WesWorld

Pre-conference events included:

-A tour of the city of Trincomalee, with a focus on its military history (such as the battles between the Dutch and India for its control between 1714-1723).

-A tour of the cruiser Hyderabad, based in Trincomalee.

-A bus tour of the surrounding countryside.

The conference itself was to commence with a formal dinner and speech by the Raj, but a torrential downpour (it is that time of the year) caused substantial but thankfully temporary flooding that caused a cancellation. By then the Raj was due to return to the mainland, so the conference kicked off the next afternoon at an alternate venue, with a short speech by the Governor of Ceylon.

The talks then began (and I invite y'all to post "presentations" or comments in whatever order you like. This includes non-players who'd like to play independent academics for the day...)

[And a shout-out to Ithekro for the repeated prods to get this going...]

From the "Historical Operations Forum":

How Piracy shaped India and Indian Seapower.
Commander Prakash Chatterjee, Bharatiya Nau Sena

In 1695, India was in a precarious state. Only nine years earlier, Akbar II had slain his own father Aurangajeb on the battlefield at Hyderabad, halting the disintegration of the Mughal Empire along religious and ethnic lines. Barely six years had elapsed since the Mughals’ greatest rivals, the Marathas, were brought into the Empire through marriage. In that time, virtually all of the energy and time Akbar II had was poured into rebuilding the nation both physically and spiritually. Since, at the time, the Empire consisted solely of territory on the subcontinent itself, it came to be that little attention was paid to the matter of naval defence.

Of course, this had not prevented Indian merchants from taking to the sea. Great sailing ships plied the Indian Ocean, the Andaman Sea, and beyond, carrying a variety of goods such as gold, diamonds, sapphires, teak, and spices. To be sure, there were incidents of piracy here and there, but the pirates themselves were usually small, disorganized groups lacking the ability to challenge and seize the big merchantmen. When the European mariners began arriving off the coast, it was assumed that they would pose no threat to our sovereign shipping either. This was proven to be a very unfortunate assumption.

For in 1695, there arrived at the entrance to the Red Sea a group of English privateers, four of them from the American colonies. These latter had been commissioned by the Governor of New York to prey upon French traders, but found themselves unable to pass up on the other ships transiting this choke point. Two Mughal merchantmen had the misfortunate to be making sail in this area at the time - the Fateh Muhammed and the Gang-i Sawai

Both vessels were armed, of course, and Fateh Muhammed put her guns to good use in her first skirmish. Facing one Thomas Tew and his sloop Amity, her cannonades disembowelled the pirate captain. His crew lost heart, so to speak, and disengaged - yet others vessels from the pirate squadron would later take the ship and loot its cargo of silver.

The Gang-i Sawai was no more fortunate, despite being a most formidable foe with sixty-two guns and over four hundred musketeers aboard. Against her came the Fancy, a man-of-war with forty-six guns, under the command of another famous privateer, Henry Every, then using the alias of “Long Ben” Avery. Every was a lucky man that day, for the two hour battle began with one of Gang-i Sawai’s massive cannons exploding on its first shot, causing terrible damage around it. The knocking down of the great treasure ship’s main mast further hampered its efforts to drive off the Fancy, and the Indian crew, their captain slain, surrendered.

The pirates behaved without dignity or honor. The ship’s entire cargo - huge amounts of gold and silver, a ruby-encrusted saddle being sent to Akbar II himself, countless jewels - all were taken. Worse, the pirates brutalized the ship’s crew and surviving passengers, raping and stealing away the three hundred women aboard., none of whom would ever be seen again. Once tired of these antics, the pirates set the ships adrift with their survivors, who would later make their way to Surat to report.

Akbar was enraged at the news, and while there was some dismay at the economic cost of the attacks, it was the mass abduction that drew his ire. He ordered his Ministers to develop a strategy, and promised revenge against the pirates. The Ministers recommended that a navy be constructed as the instrument of his vengence.

Building the ships would not be a significant issue, as there were shipyards across the empire capable of building them. Building the navy would be more difficult, particularly at the command level. Few of the Mughal captains had any experience in matters beyond fighting their own merchantmen, and none had commanded any multi-ship formation besides a merchant convoy. Who would oversee and direct this new navy that would sweep the seas of the pirate threat?

