Ancient Rome

====Roman navy====
[[File:D473-birème romaine-Liv2-ch10.png|thumb|A Roman naval [[bireme]] depicted in a relief from the [[Temple of Fortuna Primigenia]] in [[Praeneste]] ([[Palestrina|Palastrina]]),

<ref>{{Cite book |first=D.B. |last=Saddington |editor-first=Paul |editor-last=Erdkamp |date=2011 |orig-date=2007 |title=A Companion to the Roman Army |chapter=Classes: the Evolution of the Roman Imperial Fleets |pages=201–217 (Plate 12.2 on p. 204) |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |isbn=978-1405121538}}</ref>

 which was built {{Circa|120 BC}};<ref>Coarelli, Filippo (1987), ''I Santuari del Lazio in età repubblicana''. NIS, Rome, pp. 35–84.</ref> exhibited in the Pius-Clementine Museum ([[Museo Pio-Clementino]]) in the [[Vatican Museums]].]]

Less is known about the [[Roman navy]] than the Roman army. Prior to the middle of the 3rd century BC, officials known as ''duumviri navales'' commanded a fleet of twenty ships used mainly to control piracy. This fleet was given up in 278&nbsp;AD and replaced by allied forces. The [[Punic Wars|First Punic War]] required that Rome build large fleets, and it did so largely with the assistance of and financing from allies. This reliance on allies continued to the end of the Roman Republic. The [[quinquereme]] was the main warship on both sides of the Punic Wars and remained the mainstay of Roman naval forces until replaced by the time of Caesar Augustus by lighter and more manoeuvrable vessels.<ref name="Potter pp. 76-78">This paragraph is based upon Potter, pp. 76–78.</ref>

As compared with a [[trireme]], the quinquereme permitted the use of a mix of experienced and inexperienced crewmen (an advantage for a primarily land-based power), and its lesser manoeuvrability permitted the Romans to adopt and perfect [[Corvus (weapon)|boarding tactics]] using a troop of about 40 marines in lieu of the [[Naval tactics in the Age of Galleys|ram]]. Ships were commanded by a ''[[navarch]]'', a rank equal to a centurion, who was usually not a citizen. Potter suggests that because the fleet was dominated by non-Romans, the navy was considered non-Roman and allowed to atrophy in times of peace.<ref name="Potter pp. 76-78"/>

Information suggests that by the time of the late Empire (350&nbsp;AD), the Roman navy comprised several fleets including warships and merchant vessels for transportation and supply. Warships were oared sailing galleys with three to five banks of oarsmen. Fleet bases included such ports as Ravenna, Arles, Aquilea, Misenum and the mouth of the Somme River in the West and Alexandria and Rhodes in the East. Flotillas of small river craft (''classes'') were part of the ''limitanei'' (border troops) during this period, based at fortified river harbours along the Rhine and the Danube. That prominent generals commanded both armies and fleets suggests that naval forces were treated as auxiliaries to the army and not as an independent service. The details of command structure and fleet strengths during this period are not well known, although fleets were commanded by prefects.{{Sfn|Elton|1996|pages=99–101}}