Would the corvus work w/ later ships?

The Corvus is a tool for ships which are basically galleys. Once you have ships with more efficient sail plans, the ability of one warship to close with another one and stay linked via the corvus was limited. Once you had cannon, boarding was usually achieved after one ship had been battered so it could not escape. Once the Roman Empire fell apart, the Mediterranean did not see much in the way of organized navies, as using the corvus required "marines" who were armed, armored and trained which means a standing navy. Boarding of course still occurred, but until the Ottomans came around this was mostly a pirate thing in the Mediterranean.

The corvus was part of a "weapons system" which included galleys and trained "marines" to board the enemy vessel and overcome the defenders. All parts of this system had to be in place and trained, as well as the "power system" of the galley whether free sailors or galley slaves.
 
Even the Romans didn't actually use the corvus that much; most of the time they just used grappling hooks. I believe it's speculated that the large corvus unbalanced ships, which is why the Romans lost so many to storms during the First Punic War. Even after the supposed transitioning from ramming to boarding tactics, the sources actually describe a majority of ships being neutralized by ramming, even when the author (for example, Livy) gives credit to the marines for the victory.
 
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