A Maratha, as it turned out. The Marathas had employed a small fleet of their own - used, ironically, to prey upon the Mughals themselves during Aurangazeb’s reign. While the fleet had been laid up since Akbar’s triumph, some of its men still yearned to return to the seas in military service and answered the call to arms put forth by Akbar’s government. One man, a commander named Tanoji Angre, was placed in charge of the new navy and given considerable leeway to make it functional.

Angre directed that construction focus on sea-going frigates. As his initial strategy would be to convoy merchantmen to their destinations, the frigates would be heavily built ships, slower than their European equivalents, but with thick hulls that would absorb cannonfire and allow the ships to withstand long engagements. In combat, the objective would be to immobilize an opponent - allowing merchantmen to escape the area, and ideally also allowing the more stoutly-built frigate to eventually gain an advantage in manoeuverability, assuming the pirate in turn concentrated on ineffectually trying to hole the frigate’s stout hull.

Through 1697 and 1698, the small Mughal navy came into existence, while pirates such as William Kidd (ironically, once a loyal British officer sent to apprehend the aforementioned Tew before the latter’s fateful encounter with Fateh Muhammed) plundered ships of all nationalities in the Indian Ocean.

In 1699, the Mughals began to organize convoys, using their limited numbers to shepherd merchantmen along the most key routes to the most important ports, such as Basra and Jiddah. The pirates reacted by preying upon other vessels, but, tempted by the vast treasures reported to be in these convoys, a few daring souls eventually chose to test the Mughal navy’s mettle.

The first action we know of took place in August of 1699. The brig Hydra, sailing out of Plymouth under one Richard Gibson, challenged a convoy of seventeen merchantmen bound for Aden under the care of the Mughal frigate Shuravir, under a Maratha named Balaji Viswanath Bhatt. Gibson’s own strategy was in fact to disable the Shuravir and then chase down the merchantmen, so both vessels opened the engagement firing chain-shot at each other’s masts. While Shuravir was eventually dismasted by the pirate vessel’s more experienced gunners, the Hydra’s sails and rigging were shredded, and much time was lost in clearing away the wreckage and making repairs. Rather than finish off the Mughal warship, Gibson sailed after the convoy, eventually catching a lone straggler that provided enough silk to pay for damages to the Hydra. Shuravir, meanwhile, was eventually towed into Goa by a Portuguese merchantman.

This strategy worked, to a point - but the pirates were still active away from the convoy routes, and that meant the Mughal Empire was still losing lives and resources to the scoundrels. Tanoji Angre resolved to build the ships necessary to locate and destroy the pirates in their own bases, wherever they might be. Thus were the first small ships of the line built and a dedicated military transport force acquired, beginning in 1703.

Angre sent out his fleet to establish bases on the isolated archipelagos neighbouring India. His own son Kanhoji set up a base at what is now Diglipur on North Andaman Island, while others such as Balaji Bhatt surveyed forward locations on the Lakshadweep, Maldive, and even the Chagos archipelagoes. Although these were little more than military garrisons, the presence of the Empire, and it use of the islands in the anti-piracy role, would serve as justification both for Ashoka II’s annexation of these islands later in the century, and for their liberation from European control in more recent times.

There was a lull in pirate activity, a testimony to the effectiveness of both Mughal and European patrols, until 1719. At this time, an English offensive in the Bahamas would drive out a number of pirates, such as Christopher Condent and Edward England. These villains returned to the old pirate’s haunt in the Indian Ocean - Madagascar - and set forth plaguing the Indian Ocean. Raids along the Malabar Coast took the Mughals by surprise and cost over a dozen merchantmen.

The consequence of this was, as you well know, the first major power-projection exercise in Mughal and Indian naval history - the great raid against St. Augustine Bay, Madagascar, in 1720. Seven frigates, eight ships-of-the-line, and twenty-two transports sailed from Cochin under the command of Kanhoji Angre, aboard his mighty flagship, the 98 gunned Saahasii. Arriving on the third day of November, the Mughal force attacked the surprised pirate community with a ferocity they had never seen. Thirteen pirate ships were sunk or burned, including the infamous Flying King, Queen Anne’s Revenge, and Victory. Over seven hundred pirates were killed in the siege, which ended with the beleaguered Captain England’s request for parley being met with Kanhoji’s disdainful response: “Jayema sam yudhi sprdhah” - I completely defeat those who dare to fight with me - and the subsequent destruction of England’s Cassandra. Though lone ships would continue to prowl the Indian Ocean, there would never again be the spectre of pirate squadrons crippling trade.

