The years preceding the battle were relatively quiet within the First Punic War. Rome lacked a fleet — the ships it had possessed at the beginning of the war had been largely destroyed in the Battle of Drepana and in the storm that followed. However, Carthage took little advantage of this situation. Hostilities between Roman and Carthaginian forces gradually stalled, becoming concentrated in small-scale land operations in Sicily. The Carthaginian general Hamilcar Barca was slow to build on his advantage on the island and, probably as a result, from 242 BC Rome eventually decided to build another fleet and regain naval supremacy.