March 10th 241 BC – Battle of Aegates Islands. This was the final naval battle between Carthage and the Roman Empire during the 1st Punic War. The two great powers had been fighting for control of Sicily and Corsica for over twenty years. Carthaginian forces were besieged on Sicily and a fleet was sent from North Africa to resupply them. A Roman fleet intercepted them. Carthage was a naval power while Rome’s strength was its army. However Rome had devised a new tactic, a boarding device called the corvus. Up to that point naval battles consisted of oar-propelled boats ramming and sinking its counterparts. Carthage, with its bigger and more powerful ships, was usually successful. The corvus was a boarding bridge that dropped down from a Roman ship and attached itself to the opposing ship allowing marines and sailors to rush across and engage in hand-to-hand killing.
This Day in History
This Day in History
This Day in History
March 10th 241 BC – Battle of Aegates Islands. This was the final naval battle between Carthage and the Roman Empire during the 1st Punic War. The two great powers had been fighting for control of Sicily and Corsica for over twenty years. Carthaginian forces were besieged on Sicily and a fleet was sent from North Africa to resupply them. A Roman fleet intercepted them. Carthage was a naval power while Rome’s strength was its army. However Rome had devised a new tactic, a boarding device called the corvus. Up to that point naval battles consisted of oar-propelled boats ramming and sinking its counterparts. Carthage, with its bigger and more powerful ships, was usually successful. The corvus was a boarding bridge that dropped down from a Roman ship and attached itself to the opposing ship allowing marines and sailors to rush across and engage in hand-to-hand killing.