Funny enough, when they ACTUALLY fought the Carthaginians at sea, they largely won, because of said massive board. They did lose a fleet in combat at the Battle of Drepana on account of their fleet being unable to stay coordinated against the better-trained and more maneuverable Carthaginian ships and getting eliminated piecemeal by the Carthaginians.
A big part of it is that they didn’t have a fleet at the start of the war. Which means they didn’t have experienced sailors. Which means that several of the fleets were lost either to rough seas, or lost to the Romans sticking big boards on their ships to compensate for their lack of seafighting ability, which unbalanced the ship in rough seas.
Funny enough, when they ACTUALLY fought the Carthaginians at sea, they largely won, because of said massive board. They did lose a fleet in combat at the Battle of Drepana on account of their fleet being unable to stay coordinated against the better-trained and more maneuverable Carthaginian ships and getting eliminated piecemeal by the Carthaginians.
How the fuck did they not learn their lesson? They even state that in engagements it endangered both ships if seas were rough.
Early naval warfare is fucking weird.
“If you fuck with me I’ll kill us all.”