St. Augustine Bay would be the zenith for the first Mughal Navy, which would eventually be annihilated by the Royal Navy in the Great Defeat of the 1820s. But its impact would still be considerable: the Mughals learned to appreciate and use seapower for national security and trade protection; the Navy established the bases that gave territorial claim to many of India’s outlying lands; and it established a tradition that we in the young Bharatiya Nau Sena now strive to meet, with Kanhoji Angre’s words as our motto.


[OOC: Tew and Every's exploits are generally historical, as is the revival of piracy ops out of Madagascar. Kanhoji Angre fought quite ably for the Marathas, and while considered a pirate by the British, was never defeated in battle by them.]

Nice story.

About pirates poland had problems with pirates in the begining of its egsistence
Kaszubs were the people that lived on the baltic coast they were defeted by XIII century but not no sea there country was seazed.
Yugoslavia had some pirates the serbs and people from Monte Negro played on that field in the middle ages.They were defeted on sea by italian city states.
Romania I do not know any thing about it.

I will send representatives from all my countrys.

From the "Modern Operations" Forum

Piracy in the 1930s
Lieutenant Arthur Martinez, Chile

Piracy has been an occupation that has infected humanity for millenia. Since man took to the sea there has always been someone else that will take to the sea to take from another man. Generally thought of as illegal but also sometimes legally used by a nation to send privately owned vessels against their enemies under the name privateer, pirates have existed in some for even unto the present day. However in the days of airplanes, submarines, and super dreadnoughts, the pirates at a disadvantage compared to their age of sail counterparts. How does a pirate operate in the 1930s?

Pirates generally prey on the weak and richest targets they can find with the least amount of defenses. Tramp freighters, colliers, and liners if the pirates have the manpower to hold off all the passangers to seal their riches. However there are a few pirates that attack for other seemingly unknown reasons. The Pirate Harlock is one of these. He's been know to attack freighters full of grains and other foodstuffs. He also attacks ships with military hardware as cargo from time to time as well as oil tankers and sometimes colliers. It is like he is gathering supplies rather than trying to get rich, which is unlike most pirates in history. Getting rich, paying the crew, and living away from the governements of the world was once the hallmark of pirates. Now in the South China Sea, they take people to sell as slaves in Africa, and small ships and boats for resale in far off lands. The weaker and tastier the prize, the more likely a pirate will attack it. Even Harlock is not immune to this as seen when he attacked the seemingly lightly defended Danish Transport Loki. Bad luck combined with an Indian cruiser and a Chilean cruiser marked the end of the Pirate battleship Arcadia as the Loki released her hidden torpedo boats to combat the antient pre-dreadnought. While Harlock and his Deathshadow are still at large, it is unclear if he and his ship can survive in the modern age.

However, the Great War has shown us that piracy can still be a factor inthe world today. Submarines and auxilery cruiser raiders can cause untold amounts of damage to a nations economy. And while most pirates do not have access to submarines, they could fit out a vessel as a raiding cruiser. Such as vessel would be used to trick freighters and warships alike into thinking the ship was just another tramp steamer or other such civilian vessel wondering between ports of call. When the raider finds a worthy target, it would drop its disguise and fire on the poor vessel until it surrendered. Having the ability to take on cargo and people, they could strip the target of everything they want, then sunk the vessel, or simply burn it and leave it to float on the seas until it sinks due to the elements. If the pirates managed to gain a submarine, they could use the raider to supply the submarine in secret and simply terrorize the oceans, having the supporting raider pick up floating cargo and crew later for resale. Inversely, if they managed to gain some kind of large submarine, through means unknown at this time, they could use the submarine to support the raider instead, and thus keep their supply line hidden from the rest of the world.

