Brief introduction of Roman naval battle

Maritime military superiority may be the key factor for the success of any land campaign. The Romans knew that a powerful naval fleet could transport troops and equipment to the most needed places in the shortest time. Naval vessels can also supply troubled ports attacked by the enemy, thus blocking ports under the control of the enemy. A strong navy is also essential to deal with pirates, who cause serious damage to commercial maritime carriers and sometimes even block ports. Naval operations have their unique dangers, however, the worst weather is the biggest threat to success, which is why naval activities are largely limited to April and 1 1 month.

Ships and weapons

Ancient naval vessels were made of wood, waterproof with asphalt and paint, and propelled by sails and paddles. Ships with multi-level rowers, such as trimarans, are fast and flexible enough to attack enemy ships through collisions. The largest ship is quinqueremes, with three rows of paddles, two paddles in each row, two paddles above and one paddle below (about 300 paddles in total). Generally speaking, a platform can also be installed to easily attack enemy ships through the navy-this equipment is called crow. Most warships are built for speed. They are light and narrow, with no storage space or even a large number of troops. The use of troop carriers and maritime supply ships can better achieve this logistics goal.

In addition to the bronze-clad siege hammer below the bow waterline, other weapons include artillery shells, which can be installed on ships to provide deadly volley from unexpected and unprotected flanks of other ships or enemy land positions. You can also fire a fireball (a can of burning asphalt) at an enemy ship and destroy it with fire instead of impact.

personnel department

The fleet began to be commanded by praefectus appointed by the emperor. This position requires people with superb skills and leadership skills to successfully mobilize a sometimes cumbersome fleet. A captain holds the rank of centurion or the title of three-headed knight. The fleet is stationed in solid ports, such as Portus Julius in Campania, which includes artificial ports and lagoons connected by tunnels. Crew members of Roman warships can be trained in such ports, but in fact, they are more than Sailor Soldier, because they are expected to be lightly armed ground troops when necessary. In fact, they are often called miles (soldiers) of documents and funeral monuments, and they also received the same paid infantry additives and carried out similar themes of Roman military laws. Crew members are usually recruited locally, from the poor class (proletariat), but may also include new recruits from allies, prisoners of war and slaves. Therefore, training is a vital requirement in order to make the most effective use of collective manpower and maintain discipline in fierce and terrible battles.

The Roman navy swept the pirates of Carthage and Silesia and completely ruled the Mediterranean.

tactics

Roman naval tactics are almost no different from those adopted by early Greeks. Ships are propelled by rowers and sail to transport troops. In naval battles, ships use bronze-wrapped hammers to become siege hammers. In actual combat, the maneuverability of sailboats is limited, so when in close contact with the enemy, rowers push the boats. Sails and rigging are stored on the shore, which reduces the weight, increases the stability of the ship and leaves more space for the Marine Corps. The goal is to locate the gate, make a hole in the enemy ship, and then retreat to let the water enter the affected ship. Or, a well-aimed swing may break the enemy's row of paddles, thus paralyzing them. In order to achieve this damage, the best attack angle is the enemy's flank or rear. So not only the maneuverability under the paddle, but also the speed. This is why as time goes on, there will only be more and more rowers on the boat, not along the length of the boat, which will make the boat unseaworthy, but pile the rowers one by one. Therefore, the third-class rowing of the Greeks evolved from the second-class rowing and eventually evolved into the fifth-class rowing of Rome.

Against Carthage

Rome used the naval vessels of the early Republic of China in the 4th century BC, especially to deal with the threat of pirates in tyrrhenian sea, but it was not until 260 BC that they established their first important navy in just 60 days. In order to deal with the threat from Carthage, a fleet of 100 five-masted ships and 20 three-masted ships was formed. In the typical Roman fashion, the designer copied and improved the occupied Carthage five steps.

Compared with the more experienced Carthaginians, the Romans also realized that their navigation skills were not as good as theirs. To this end, they hired a crow's nest. This is a 1 1 meter-long platform, which can be lowered from the bow to the deck of enemy ships and fixed with a huge metal nail. Roman troops (about 120 people per ship) can then board each other's ships to reduce the work of the enemy crew.

The first joint corvi was hired, and the effect was very good. In 260 BC, Mailai ended the battle on the northern coast of Sicily. The two fleets were evenly matched, each with 130 ships, but the Carthaginians didn't expect the Romans to make a fuss about the naval battle and didn't even arrange the front line. Crow proved to be a devastating and successful attack weapon against chaotic Carthage, although Rome's victory was an unexpected result. Commander and consul Caius Dullis was not only satisfied to see the other side escape from his flagship in a rowboat, but also won a military victory. Because of this, Rome won its first great victory at sea.

Eknomos

In 256 BC, the battle of Eknomos near the southern coast of Sicily was one of the biggest naval battles in ancient times. Even if it is not the biggest naval battle, it means that Mailai is by no means a fluke. Encouraged by the first success, the Romans expanded their fleet, and now they have 330 five-person fleets, with a total of 65,438+040,000 people ready to fight. The Carthaginians set sail with 350 ships and two huge fleets met off the coast of Sicily. The Romans organized themselves into four wedge squadrons. The Carthaginians tried to pull the two Roman squadrons in front of them away from the two squadrons behind them and caught them with a pincer attack. (wwW.Lishixinzhi.Com) However, due to the lack of mobility or the correct communication of intentions, the Carthaginian fleet attacked the transport squadron behind Rome, and the first two Roman squadrons caused serious damage in the Carthaginian center. In close combat, navigation technology has little effect, and everything is in corvii. Victory belongs to Rome again. Carthage lost 100 ships, while Rome lost only 24 ships.

