Commerce raiding's something listed in a lot of Traveller scenarios as a wartime activity going on behind enemy lines. I've always pictured this as the equivalent of WWII convoy strikes by submarines - but I'm starting to wonder exactly how accurate that imagery fits the bill. I'm wondering what size task force, what size ships, where would they hit, and what are their limitations would be in a given engagement.
Are we talking massive trade ships only, supply ships only, anything caught without an escort belonging to the state they're warring with, or ignoring small fry and only looking for superfreighters and bulk cargo ships? Hitting civilian ships indiscriminately can function as a punitive action, but with empires like the Consulate, Julain Protectorate or the Solomani Confederation, wouldn't this activity work to prolong a war rather than shorten it?
Does 'commerce raiding' include, for the Imperium at least, Letters of Marque, legitimizing smaller pirate ships to enter enemy territory, or would the Imperial Navy frown on such things because it puts elements of the war outside of their control?
A little more specifically I'm interested in the major players of the 3rd and 5th Frontier Wars, and the Interstellar Wars era. My (still nascent) ideas.
Frontier Wars
Vargr
I'm pretty sure the vargr are pretty much 'shoot, loot and scoot' with any force consisting of less than 10k tons of task force tonnage, (and maybe even up to 150k-200k) if their leader's really into the whole romantic corsair image. Organized Vargr forces probably have a more 'by the book' proceedure for accepting surrender, prisoners, goods, or practice a wholesale 'scorched earth' policy to reduce enemy industrial/commerce effectiveness.
Imperial
I'm picturing small task forces, 1-3 cruiser sized ships working their way deep behind enemy lines, and hitting any jump capable trader they catch within their sights. Some commanders probably give the crew a warning to abandon ship' before its destroyed, though others might, if they're close to the Zhodani border, order a prize crew to board and jump the ship to extra-Imperial space - though I think this is less likely.
Industrial bombardment (if possible - I doubt that many worlds that close to the border wouldn't have a decent planetary picket and or surface defenses) would be limited to spinal mount or HE, non-nuclear, or at least very low nuclear yield bombardment. I think anything more would likely have dire consequences for ever coming to a peace agreement, and reparations demanded of either side would be crippling to either local economy otherwise. In essence, these are 'civilized' and limited wars - they're about taking and holding territory and limiting the other side's ability to wage war without reducing populations of any but the lowest pop worlds.
The whole Letters of Marque thing would be -very- rare, if even allowed by the powers that be, but I'd say the farther back you go in the Marches history, probably the more likely some romantic sector admiral might be willing to issue them to wealthy and capable individuals. After the war, the letters would be revoked and the privateers called home.
Zhodani
Strictly military, no Letters of Marque (the Vargr fill that role anyways), strictly strike, hit everything as hard as you can, retreat as fast as possible. Any target of opportunity will be considered, whether independent trader, Imperial megacorp*, or extra-Imperial merchant. (for ex: Sorry for that Aslan clan trader that got caught at Villis - you just were in the wrong place and the wrong time.)
Darrian
Strictly military strikes, and mostly only against the Sword's Worlds. While a few Darrian might be wealthy enough to own ships capable of committing 'sanctioned piracy', I doubt there are enough of them to provide a pool of willing privateers, and the Darrians might be a bit more cautious, being surrounded by a lot of no-man's land systems, of giving anyone a taste of the pirate's life - they might decide to continue after the wars are over, and smaller states may be easier to prey upon the trade of than larger ones.
Industrial raids, at least against the Swords Worlds would be a priority - their entire capability to wage war is immediately reachable by the Darrian Navy and any hole in Swords Worlds defenses could lead to orbital bombardment of industrial sites. The same would be reversed
Swords Worlds
We all go a-Viking? In some ways I'd see the Swords Worlds as even less predictable/organized than the Vargr. At the rumblings of any war every merchant that isn't arm is quickly loaded with missile turrets, or mothballed until the cessation of hostilities. Every captain with a sense of honor and the desire to bloody the nose of the Imperium will call upon his crew to join in punitive raids against the Impies and the Darrians - at least until a Swords Worlds task force absorbs them into their force as an auxiliary. Some less honorable, or grudge holding Swordies might even raid rival Sword worlds while everyone else is looking the other way. 'Letters of Marque' would likely be issued by individual worlds as opposed to the Confederation allied forces and may include some vagueness about who its legal to attack, for how long, and the conditions under which safe haven may be granted.
The Interstellar Wars
Terrans
During the Second Interstellar war the first commerce raids commenced, with individual Terran war ships engaging and either destroying or capturing small Vilani merchants, crewing their captures with prize crews and sending them back to Earth to be repurposed and/or studied.