Airplanes would be the greatest threat to these raiders as show in recent exercises conducted by the Chilean and other navies. However, aircraft can be purchased by civilians. It is possible, though unlikely, that pirates might one day start using aircraft to hunt down prey for their ships or subs, and also keep a lookout for warships from the nations of the world that might be hunting for them. How they would use such aircraft at sea without being spotted or tracked it unclear at this time.

In conclusion, piracy is not dead. It simply uses other means then what it did in the age of sail. The 1930s will show if the pirates will maintain the use of small boats and ships such as they have done in the Caribbean Sea and South China Sea, or go for the more modern approarch by using surface raiders, submarines, and even aircraft to find prizes and evade hunters. And while piracy is a crime, their are still those that are called heros by some, and honorable by their enemies.

Piracy is a Business!

Businesses place themselves in positions advantageous to engaging in their enterprise. Factories are not placed on top of mountains. They are placed near resources, populations and transportation to facilitate manufacturing, employing laborers and getting their goods to market. Restaurants are not placed in the middle of farms where the food is; they are placed along thoroughfares, sidewalks or walkways to access traffic. But they must also be located where food can be transported to them. Similarly the shop keeper places himself not only where is customers are, but where the good they desire can be easily delivered.

Make no mistake, organized criminal activities are businesses. They have a shared goal of legitimate endeavors, making money. But they take it, by reselling stolen goods (more commonly called "fencing"), bribing, smuggling, murder-for-hire or most commonly, stealing. But always for profit. Bank robbers do their business where they do because banks have money.

Piracy is, and always has been, a commercial endeavor. It is not romantic, it is not heroic, it is not an historic exercise of freedom and democracy that the pirates of the age of sail experimented with. It is at the core a for-profit venture. And like any business, it places itself where it will can do engage in its business, in this case, finding its prey. It also needs to be close to its market for the stolen goods, be they cargo or vessels. It also needs to be near an infrastructure that can support whatever vessels the pirate employs.

So how does the modern world change piracy's business climate? Or perhaps more to the point, how can individual nations of the world make those changes, alone or in alliances?

Criminal enterprises by their very nature prefer to do business in the shadows, away from the light of day.

Navies would seem to be the obvious answer, but navies have responsibilities far beyond the protection of innocent passage on the world's waterways. First and foremost, navies exist for the security of their nation. As such, they are an integral part of national defence. While navies can and do screen merchant shipping when engaging in blockade activities, throwing them into law-enforcement weaken's nations' defenses and makes war more possible. And in the chaos of conflict, the pirate can thrive. (A similar point could be made about disaster relief efforts, but I digress.)

Second, navies are built for the purpose of fighting other navies. For most piracy, the navies of the world are far over armed when it comes to dealing with piracy, isolated cases like the Arcadia incident aside. In a treaty limited environment, resources cannot, and will not be wasted via "overkill".

Third, while navies can conduct anti-piracy sweeps and even extended operations, they are not suited to maintaining those for the long term. In short, while their light can shine into the shadows with deadly intensity, it cannot shine there for long.

All this is not to say navies have no roll to play in changing piracy's business environment. As the Arcadia incident show, indeed they do. But it is not a leading role.

What can do the work at hand are national maritime law enforcement agencies, or in the vernacular, coast guard organizations. These organizations should be focused on law enforcement, focused on working within a legal environment, gathering evidence and prosecuting the guilty. Like local law enforcement, they need to be armed and able to use force when necessary.

Maritime surveillance of known pirate operating areas and points where a high level of commerce passes will shine an unwanted light into those pirate places. Therefore, maritime law enforcement needs to be equipped to cover large stretches of sea for long periods of time. The small, armed patrol vessel will be a pillar in these endeavors. Small enough to be built and crewed in significant numbers, they can conduct surveillance for weeks on end. It will certainly be able to take on the lesser pirate vessels, and overhaul those masquerading as merchant ships. The smaller patrol vessel does have some disadvantages, though. It can be outgunned by well equipped pirates, and its area of surveillance is limited to the visible horizon.

The airship would seem a capable platform, able to cover a large area in for long periods of time. But it is limited to it's line-of-sight to the horizon like a surface ship is. The United States' aircraft carrying airships can extend that horizon significantly. But the large airship can have problems with weather, and it needs specialized equipment for recovery and maintenance.

