Corvus - The Roman Naval Weapon That Destroyed Carthage ♠

How did the inexperienced Roman sailors defeat the Carthaginian fleets? How could a nation that never owned a military fleet stand up and win against the mighty established Carthaginian navy? The answer is the Corvus. The Punic Wars were fought between Romans and Carthaginians. They broke out in the year of 265 BC over a dispute in Mycenae, Sicily. The war started on land but soon turned to the seas. At sea, the Romans had little experience. On the few occasions they had previously felt the need for naval presence, they had usually relied on small squadrons provided by their Latin or Greek allies. In 260 BC, the Roman Senate set out to construct a fleet of 100 Kinkwaremes and 20 Triremes. It is said they used the shipwrecked Carthaginian Kinkwareme as a blueprint for their own. However, this may have been an exaggeration as the Romans had also borrowed Greek Kinkwaremes previously in 264 BC. As novice shipwrights, the Romans built copies that were heavier, slower and less maneuverable than the Carthaginian vessels. Despite the massive build-up, the Roman crews remained inferior in naval experience to the Carthaginians and could not hope to match them in naval tactics which required great maneuverability and experience. Therefore, they employed a novel weapon that transformed sea warfare to their advantage. It was the Corvus. They equipped their ships with this novel weapon, possibly developed earlier by the Syracusans against the Athenians. Polybius describes this Corvus as a bridge 1.2 meters wide and 10.9 meters long with a small parapet on both sides. This engine was probably used in the prow of the ship where a pole and a system of pulleys allowed the bridge to be raised and lowered. There was a heavy spike shaped like a bird's beak on the underside of the device which was designed to pierce and anchor into an enemy ship's deck when the boarding bridge was lowered. This allowed for a firm grip between the vassals and a route for the Roman legionaries to cross onto and capture the enemy ship. Using it as a boarding bridge, the legionaries were able to board an enemy ship transforming sea combat into a version of land combat where the Roman legionaries had the upper hand. Through the use of the Corvus, the fledgling Roman navy under Gaius Dullius being able to capture at least 50 Carthaginian ships. During the course of the war, Rome continued to be victorious at sea. Victories at Succi in 258 BC, Tindaris in 257 BC were followed by the massive battle of Cape Ecnomus of 256 BC where the Roman fleet under the consuls Marcus Aetulius Regulus and Lucius Manlius inflicted a severe defeat on the Carthaginians. This string of successes allowed Rome to push the war further across the sea to Africa and Carthage itself. Despite its advantages, the boarding bridge had a serious drawback since it could not be used in rough seas as the Corvus would endanger the structure of both ships. The added weight on the prow may also have compromised the ship's stability and it has been suggested that this instability led to Rome losing almost two entire fleets during storms in 255 and 249 BC. Those losses may have contributed to Rome abandoning the boarding bridge in ship design over time. However, this has been disputed by J.W. Bonebaker, former professor of naval architecture at Dutch Delft University of Technology who stated that the Corvus would not have a significant effect on the ship's stability. Regardless of the reasons, it appears that Rome was no longer using the Corvus by the end of the First Punic War. As Rome's ship crews became more experienced, Rome's naval tactics also improved, as such the relative utility of using the Corvus as a weapon may have diminished. The device is not mentioned in period sources after the Battle of Ichnomus and apparently, at the Battle of the Agares Islands, battle that decided the First Punic War in 241 BC, the Romans won without the device. In a way, the Corvus was a handicap that allowed the Romans to beat Carthage at sea while learning the ropes of the navy. Well, if you enjoyed this essay on the Corvus, have a great day, stay wonderful and Wolf out!