We have no navy
Punic ship crashes on our shore
copy the ship 200 times
We now have a navy
No need to reinvent the paddle tbh.
Classic Romans, they had no naval warfare experience, but a metric-shit-ton of land warfare experience. So they put a big ol’ ramp with spikes on the end on their boat, and simply boarded the enemy boats. Who needs to be good at naval maneuvers when you can stick your sword into the other fellow.
Carthage: “Dumbass Romans, don’t even have your sea legs, they’d drown in the drink if they tried boarding us LOL”
Romans: “Get me a BIG plank, give it railings, and put a spike on it to smash into the enemy deck so it doesn’t move when we cross”
Carthage: “What the fuck is wrong with you people”
Meanwhile, on a ship slightly further away
“HEY, get a load of this! They managed to get something floating, but they forgot to put a sail on one of the masts!, it’s just got a spike on the end! Haha hahaha!”
ship get closer… And closer… And closer…
“Wait… Why aren’t they holding anything to throw or shoot at us?.. They’re getting into a formation near the ma… Wait that’s not a mast. It has rails… Oh… Oh no…”
Hopefully they wore their brown tunic today…
