Sea Eagles of Empire: The Classis Britannica and the Battles for Britain by Simon Elliott & Andrew Lambert

Author:Simon Elliott & Andrew Lambert [Elliott, Simon & Lambert, Andrew]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: history, Ancient, Rome, Military, General
ISBN: 9780750969314
Google: yoITDQAAQBAJ
Publisher: The History Press
Published: 2016-08-03T00:14:45.534523+00:00

Given the size of the operation, it is unlikely that a single location can be identified for the Roman landings. More probably, the ships landed where they could, in the network of harbours, beaches and trading ports on the east and western sides of the Wantsum and troops secured themselves, by units, over a wide area.

Wherever the specific landing places were in north-eastern Kent for this invasion, the locale for the event was later commemorated by the building in the reign of Domitian of the monumental arch at Richborough detailed in Chapter 1 that stood from the late first century through to the late third century, latterly being used as a signal station (Strong, 1968, 72).

It is useful at this point to reflect on the military roles that were fulfilled by the new fleet during the initial phases of the Claudian invasion. In the first instance, control of the blue water environment in the oceanic zone of the North Sea and off the southern coast of Britain into the Atlantic is a given. Without this control, any sea crossing on this scale would have been unthinkable (a recurring theme throughout British history of course). As none of our primary sources speak of any native British naval presence of any size it seems reasonable to make the assumption this was lacking, and it is therefore also clear the Roman naval forces had complete control of the coastal littoral zone on both sides of the English Channel between which the three invasion waves travelled. Throughout the entire crossing one can also be sure that the war galleys (many by this time bireme liburnae with a few older models of bireme and trireme rather than the larger polyremes of Caesar’s incursions), myoparo and scapha of the fleet fulfilled an intelligence gathering and patrol function while protecting the flanks of the transport waves.

Clearly, however, the principal military role of the fleet would have been that of transporting this huge army and its stores safely across the English Channel and placing it ashore in Kent. From that point, given the invasion would have taken place in the mid–late summer months, the ships would then have carried out a supply function, transiting to and fro between the east Kent coast and the region around Boulogne (a maritime route that would become one of the busiest in the entire Empire once Britain officially became a province). Finally, the new fleet would have provided a vital communications function to keep the Imperial leadership, military and Roman populace informed as the conquest progressed.

With his forces and provisions building up ashore, but no enemy as yet to engage, Plautius next built an extensive ditch and bank fortification to protect his principal beachhead in Kent at Richborough, this clearly identifying the location as the hub of the various regional invasion sites. Still visible in places today, more than 640m of the defences have been excavated, with the overall site likely to have been rectangular in outline and enclosing a massive 57ha.

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