Sea battle at Cape Bon (255 BC)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Battle of Cape Bon
Part of: First Punic War
First Punic War 264 BC.png
date 255 BC Chr.
place Off the north coast of Africa
output Decisive victory for Rome
Parties to the conflict

Roman Republic

Carthage

Troop strength
about 370 ships about 200 ships
losses

insignificant

114 ships captured and 16 sunk

On the way back, 300 of the 370 ships with around 100,000 men went down in a storm

The sea ​​battle at Cape Bon was a skirmish between the Romans and the Carthaginians on the North African coast in 255 BC. Chr. The battle ended in victory for the Roman fleet.

prehistory

After the victory of the Roman troops in the Battle of Cape Ecnomus (256 BC), the way to a landing in North Africa with an attack on Carthage itself was open to them. After initial success, however, they suffered a heavy defeat in the Battle of Tunes . The Senate then sent 370 triremes and dians to North Africa to block the Carthaginian ports there and to embark the survivors and thus save them from Carthaginian captivity. The fleet gathered off Sardinia and then sailed to North Africa as a single unit. Shortly before the coast they were confronted by a Carthaginian fleet of around 200 ships.

course

The Carthaginians hoped to beat the Roman fleet with the surprise effect, but the wind subsided soon after the start of the battle. This gave the more maneuverable rowing ships of the Roman Navy an advantage. The Corvus , which had recently been introduced to the naval forces, ensured that there were numerous close combat and that more ships were boarded than sunk. Eventually the rest of the Carthaginian fleet withdrew.

consequences

After the battle, the remains of the Roman land army could be embarked. The association then made its way back to Italy.

On the way back, the association got into a severe storm near Kamarina on the south coast of Sicily . It is said that almost 300 of the approximately 370 ships with a crew of around 100,000 perished, making it not only the greatest known shipping disaster of antiquity , but also of maritime history in general. The reasons for the rapid sinking of the ships were probably the heavy Corvus and the too large crew (with the soldiers of the Battle of Tunes).

The Romans managed to compensate for the loss of the ships in just three months. They built 220 new galleys and continued the conquest of Sicily. On the return voyage, however, another 150 ships were lost in a storm and the Senate decided not to undertake any major sea ventures and to limit the fleet to 66 ships.

literature

  • Helmut Pemsel: Seeherrschaft - A maritime world history from the beginnings to 1850. Vol. 1, Bernard & Graefe Verlag, Koblenz 1996, ISBN 3-89350-711-6 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Helmut Pemsel: Seeherrschaft - A maritime world history from the beginnings to 1850. Vol. 1, Koblenz 1996, p. 50
  2. ^ A b Franz von Kausler, From the Origin of the Nations to the Conspiracy of Catiline , Stettinsche Buchhandlung, Stettin 1825, p.597
  3. ↑ Manfred Beike: Fleets and naval wars of antiquity. Berlin (East) 1987, p. 119