During the early Principate, a ship's crew, regardless of its size, was organized as a centuria. Using it as a boarding bridge, Roman infantrymen were able to invade an enemy ship, transforming sea combat into a version of land combat, where the Roman legionaries had the upper hand. The Romans therefore employed a novel weapon which changed sea warfare to their advantage - they equipped their ships with the corvus, a long pivoting plank with a beak-like spike on the underside for hooking onto enemy ships, possibly developed earlier by the Syracusans against the Athenians during the Sicilian Expedition of the Peloponnesian War. During the First Punic War, Roman crews remained inferior in naval experience to the Carthaginians and could not hope to match them in naval tactics, which required great fleet maneuverability and tactical experience. The Roman Republic was the first to understand the importance of professional soldiers dedicated to melee combat onboard of ships. The oarsmen of Ancient Greek and Ancient Roman ships had to be capable of fighting the rowers of opposing ships hand-to-hand though hoplites began appearing on Greek ships specifically for the boarding of enemy ships. In the earliest days of naval warfare, there was little distinction between sailors and soldiers on a warship. History Assyrian bireme with visible marines Ancient Greek trireme The Roman corvus The word marine means "navy" in many European languages such as Dutch, French, German, Italian and Norwegian. In French-speaking countries, two terms exist which could be translated as "marine", but do not translate exactly: troupes de marine (marine troops) and fusiliers-marins (marine riflemen) and fuzileiros navais in Portuguese ( lit. The exact term "marine" does not exist in many languages other than English. In most countries, the marines are an integral part of that state's navy. Historically, tasks undertaken by marines have included helping maintain discipline and order aboard the ship (reflecting the pressed nature of the ship's company and the risk of mutiny), the boarding of vessels during combat or capture of prize ships, and providing manpower for raiding ashore in support of the naval objectives. Marines, or naval infantry, are typically a military force trained to operate in littoral zones in support of naval operations. Military organization specialized in amphibious warfare Marines aboard USS Wasp engage HMS Reindeer.
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