Imperial Roman Naval Forces 31 BC–AD 500

Incredibly, in the 3rd century BC Rome had little or no navy to speak of when she embarked on the first of three titanic struggles with the foremost seafaring power of the day, Carthage. Equally remarkably, the Romans at first copied and then surpassed the better technology of their Carthaginian enemies. The Romans’ admirable capacity for organization, combined with their practical common sense, more than made up for their early deficiencies in naval equipment and tactics, and they destroyed Carthaginian maritime power forever.