So, who actually builds corsairs?

[Timerover51]

Surface raiding's tricky. One can't just threaten with missiles, 'cause places set up point defense systems once that tactic gets popular. One can't fly into range with lasers, 'cause a volley of tac missiles will just ruin your day. Local militia might not be great in a fight, but they'll do well enough from the bunker the community uses for an emergency shelter, community garage, warehouse, and power center - the one folks started using after they got word the pirates were raiding settlements. One has to be crafty, maybe land out of town and come in on an air-raft to rob the payroll that was just delivered at the local bank.

I was thinking more of a 600-800 ton raider setting down at Waikiki in Honolulu, or maybe Hilo or Kona, Hawaii. Then there is Curacao, or St. Thomas, and always San Juan, Puerto Rico. For that matter, the Presidio in San Francisco would be interesting, as would say Laguna Beach, or Santa Barbara. Key West would be a marvelous target. A fast smash and grab raid from Grant Park in Chicago would be quite profitable, given the higher-end stores in the area. Then there is the Art Museum as well. There is a very large shopping complex near me that includes a few electronics store, jewelry stores, a Sam's Club and Walmart, along with a lot of other possible targets. Add a few vehicle dealers selling speeders and air rafts as well as ground cars, advancing technology a bit, and you have a marvelous target, with very limited military response. With an air raft at 600,000 Credits per the Traveller Book, and a Speeder at 1,000,000 Credits, if you can scoop up a few of them, you have made quite a bit of money. I was just at CostCo, and they have a good size pre-fabricated plastic shed that would be great to sell on a world needing shelters. Then there are pharmacies to clear out, along with over-the-counter drugs, which might include antibiotics. The Trade and Commerce chart list pharmaceuticals at 100,000 Credits per dTon.

I am assuming that planets are putting out guidebooks, as well as other groups, to attract visitors, which would be great sources of information for any raiding group. I am working up a ship with a retractable 90mm gun mount forward, another aft, a radar unit and surface t0 air missiles amidships, with some quad .50 mounts fore and aft as well. The grav carriers mount heavy machine guns and probably a fair-size recoilless rifle, and you have some cargo air rafts fitted with open-topped crates to pul the loot in. They run back to the ship, crates are pulled off, and back for some more. A couple of platoons to a company-size party to do the grunt work, while the ship provides overhead cover as needed.

 

[Carlobrand]

I was thinking more of a 600-800 ton raider setting down at Waikiki in Honolulu, or maybe Hilo or Kona, Hawaii. ...

Waikiki's a bit close to the Air Force base for comfort, but if you're in Kona you can pick up some really good coffee.

 

[SpaceBadger]

One has to be crafty, maybe land out of town and come in on an air-raft to rob the payroll that was just delivered at the local bank.

And always bring grenades, even if the Captain says you don't need 'em!

 

[SpaceBadger]

I am working up a ship with a retractable 90mm gun mount forward, another aft, a radar unit and surface t0 air missiles amidships, with some quad .50 mounts fore and aft as well. The grav carriers mount heavy machine guns and probably a fair-size recoilless rifle, and you have some cargo air rafts fitted with open-topped crates to pul the loot in. They run back to the ship, crates are pulled off, and back for some more. A couple of platoons to a company-size party to do the grunt work, while the ship provides overhead cover as needed.

I can see that I am not the only one doing a re-read of Space Viking recently!

 

[Enoki]

An alternative is that you have an organized raiding party consisting of several ships. The first ones to land are the "smash" part of the operation. They're fast, heavily armed, and carry a sizable landing party. Their job is to secure the area that's going to be raided.
The second set that land are heavily armed converted merchant ships. They carry in addition to some raiders, technicians and others who know what to "Grab." They also have large cargo holds to take all of the loot.

They outnumber and out gun any resistance the locals can put up.

These would be the true equivalent of "Space Vikings."

