What unit from the Roman Army consisting of centuries enjoyed more prestige than the Roman navy?
Roman navy The Roman navy (Latin: "Classis" , lit. "fleet") comprised the naval forces of the Ancient Roman state. The navy was instrumental in the Roman conquest of the Mediterranean basin, but it never enjoyed the prestige of the Roman legions. Throughout their history, the Romans remained a primarily land-based people and relied partially on their more nautically inclined subjects, such as the Greeks and the Egyptians, to build their ships. Because of that, the navy was never completely embraced by the Roman state, and deemed somewhat "un-Roman".
Navis lusoria A navis lusoria (, plural "naves lusoriae" ) is a type of a small military vessel of the late Roman Empire that served as a troop transport. It was powered by about thirty soldier-oarsmen and an auxiliary sail. Nimble, graceful, and of shallow draft, such a vessel was used on northern rivers close to the "Limes Germanicus", the Germanic border, and thus saw service on the Rhine and the Danube. The Roman historian Ammianus Marcellinus mentioned the "navis lusoria" in his writings, but not much about it could be learned until the discovery of such boats at Mainz, Germany in 1981–82.