the other Roman consul, expected to bring the war to a to seize Lipara, in the Aeolian Gaius Duilius was recalled from command of the army in Sicily to Punic captains first spied the Paterculus arrived with another take to the sea. The Roman Ravens, they were perplexed. Yet, Roman fleet and shattered captains commented that their they chose to ignore the Hannibal's squadron. Hannibal ships and crews were markedly implications of the strange was seized by his own officers inferior to the Carthaginians. structures and pressed forward and crucified, for his repeated However, their legionary marines with a spirited, if disjointed, failures. Carthage sent out yet were both more numerous and far attack. When the Ravens swung another fleet, under Hanno (later more capable. Reportedly, some into action, Carthaginian ships at Ecnomus) to chase off unknown engineer came up with were pinned, and the marines Sulpicius. Once the Carthaginian the idea of a movable boarding swarmed over the ramps. Again raids on Italy had ceased, Rome ramp, and the Raven, or corvus, and again, the lightly-armed, appears to have lost interest in was born. Polybius described the outnumbered Carthaginian Sardinia. A major Roman force Raven in detail. First, a 24'10" marines were slaughtered. The would not return to Sardinia until pole was erected at the bow. At Romans captured 30 galleys in the a full two decades had passed and the top of the pole was a pulley, initial assault. Hannibal's flagship the First Punic War had ended. and at the bottom a movable was even captured, though the gangway 36 feet long and four admiral made a daring escape in a The Roman consul for 257 feet wide. The ramp had an pinnace to continue the fight. charged with command of the oblong slot so that it could be raised fleet was Gaius Atilius Regulus by a rope through the (the man depicted in Ecnomus in pulley. A spike was fixed to the WAR GALLEY and in Bagradas in end of the gangway (having the SPQR). His first action was a appearance of a raven's beak, chance encounter off Tyndaris hence the name "corvus"). The (about 15 miles west of Mylae). Raven could pivot on the pole, His fleet was anchored when the and then be dropped in Punic fleet suddenly appeared in whichever direction an enemy view. Neither fleet expected an approached. The spike would action at this time or place. The drive into the enemy's deck and size of Regulus' fleet is estimated hold the ship fast while the at 150 galleys. His flagship may marines swarmed over the The Carthaginians pulled back to have been King Pyrrhus' gangway to board and capture reassess the situation. When they heptares, captured at Mylae from their prey. attacked once more, it was in a Hannibal. The Carthaginian very circumspect and cautious admiral was Hamilcar, who had Duilius had the Ravens installed manner. Their ships maneuvered won a rare victory on land over a on all his quinqueremes. The agilely, seeking to ram the Roman Roman force at Himera in 259 and crews and marines hastily trained quinqueremes broadside or would later command at in its use. He learned the Punic astern. They relied on their speed Ecnomus. His fleet is believed to fleet was near Mylae, 25 miles to and circled their prey. The Ravens have been about the same size as the west. He led the new Roman were swung to either side, and the Roman one. fleet towards its first general continued to pin the enemy ships. action. This time Hannibal had Twenty more Carthaginian Regulus saw that the 130 galleys; probably less than a galleys were captured before Carthaginians were in loose order, hundred were quinqueremes, the Hannibal accepted defeat and fled under sail and unprepared for remainder smaller galleys. His the scene. Roman losses are not action. Accordingly he set off with flagship was a heptares, captured recorded, but were apparently an advance guard of ten galleys to earlier from King Pyrrhus light. Three centuries of naval strike the first blow. This himself. The Roman fleet was tradition had been overthrown in squadron was reportedly about 100 quinqueremes and 20 a day. composed of "fast ships" with triremes, as Scipio's losses were crack crews, undoubtedly without made up with the ships captured The Battle of Tyndaris Ravens. Hamilcar quickly got part off Cape Vaticano. Rome took advantage of her new of his fleet in hand and converged sea power to seize a number of on the small Roman squadron Hannibal, Boodes and their Sicilian ports that had long defied with overwhelming numbers. The captains were delighted that the her army. The Roman navy was Carthaginians were in the best Romans had come out on the also sent to Sardinia in 259 BC possible position-with plenty of water. They believed an easy under Consul Lucius Cornelius room to maneuver. They circled victory was in their grasp, and Scipio. He ravaged the coasts of the small Roman squadron. When rowed towards the Roman fleet Sardinia and Corsica until the opportunity to ram arose, without bothering to deploy in Hannibal, son of Gisgo, arrived Hamilcar's ships would dart in good order. The Romans with a new fleet. In 258 BC, and dispatch a Roman galley. In advanced to meet them. When the Consul Gaius Sulpicius short order, nine Roman galleys were holed and sunk, and rendered their quinqueremes top The Roman fleet is deployed as Regulus' flagship only barely heavy and unwieldy, contributing follows: survived through constant greatly to the losses in the storms.