My question regards on the reason why for instance during the first Punic War Roman fleet managed to loose more than half of their fleet to a storm, for instance the show of force in southren sciliy 255 BC, or even later near cape Pilanurus? Anyway it boggles my mind how in relative proximity of landmass upon a sight of a storm ships aren't beached and such losses can occure? How?
The common explanation given for the destruction of the Roman navy is inextricably linked to the reason for its success, the use of the Corvus.
Prior to the Punic wars, Rome had a relatively small navy, focusing primarily on land based forces as Rome had only recently subdued Magna Graecia in the south of the Italic peninsula. The conquest of this territory placed the two largest powers of the region (Carthage and Rome) together, separated only by the Strait of Messina. Carthage was primarily a naval based force though with significant land based capacity while Rome remained a dominant land based force with a much smaller navy and a lack of naval design and tactics understanding (the design used by the Romans was a copy of an abandoned quinquereme.)
The Roman navy was faced with a significant disadvantage in maritime warfare when faced with the highly experienced Carthaginian navy, however, the Roman navy devised the Corvus as a means to utilize their superiority in ground forces. The Corvus (Corvus mean crow) itself was a thin bridge fitted to a pivot on the bow of the ship which, when lowered, drove a spike (for which it was named) into the timbers of the enemy ship, preventing its escape and allowing Roman troops to board the vessel extremely easily. As the main means of naval combat was to ram the opposing vessels, the Corvus took advantage of the close proximity and allowed the use of marines to capture enemy vessels. In effect the Roman navy served as a transport system to turn naval battles into land battles.
The primary issue with the Corvus was the added weight and its location on the ship. Because Roman war vessels were designed as copies from a beached vessel, the added weight of the Corvus made the ship unbalanced and top heavy, making the ship roll far more easily. If a fleet were to be caught at sea by a storm, the ships would be extremely susceptible to rolling and sinking causing massive casualties from the ships susceptibilities. Add in somewhat inexperienced naval manpower and storms become a major source of Roman losses during the First Punic War.
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