4) Thus the war began and Rome, being a land power, won land battles during the first few years. Carthage, unlike Rome which had no fleet and knew nothing about naval battles, had ships and was the dominant naval power in the region (Royston, 2011). The Romans understood that to successfully fight that enemy they also needed a fleet, and a fast one. Those few ships that, according to Morey, Rome possessed, could not do much against the naval power of Carthage. Furthermore, the Carthaginian fleet consisted of quinquiremes which were more effective in warfare than triremes. Soon, the Romans built and equipped more than a hundred ships like the one they found wrecked on the Italian coast and trained their soldiers to become sailors. The most important invention was the drawbridge. It allowed the Romans to apply the battle tactics they used on land and which proved effective. That device could be attached to an enemy's ship using hooks (Mark, 2011). With a war fleet thus equipped, Rome became the first