Project on Roman Ships and Ship building

[rbis4rbb]

Any books? Does anyone know any good, practical info? (inspired by the shipbuilding thread)

 

[jonatas]

well, during the Punic wars with Carthage, i think Rome copied the hull of a shipwrecked Carthagian ship to build their own fleet.... i was under the impression that they didn't have much of a fleet, until they had to build one to fight Carthage..... that's about all i know, and i don't know how accurate it is, maybe it's just a legend

 

[pawpaw]

well, during the Punic wars with Carthage, i think Rome copied the hull of a shipwrecked Carthagian ship to build their own fleet.... i was under the impression that they didn't have much of a fleet, until they had to build one to fight Carthage

My understanding too, they broke it down to the smallest part, then set up an assembly line with each line building 1 part, then mass assembling then. roman crews practiced on the beach while the ships were built. They used the corvus ( raven in latin ) in battle, a 35 foot bridge with a spike on it that was lowered from the bow onto another ship. It allowed the roman to basicly turn a sea fight into an infantry fight. In 260bc at Mylae the roman won the first of several naval battles with carthage with the new fleet. However the corvus made the ships top heavy and they lost more ships to storms than to battle and after 254bc it was abandoned ( the romans much more experienced at sea warfare now could live without it )

 

[rbis4rbb]

My understanding too, they broke it down to the smallest part, then set up an assembly line with each line building 1 part, then mass assembling then. roman crews practiced on the beach while the ships were built. They used the corvus ( raven in latin ) in battle, a 35 foot bridge with a spike on it that was lowered from the bow onto another ship. It allowed the roman to basicly turn a sea fight into an infantry fight. In 260bc at Mylae the roman won the first of several naval battles with carthage with the new fleet. However the corvus made the ships top heavy and they lost more ships to storms than to battle and after 254bc it was abandoned ( the romans much more experienced at sea warfare now could live without it )

Interesting. I knew of the assmbly line, but not the details.

 

[rbis4rbb]

Does anyone else have further info?

 

[Japanrocks12]

I'm thinking that since the Romans borrowed heavily from the Greeks, that they also possibly borrowed the trireme. The trireme was a ship with three rows of oarsmen.

 

[Dachs]

Actually, Rome favored the larger quinquereme over the smaller trireme. The quinquereme, with five banks of oars instead of the trireme's three, was also larger and harder to board. In the ancient world, every ship carried marines to repel and act as boarders, up to the ancient Greeks at Artemisium and Salamis and down to even the dromons of Byzantium. Roman ships were mainly built by their Locrian allies on the tip of the Italian "boot", as well as Tarentum and Croton. Triremes were useful when Rome wanted a ship that wasn't costly and could be made quickly.