Below the belt: Novelty, subterfuge, and surprise in naval warfare

The 'dirty tricks' department is not a recent invention. Unconventional warfare was developed into an art by the Greeks, who employed fire-ships some seventeen centuries before their use against the Spanish Armada. The Romans shattered Carthaginian sea power with a simple invention and novel tactics, while the Byzantine navy's supremacy depended on the first secret weapon in history, Greek Fire. Even the use of poisonous gas was proposed as early as the Napoleonic Wars.