If you fall into the drink in the middle of a large-scale naval battle, you’re probably in a pretty awful position even if you’re a good swimmer with no armor on. Contemporary depictions of naval battles show boarding troops in full armor, and armor was assigned to ship crews (and not just the troops they were transporting), so it’s pretty fair to say that armored boarding marines were a reality at least some of the time.
If you fall into the drink in the middle of a large-scale naval battle, you’re probably in a pretty awful position even if you’re a good swimmer with no armor on. Contemporary depictions of naval battles show boarding troops in full armor, and armor was assigned to ship crews (and not just the troops they were transporting), so it’s pretty fair to say that armored boarding marines were a reality at least some of the time.
TIL the basics of 16th century naval boarding actions:
That’s why it’s so important that boarding troops be specialized marines - landlubbers ain’t got sea legs!