However, the war dragged on because Rome's direct invasion of North Africa proved to be a costly failure. In 2 17 BC, a famous expedition led by Gnaeus Servilius Rufus cleared the Carthaginian attackers in Italian waters. The Romans finally defeated the Carthaginian fleet, but this was mainly because they could replenish the lost ships and personnel more quickly in the real war of attrition. In 249 BC, draper's victory and defeat were intertwined, and disasters also occurred from time to time. For example, 280 ships and 65,438+000,000 people were killed in the storm off the coast of Camarri in the southeast of Sicily, but in the end, Rome prevailed. The war cost Rome 65,438+0,600 ships, but the reward was worth it: the rule of the Mediterranean. This kind of maritime control became useful in the wars in which Rome and Alexandria inherited the kingdom and in Macedonia. For example, from 198 BC to 195 BC, Rome successfully launched many naval attacks on Philip V of Nabis, an ally of Macedonia and a tyrant of Sparta.

Pompeii and pirates

With the decline of Rhode Island, Rhode Island has been supervised in the Mediterranean and Black Sea for hundreds of years to protect its lucrative trade routes, and piracy became common in BC 1 century. More than 65,438+0,000 pirate ships, usually organized by fleets and naval generals along military routes, have now become the scourge of maritime trade. They also strengthened their confidence, acquired three warships, and even attacked Italy itself and ostia, destroying vital food supplies. In 67 BC, Rome once again assembled its fleet. The task of Pompeii the Great was to rid the sea of pirates and pests within three years.

Pompeii had 500 warships, 120000 soldiers and 5000 cavalry. He divided his troops into 13 areas and personally led a squadron to clear Sicily first, then North Africa, Sardinia and Spain. Finally, he sailed to the Silesia family in Asia Minor, where the pirates had their own bases, where they were deliberately incorporated by Pompeii for the final decisive battle. Sea and land air strikes, the victory of Lassime naval battle, Pompeii negotiated the surrender of pirates, and provided free land for peaceful surrenders. The last threat of Rome's complete control of the Mediterranean disappeared.

In the end, the only threat to Rome was Rome itself, and the civil war swept through Italy.

civil war

The only threat to Rome now is Rome itself, so the civil war ravaged Italy. Julius Caesar became the winner, and Pompeii's residual fleet became the backbone of the Roman navy, which played a very good role in the expedition to Britain-the second expedition in 54 BC, involving a fleet of 800 ships. After Caesar's assassination, Pompeii's son, the fleet, was controlled. By 38 BC, Caesar's successor Octavian had to form another fleet to deal with the threat of Sextus. Agrippa ordered Malcus Vipsanius to send 370 ships to attack Sicily and Sextus fleet. Once again, the lack of trained sailors forced commanders to innovate. Agrippa sought brute force in maneuverability and used catapult-propelled grapples on his boat. The device allows the ship to twist at close range to facilitate the marine corps to board the ship. This weapon proved to have a devastating effect in the 600 Nauruokos (Sicily) naval battle in 36 BC, and Essex was defeated.

Ackthen

In 3 1 year BC, one of the most important naval battles in history took place near Aksin on the west coast of Greece. Octavian is still fighting for control of the Roman Empire, and now he is facing marc anthony and his ally, Egyptian Queen Cleopatra. The two sides assembled a fleet and prepared to attack each other. Marc anthony led a fleet of 500 warships and 300 merchant ships against Octavian's army of similar size, although Antony had bigger and less mobile Greek ships. Agrippa was still in command and launched an attack at the beginning of the sailing season, which caught Anthony off guard. Anthony's northern outpost was the target, which led to the transfer, and Octavian landed in his army. In any case, Anthony refused to withdraw from his fortified port in Brisbane Bay. The blockade is agrippa's only option. Maybe Anthony is killing time, waiting for his legions to gather from all over Greece. But Octavian did not get involved in the land war, but dug up his fleet behind a defensive mole 8 kilometers north. As the disease ravaged his troops, his supply line was increasingly threatened by agrippa, so Anthony had no choice but to try to break through on September 2nd. The defector presented his plan to Octavian and helped several generals change their positions.

Agrippa's strategy is to stay at sea and lead Anthony away from the coast. However, this will expose Anthony to the greater mobility of agrippa ships, so he tries to embrace the coast and avoid being surrounded. The wind blew around noon, and Anthony saw the chance to escape, because his fleet was sailing, and agrippa's fleet had already set sail on the shore, which was the standard practice in ancient naval battles. The two fleets met and fought, and in the chaos, Cleopatra's 60 fleets fled the battle. Anthony quickly followed up; He abandoned the flagship, turned to another ship, followed his lover, and let his fleet be defeated by the allied forces of agrippa and Octavian. Soon after, Anthony's army, now leaderless, reached peace through negotiations and surrendered to Octavian. The winner's propaganda unsurprisingly accused Cleopatra and Anthony of cowardice and failure, but the fact that Anthony was at war with agrippa on the voyage showed that he planned to fly rather than fight from the beginning.

Rome fought alone

After the victory of Akron, the new emperor Octavian (now called himself Augustus) set up two fleets of 50 ships-the Lavaine Super Fleet in Lavaine and the Mi Seinert Fleet in Missenum (near Naples), which operated until the 4th century. Later, there were also fleets stationed in Alexandria, Antioch, Rhode Island, Sicily, Libya, Bentu and Britain, one fighting in the Rhine and the other two in Duoduo. These fleets enabled Rome to quickly respond to any military needs of the entire empire and provide supplies for the army in various battles. But in fact, the Roman fleet did not have a real naval battle. Facts have proved that in the next few centuries, Rome only participated in a larger naval battle-the naval battle between Constantine the Great and his opponent Signius in 324 AD-so at least in the ancient Mediterranean, after Aksin, the large-scale naval battle ended.