Here is the story of one of the great naval battles of the First Punic War. In 256 B.C., Rome sent a huge fleet of 330 galleys and transports to pick up most of its Sicilian army and drop it in North Africa. The fleet sailed along the southern coast of Sicily and picked up the soldiers. It then proceeded in a formation that had the consuls (Marcus Attilius Regulus and Lucius Manlius Vulso) leading the van, a second squadron towing the horse transports, and the third squadron acting as the rearguard. The consuls were not expecting an enemy fleet that could match their numbers. They were wrong. A fleet with an equivalent number was sighted ahead. The Carthaginian admiral had his center squadron feign retreat to draw the Romans out of formation. Meanwhile, his two wings were supposed to double envelope the Roman vanguard. The plan worked only partly as the right wing ended up attacking the Roman reserve and the left wing attacked the galleys towing the transports. Three separate brawls developed.
After luring the Roman van away from the rest of the fleet, the Punic center turned on the disordered Roman chasers. The Punic captains were surprised to find that the Romans were not sitting ducks. And they did not panic. The Roman quinqueremes were able to maneuver to avoid stern-rammings. And the corvi (boarding bridges) worked their magic. The galleys towing the horse transports cut loose the transports and rowed to the nearby shore where they turned to face the Carthaginian left wing. The compact, defensive formation left little openings for Punic ramming and to get near their prey, they made themselves targets for the corvi. However, the Romans were still in a bind as they were trapped against the shore. The third clash was the Carthaginian right wing versus the Roman rearguard. This was more of a melee with both sides having success. At this point, the battle could have gone either way. The dynamics changed when the Roman van was able to chase its foe away and then come to the aid of the other two squadrons. The fact that the two consuls were able to recall their ships instead of chasing a beaten foe was a remarkable act of command and control. Vulso led his galleys to save the ships trapped against the shore and Regulus went to the aid of the rearguard. In both cases, the Carthaginians found themselves sandwiched between Roman forces. The Punic right wing extricated itself and fled, allowing Regulus to join Vulso. This stage was where the Carthaginians suffered most of their losses as the left wing was surrounded and 50 of their ships were surrounded and forced to surrender. When the sea spray cleared, the Carthaginians had lost 30 sunk and 64 captured. The Romans had 24 galleys sunk. It is estimated that the Carthaginians lost 30-40,000 men, mostly from drowning. The Romans lost around 10,000. The Battle of Cape Ecnomus was a body blow to Carthaginian morale as it had built its biggest fleet ever, but once again seamanship and maneuverability had come up short against inferior ships and sailors who had to cheat with a corvus to win. But all’s fair in amare et bellum. The Battle of Cape Ecnomus may be the biggest naval battle in history. (It is believed to have involved 680 ships and 290,000 men. The largest naval battle in the 20th century, the Battle of Leyte Gulf had 367 ships and 200,000 men.) And it was won by a city that was famous for its army.
- from The Scipios in Spain
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