Though never officially sanctioned, the Free Traders Foundation filled the function of privateers during the early Interstallar Wars (2130's or 3rd Interstellar war onward), and often got off with little more than fines back in Terran space if they escaped Imperial capture or destruction. A very few remained engaged in acts of piracy during the times of peace between the wars, and while a few were later sanctioned black ops and intelligence ships and forgiven their peace-time activities, others were treated with extreme prejudice by the Terran Navy and either destroyed or captured. In no case, however, were Confederation citizens extradited to Vilani space for trial.
Later wars saw a 'maturing' of strategy as the required number of ships became available to actually carry out blockades, planetary seiges, and commerce raiding and disruption well behind enemy lines. Task forces would be comprised of 3-5 ships perhaps, within the contemporary 'destroyer to light cruiser' range - 1k-5k tonnage each. By this time also, Terran Naval intelligence had begun to track Vilani supply lines and make surgical strikes against general commerce, supply worlds or convoys that would disrupt trade and logistics for parsecs around the target. The use of nuclear weapons against Terran cities during the 3rd War led to Terran diplomatic attempts at nuclear arms control with the Vilani that fell upon deaf ears.
Although the stops were pulled out for use of nuclear weapons against Imperial ground targets, the Terrans kept this practice to a minimum as more Vilani Kimashargur worlds defected toward the Terran side, with the majority of nuclear strikes reserved for strictly military or military industrial production sites.
Imperial
Commerce raiding perse' was less a Vilani policy by the Interstellar Wars than an arrogance of total interdiction, misjudging how thoroughly porous their frontier had become. During times of border interdiction, Terran ships that were caught were ordered to surrender unconditionally, or simply destroyed. During wars where the Vilani were on the offensive, no distinction between military and civilian shipping was made. If they were barbarians, and they didn't take the fleet too far out of the way from its target, it was destroyed. The first five Interstellar Wars weren't even viewed as 'wars' by the Imperium, being too small to even register more than a subsector away from the front.
As free traders made a shambles of millenia old monopolies and trade controls, any Terran merchant came to be seen as guilty until proven innocent, stopped boarded and impounded until everything cleared with local Imperial authorities - or until said authorities had been properly paid off. Over time, arrangements were arrived at and local governments would often order their patrols to stand down or allow certain companies or individual ships to land unmolested.
When naval assets were rotated in, oft times such worlds would be 'reset' and either written off temporarily or a new regimen of bribery and/or 'understandings' would eventually be hammered out. Some of these worlds would remain friendly to Terrans even during the Interstellar Wars if Imperial Naval presence was busy elsewhere or even had bigger fish to fry locally. Some Terran ships would even become falsely registered under the local Bureaux and be recognized as Imperial ships, operating 'legally' inside Vilani space for years.
Thoughts, alterations, comments, addendums?
Are we talking massive trade ships only, supply ships only, anything caught without an escort belonging to the state they're warring with, or ignoring small fry and only looking for superfreighters and bulk cargo ships? Hitting civilian ships indiscriminately can function as a punitive action, but with empires like the Consulate, Julain Protectorate or the Solomani Confederation, wouldn't this activity work to prolong a war rather than shorten it?
Does 'commerce raiding' include, for the Imperium at least, Letters of Marque, legitimizing smaller pirate ships to enter enemy territory, or would the Imperial Navy frown on such things because it puts elements of the war outside of their control?
A little more specifically I'm interested in the major players of the 3rd and 5th Frontier Wars, and the Interstellar Wars era. My (still nascent) ideas.
Frontier Wars
Vargr
I'm pretty sure the vargr are pretty much 'shoot, loot and scoot' with any force consisting of less than 10k tons of task force tonnage, (and maybe even up to 150k-200k) if their leader's really into the whole romantic corsair image. Organized Vargr forces probably have a more 'by the book' proceedure for accepting surrender, prisoners, goods, or practice a wholesale 'scorched earth' policy to reduce enemy industrial/commerce effectiveness.
Imperial
I'm picturing small task forces, 1-3 cruiser sized ships working their way deep behind enemy lines, and hitting any jump capable trader they catch within their sights. Some commanders probably give the crew a warning to abandon ship' before its destroyed, though others might, if they're close to the Zhodani border, order a prize crew to board and jump the ship to extra-Imperial space - though I think this is less likely.
Industrial bombardment (if possible - I doubt that many worlds that close to the border wouldn't have a decent planetary picket and or surface defenses) would be limited to spinal mount or HE, non-nuclear, or at least very low nuclear yield bombardment. I think anything more would likely have dire consequences for ever coming to a peace agreement, and reparations demanded of either side would be crippling to either local economy otherwise. In essence, these are 'civilized' and limited wars - they're about taking and holding territory and limiting the other side's ability to wage war without reducing populations of any but the lowest pop worlds.
The whole Letters of Marque thing would be -very- rare, if even allowed by the powers that be, but I'd say the farther back you go in the Marches history, probably the more likely some romantic sector admiral might be willing to issue them to wealthy and capable individuals. After the war, the letters would be revoked and the privateers called home.
