Agrippa's harpax and disable-then-board tactics

Agrippa's answer to the height and protection of the heavy galleys was the harpax, a grappling iron launched by artillery. His crews had already developed experience with it against Sextus Pompey during the Sicilian Revolt. Bronze-plated bows and squared timbers made conventional ramming attacks less attractive against ships prepared for the same form of combat. Rather than trying to sink the largest ships head-on, lighter vessels could damage their oars, rob them of movement, attach grapples, and overwhelm each isolated hull in turn.