The Roman Navy was not started until 311 BC.
At that point, it was simply a small navy of triremes. This small navy was
scrapped a few years later. Rome
really never felt a need for a navy, but because of threatening naval forces during the
Punic Wars, a navy was formed. The larger navy was constructed in 260 BC during the
first Punic War. This fleet was made up of triremes and a few quinqueremes.
This navy soon grew to 330 ships.
Over time, this amount grew to 700, but
because of heavy losses in battle, this number once again dropped. The navy was no
longer being maintained, the only operational ships they had to use were those bound by
treaty from Rhodes and Pergamum.
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