The Piracy Conference's host country possess a vessel in her inventory that would seem very useful in anti-piracy operations. Nanda Devi and her sisters can operate aircraft, extending the ships ability to cover ocean, and are well armed.

As a shipboard tool, the autogyro would seem to offer smaller ships a way of extending their horizon. The potential of the capability of a Nanda Devi in a smaller platform cannot be ignored.

Maritime patrol aircraft, whether land-based, seaplanes or amphibious, can also observe the areas that require patrol.

While none of these assets could have dealt with the Arcadia themselves, they can locate well armed pirates like her, shadow and communicate those findings to their nation's or allied nation's navies. And communication is the key. All the coast guard assets mentioned above MUST be radio equipped, have their radios constantly manned and be in constant communication with their bases. And I should stress again that these assets should not be committed to national defence, but specifically assigned to maritime law enforcement.

While maritime law enforcement addresses the face or piracy, other steps must be taken to address its wallet. Penalties for dealing stolen goods obtained through piracy must be severe. Nations harboring pirates must be subject to retribution, in one form or another. And countries or corporations found to be supporting pirates in any fashion must be punished, severely.

And in closing, I have to say I do not offer these as solutions to the problem of piracy, but as starting points. As their business environment changes, the pirates will react and change as well. Be it their tactics, practices, habits or places of business. It is therefore most important that the nations wanting freedom of the seas expect and be ready for those changes.

Thank you for you time.

Interesting stuff guys.
Nice that Professor Richard Grande, member of the OCWC, also has something to add.
(OCWC = Organization of the Concerned Wesworld Citizen) :-)

All Concerned Citizens of Wesworld should be alarmed at the recent escalation of piracy!!

Incidentally, I'll be flying back to New York after the conference...

I have no prepared write up or speach to contibute, but in response to the Chilean commentary, I have something 'out-of-the-box' to respond with;

Privateers.

A nation's armed forces may be overkill, but a properly motivated and equipped independant organization may be an economic response. (Or it could cause even more problems... Something to be discussed, definately)

Lieutenant Martinez also mentioned the popular image of some of these pirates, fighting against 'establishment' or 'oppressive governments', or whatever their rallying call might be. Properly supervised and maintained privateers may be able to effectively combat, or supplant these public opinions.

Comments are welcomed as much as "essays" are, and it's not like we have to wrap this one up real quick.

If you'd like a topic, look up the Fenians and see if that might fit the theme.

Captain Marius Atar, RNA (Regius Navales Atlantes)

Atlantis has at one time had to deal with the scurge known as piracy.

With Atlantean expansion in West Africa Barbery pirate activity began to wane somewhat on the Atlantic coast but did not prevent the 1st Barbery war. It wasn't untill the capture of Safi in 1807 that Morocco refrained from backing its allies. After the 1st Barbery war the situation in the mediterranean worsened as the United states, then the only significant power in the region turned its attention to France and Britain who by 1812 were engaged in war. The United States was often forced to pay ransom for prisoners.

The expulsion of American vessels from the Mediterranean during the War of 1812 by the British navy further emboldened the pirate nations. The Dey of Algiers expelled the US consul general Tobias Lear and declared war on the United States for failing to pay its required tribute. Since there were no American vessels in the region at this time, the challenge went unanswered.

The Americans were not alone in reguards to this predicament, civil unrest in former Moroccan territory and political issues in Atlantis prevented Atlantean action which gave the Barbery pirates the conditions they needed to thrive in the Western Med. Three ships was all Atlantis could muster to deal with the pirates with few noteable successes.

It wasn't untill several years after the conclusion of the war of 1812 that the situation changed. Atlantis had for the most part overcome difficulty's in Moroccan territory and began to once again tackle the Pirates. An Atlantean squadron of 11 ships joined the 3 already operating in the region. America with the end of war between France and Britain could now turn its attention to the pirate nusance and deployed a sqadron of ships under the command Commodores Stephen Decatur, Jr. and William Bainbridge, both heroes of the first Barbery war.

