260 BC · Off Mylae, northern Sicily Theater
260 BC
Rome, a land power with almost no naval tradition, built a fleet of 120 warships from scratch in just 60 days, reportedly copying the design of a Carthaginian quinquereme that had run aground. Rome's tactical innovation was the 'corvus' — a spiked boarding bridge that could be dropped onto an enemy ship to allow legionaries to fight a land battle at sea. At Mylae, the corvus transformed the engagement from a naval contest into an infantry melee. Rome sank or captured 50 Carthaginian ships. Duilius erected a column of captured ships' prows in the Forum — the Columna Rostrata — still partially preserved in Rome.
Commanders