Such a raiding party isn't there just to loot the bank or snatch a payroll. They've come for everything. They haul off all of the ground and grav vehicles worth anything. They loot every store and building in sight. Their time limit, if the locals have the resources, is how long they can hold their ground before the locals have mustered up enough stuff to begin to fight back.

If they can't hit the main world, they might hit an outlying one in the system.

The locals, who know or have experienced such a raid, likely will have spots where they can run and hide, along with ones to stash their valuables to avoid having them taken. It'd be just one of the dangers of living on the edge of civilization...

 

[Condottiere]

Bring along a hellburner; Danegeld is more efficient if the central governing authority pays you off to go away, instead of chicken stealing.

 

[Barrel]

And always bring grenades, even if the Captain says you don't need 'em!

You're just robbin' the place, not occupyin' it.

 

[kilemall]

My understanding is that a lot of the reasoning behind the US coastal defenses was precisely to deter national smash and grab raids on valuable port loot.

 

[Condottiere]

Depends on the capability of the Navy to prevent them.

It's more cost effective to put weapon systems on a mobile platform.

 

[Enoki]

My understanding is that a lot of the reasoning behind the US coastal defenses was precisely to deter national smash and grab raids on valuable port loot.

The 3rd System Endicott forts / coast defenses were designed to take on a major fleet and prevent an enemy nation from being able to take important ports or move inland on major rivers. The guns mounted in coast defense forts were sized to the expected opposition and generally larger than the largest guns they might face. For a major port, that meant 14" and 12" guns at a time when battleships carried 12" guns for the most part. Secondary locations mounted 10" and 8" guns equal to or better than an armored cruiser would carry. Remote controlled mines planted on the bottom of points of entry into these locations were also used. The US Army had a whole branch, the Mine Planter Service, dedicated to positioning and upkeep of these mines. These mines usually had much larger charges than typical sea mines. The M4 ground mine for example had a 3,000 lbs. charge of TNT.

The idea was to give time by heavy coast defenses at critical points for the US fleet to sail and arrive to relieve the forts.

 

[kilemall]

Depends on the capability of the Navy to prevent them.

It's more cost effective to put weapon systems on a mobile platform.

At the time, while expensive apparently the coastal forts were cheaper enough for 'good enough' plus the nation wasn't really bought into deep water navies in the world power sense until Teddy made the sale.

 

[Timerover51]

You left out the 12 inch mortars that would have made if very difficult for ships to fire from an anchored position, as the Royal and French navies discovered when attacking the Dardanelles forts. I have a copy of a 16 mortar pattern on a barge target representing the 1880s version of the HMS Inflexible. It shows nine hits with deck-piercing shells.

The U.S. Army was also working at a 16 inch gun during World War One that outranged anything afloat by a wide margin, and the 14 inch guns fired over-weight 1660 pound armor-piercing projectiles, rather than 1400 or 1500 pound rounds.

The U.S. Navy liked the coast defenses as they meant that the Navy could stay concentrated rather than spread all over the East Coast defending individual ports. The Congress liked it as it showed visible defenses, and also put money into their district with the building of fortifications, as the naval building was quite concentrated.

 

[GypsyComet]

It occurs to me that the *physical* variable identification features like fin shape, etc would have an effect on the legitimate operators of the hull (whether they have a Corsair, a salvager, or an econo-R). Some, both fiercely individualist types and any large companies that run these, might go to some lengths to make themselves stand out as distinct, with enormous fins, or such a distinct Bridge window configuration that the usual variable capabilities of the pirates can't match them.

