on defending their well-fortified towns and cities; these were mostly on the coast and so could be supplied and reinforced without the Romans being able to use their superior army to interfere. The focus of the war shifted to the sea, where the Romans had little experience; on the few occasions they had previously felt the need for a naval presence they relied on small squadrons provided by their allies. In 260 BC Romans set out to construct a fleet using a shipwrecked Carthaginian quinquereme as a blueprint for their own ships. Frustration at the continuing stalemate in the land war on Sicily, combined with naval victories at Mylae (260 BC) and Sulci (258 BC), led the Romans to develop a plan to invade the Carthaginian heartland in North Africa and threaten their capital (close to what is now Tunis). Both sides were determined to establish naval supremacy and invested large amounts of money and manpower in maintaining and increasing the size of their navies. It was the long-standing Roman procedure to appoint two men each year, known as consuls, to each lead an army. The Roman fleet of 330 warships plus an unknown number of transports sailed from Ostia, the port of Rome, in early 256 BC, jointly commanded by both consuls for the year, Marcus Atilius Regulus and Lucius Manlius Vulso Longus. They embarked approximately 26,000 legionaries from the Roman forces on Sicily. The Carthaginians were aware of the Romans' intentions and mustered all available warships, 350, under Hanno and Hamilcar, off the south coast of Sicily to intercept them. With a combined total of about 680 warships carrying as many as 290,000 crew and marines, the battle was possibly the largest naval battle in history by the number of combatants involved. When they met at the Battle of Cape Ecnomus, the Carthaginians took the initiative, hoping their superior ship-handling skills would be decisive. After a prolonged and confused day of fighting the Carthaginians were defeated, losing 30 ships sunk and 64 captured to Roman losses of 24 ships sunk. Prelude As a result of the battle, the Roman army, commanded by Regulus and Longus, landed in Africa near Aspis (modern Kelibia) on the Cape Bon Peninsula and began ravaging the Carthaginian countryside for supplies to feed their 90,000 rowers and crew, and 26,000 legionaries. They captured 20,000 slaves, vast herds of cattle and, after a brief siege,