Zhodani
Strictly military, no Letters of Marque (the Vargr fill that role anyways), strictly strike, hit everything as hard as you can, retreat as fast as possible. Any target of opportunity will be considered, whether independent trader, Imperial megacorp*, or extra-Imperial merchant. (for ex: Sorry for that Aslan clan trader that got caught at Villis - you just were in the wrong place and the wrong time.)
Darrian
Strictly military strikes, and mostly only against the Sword's Worlds. While a few Darrian might be wealthy enough to own ships capable of committing 'sanctioned piracy', I doubt there are enough of them to provide a pool of willing privateers, and the Darrians might be a bit more cautious, being surrounded by a lot of no-man's land systems, of giving anyone a taste of the pirate's life - they might decide to continue after the wars are over, and smaller states may be easier to prey upon the trade of than larger ones.
Industrial raids, at least against the Swords Worlds would be a priority - their entire capability to wage war is immediately reachable by the Darrian Navy and any hole in Swords Worlds defenses could lead to orbital bombardment of industrial sites. The same would be reversed
Swords Worlds
We all go a-Viking? In some ways I'd see the Swords Worlds as even less predictable/organized than the Vargr. At the rumblings of any war every merchant that isn't arm is quickly loaded with missile turrets, or mothballed until the cessation of hostilities. Every captain with a sense of honor and the desire to bloody the nose of the Imperium will call upon his crew to join in punitive raids against the Impies and the Darrians - at least until a Swords Worlds task force absorbs them into their force as an auxiliary. Some less honorable, or grudge holding Swordies might even raid rival Sword worlds while everyone else is looking the other way. 'Letters of Marque' would likely be issued by individual worlds as opposed to the Confederation allied forces and may include some vagueness about who its legal to attack, for how long, and the conditions under which safe haven may be granted.
The Interstellar Wars
Terrans
During the Second Interstellar war the first commerce raids commenced, with individual Terran war ships engaging and either destroying or capturing small Vilani merchants, crewing their captures with prize crews and sending them back to Earth to be repurposed and/or studied.
Though never officially sanctioned, the Free Traders Foundation filled the function of privateers during the early Interstallar Wars (2130's or 3rd Interstellar war onward), and often got off with little more than fines back in Terran space if they escaped Imperial capture or destruction. A very few remained engaged in acts of piracy during the times of peace between the wars, and while a few were later sanctioned black ops and intelligence ships and forgiven their peace-time activities, others were treated with extreme prejudice by the Terran Navy and either destroyed or captured. In no case, however, were Confederation citizens extradited to Vilani space for trial.
Later wars saw a 'maturing' of strategy as the required number of ships became available to actually carry out blockades, planetary seiges, and commerce raiding and disruption well behind enemy lines. Task forces would be comprised of 3-5 ships perhaps, within the contemporary 'destroyer to light cruiser' range - 1k-5k tonnage each. By this time also, Terran Naval intelligence had begun to track Vilani supply lines and make surgical strikes against general commerce, supply worlds or convoys that would disrupt trade and logistics for parsecs around the target. The use of nuclear weapons against Terran cities during the 3rd War led to Terran diplomatic attempts at nuclear arms control with the Vilani that fell upon deaf ears.
Although the stops were pulled out for use of nuclear weapons against Imperial ground targets, the Terrans kept this practice to a minimum as more Vilani Kimashargur worlds defected toward the Terran side, with the majority of nuclear strikes reserved for strictly military or military industrial production sites.
Imperial
Commerce raiding perse' was less a Vilani policy by the Interstellar Wars than an arrogance of total interdiction, misjudging how thoroughly porous their frontier had become. During times of border interdiction, Terran ships that were caught were ordered to surrender unconditionally, or simply destroyed. During wars where the Vilani were on the offensive, no distinction between military and civilian shipping was made. If they were barbarians, and they didn't take the fleet too far out of the way from its target, it was destroyed. The first five Interstellar Wars weren't even viewed as 'wars' by the Imperium, being too small to even register more than a subsector away from the front.
As free traders made a shambles of millenia old monopolies and trade controls, any Terran merchant came to be seen as guilty until proven innocent, stopped boarded and impounded until everything cleared with local Imperial authorities - or until said authorities had been properly paid off. Over time, arrangements were arrived at and local governments would often order their patrols to stand down or allow certain companies or individual ships to land unmolested.
When naval assets were rotated in, oft times such worlds would be 'reset' and either written off temporarily or a new regimen of bribery and/or 'understandings' would eventually be hammered out. Some of these worlds would remain friendly to Terrans even during the Interstellar Wars if Imperial Naval presence was busy elsewhere or even had bigger fish to fry locally. Some Terran ships would even become falsely registered under the local Bureaux and be recognized as Imperial ships, operating 'legally' inside Vilani space for years.
Thoughts, alterations, comments, addendums?
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