 

[Selandia]

At the time, while expensive apparently the coastal forts were cheaper enough for 'good enough' plus the nation wasn't really bought into deep water navies in the world power sense until Teddy made the sale.

do not forget operating and maintenance cost.
Manning is also an issue. Costal fortifications are usually (save some base protection) manned by non sailor personnel in a branch of the Land forces (or the Royal Marines).
Manning of ships could use every volunteer or drafted professional mariner.
You do not have to train coast gunners as sailor/watch officer before training them as gunner. Their career advancement do not require to "punch their ticket" in various naval functions and accumulate sea time. They were focussed on a job, that made it easy for reservist to be up to date. Esquimault/Victoria as well as Halifax's defenses in ww1 were almost totally manned by RCA regular and reservist (and not RCN, save overall command).

have fun

Selandia

 

[Enoki]

Again, the history of US coast defenses was often one where the forts were in "caretaker" status. That is, they were either manned by a fraction of what it took to fully staff them or, in many cases by a small number of maintenance staff that simply kept the grass mown and the dust from accumulating. The cannon were put in a preserved state and ammunition stored where it wouldn't go bad.

Not only was this cheap, but realistically any expected war would not come out of the blue, but rather give the country weeks or even months to get these forts into fighting condition.

Even in Traveller terms you'd often have days at a minimum to get prepared for defense against an invading force in a system. Both the transit time from the 100D line to a planet, or in the case of trying to take the whole system, multiple planets, gives you hours to prepare. A gas giant takes the better part of a day at a minimum to approach from arriving from jump.
So, you could employ mostly reservists of a sort to man the defenses. These would be people who are trained on the equipment but only paid for that occasional training or when they're called up to man the defenses. The rest of the time they have a day job. Sort of like a volunteer fire department.

 

[Tiikeri]

Seems like a better idea to build dedicated warships escorting loot freighters, unless the corsair is operating in a desperate situation where any loot is better than no loot.

Compare the value of the loot gained including the target ship if captured or salvaged to the expenses of the corsair, like operating costs, battle damage repair, and paying the crew enough to make risking their lives worth it.

It's possible that the corsair or raiders doing enough business to make it worthwhile will attract a naval presence, motivate targets to build effective air defenses, inspire responses like Q-ships, or even a Swiss-style armed civilian reserve and civil defense program. If a target gets raided enough, it will probably stop producing anything of value.

Choosing the target will of course be vital. The corsair/raider would have to choose a target that is advanced enough to have loot worth taking but not advanced enough to mount an effective defense.

Intelligence preparation of the target would be vital so the raider doesn't have to ask the locals directions to the planetary mint.

Extortion and tribute would probably be a more effective method. The raiders would show up with credible force, and if tribute wasn't paid they would nuke major population centers. That way the locals could have the tribute set out and ready so the raiders wouldn't have to run through space WalMart filling their piratey grocery carts.

 

[Condottiere]

That's been covered in Space Viking, not to mention their real life counterparts with Danegeld.

However, most robust political entities tend to use it as more of a reprieve, while they build up a military response.

 

[kilemall]

That's been covered in Space Viking, not to mention their real life counterparts with Danegeld.

However, most robust political entities tend to use it as more of a reprieve, while they build up a military response.

Perspective matters. Was Sir Francis Drake a pirate or a hero?

 

[Timerover51]

Going back to the original question, I came across the following in a book covering an English whaling voyage in 1806, during the Napoleonic Wars, to Spitzbergen. While built for whaling, the ship was also clearly built for corsair work as well. The gun positions are going to have to be included in the design.

The Resolution, in which I made this voyage, was a stout new ship, of about four hundred tons burden, fitted out as a letter of marque, carrying twelve six-pounders, besides stern-chasers, and well furnished with firelocks, pistols, swords, cutlasses, bayonets, &c.

She also had twice the crew of a normal whaler, and picked up more men in the Shetland Islands. The "letter of marque" definitely would put her in the "corsair" category.

 

[Condottiere]

I heard on the Beeb that Brexit has turned the Dons salty again, stirring up historical resentment regarding Drake, though I suspect that the Italian and Dutch wars drained them more.

The British regard Drake as one of their nautical saints, whose exploits certainly effected the Spaniards on the operational level, and paid his share of capital gains tax to the Crown.