By this time both the Americans and the Atlanteans had grown accustomed to the pirates tactics in that prisoners would be held for ransom following attacks on Algeirs by the U.S. (and later Atlantis) and on Tunis and Tripoli. The Atlantean Corsairs gained their name in these engagements fighting the pirates with such tenacity that they presumed some of their fellow Corsairs had turned against them. Ultimately an Anglo Dutch bombardment of Algeirs, lasting roughly 9 hours gave the Barbery pirates the notice then needed to sign a series of treatys that not only re-embursed the effected party's of stolen loot but abolished the practice of enslaving Christians.

Eventually the colonization of west Africa by France and Atlantis along with control of Tripoli being returned to the Ottomans seriously curtailed Pirate activity's.
In short the best way to deal with Pirates is to hit them in their central infrastructure. Pirates, as Prof. Richard Grande has stated, need a central base of operations where they can offload their booty to their prospective clients, repair their ships and recrute more manpower.

As the bombardment of Algeirs displayed, an overwhelming show of force is the best way to remove a significant pirate threat. It forces them to expend large ammounts of resorces to defend their endeavors, resorces not easy to recoup given the nature of their procurment. If the action is successfull the region dominated by pirates can be occupied and restored to one of law and order.

Cabinet chambers, The Hauge.

Prime Minister De Voor : “ Admiral De Jonge, I am most displeased that we have now been twice upstaged by SATSUMA, I expect better from you.”

Subsecretary of Defense Admiral De Jonge : “Excuse me sir, but I’m not sure quite what you are referring to, there was nothing in my morning naval reports indicating anything that could be referred to as upstaging”.

“Piracy! Piracy Admiral, the Filipinos and the Indians are upstaging us on piracy. I want to know why we haven’t been doing more of it!”

“More Piracy? SIR, we do NOT engage in Piracy, as a…”

“Of course not, I mean the international aspects, particularly this Indian conference ! Why hasn’t the Navy been at the forefront of this?”

“Well sir, the navy is not tasked with combating piracy, that is a policing issue which we lend fleet units to support. Combating piracy is the task of he KLK, as part of the constabulary under Minister Waller here. As you recall that is why the naval budget was lowered to provide funds for those new patrol cutters.”

“I see. So, Minster Waller, what have you to say for yourself ?”

--subsecretary for Foreign Affairs Johann Vogel arrives late--

Minister Waller : “With due respect, organizing international conferences would be the job of Minister Vogel here, and not a matter for domestic constabulary. ”

“I see. Minister Vogel ?”

“um, subject sir?”

“…an international conference on piracy?”

“Well sir, it hasn’t been on the list of foreign policy objectives you’ve established, and there have been no requests for such a thing from the navy. Should you so desire, I am sure that we could arrange an international conference on the issue.”

“…The Indians are already proposing such a thing…”

“Really? oh marvelous, that takes the burden off us. Who are we sending?”

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The Netherlands delegation to the Trincomalee Conference will consist of undersecretary for Foreign Affairs Jan De With, the commander of the KLK, Rear-Admiral J.B. de Meester, and Captain Helfrich of the KM.

Question for the Chilean delegation: Does Chile have any theories on where Harlock obtained his vessels, and how he continues to maintain them?

Question for Professor Grande: Looking at the current issues in the South China Sea, and the responses from several nations [see "FINER" news reports], do you have any recommendations for those nations as they attempt to grapple with the piracy problem there?

As an operational area, the South China Sea presents some unique challenges. Geographically, it does not readily lend itself to any kind of ‘sweep’, as a body like the Bay of Bengal or the Persian Gulf do. There are a lot of nations with long coastlines, and numerous inlets, waterways and islands where even rudimentary camouflage will hide a vessel. Plus there are a number of nations in very close proximity, and sovereignty and belligerent acts can become factors in policing the area. In short, it is perfect pirate territory. While there are currently a lot of assets in the region, this massive show of strength will likely cause the pirates to simply lie low until the until the ships return to their national duties. (Again, this illustrates why I feel that navies should back up maritime law enforcement, and not be maritime law enforcement. But again, I digress…)

Without knowing all the details of what is taking place, I would say international cooperation is in order. Nations must coordinate so the pirates have no refuge or safe havens inside territorial waters. I would say France, for example, is clearly taking the correct steps from Indochina, involving a large number of lesser warships and using airpower as well. But France needs the cooperation of its neighbors lest the pirates find refuge somewhere beyond France’s reach. First, the nations bordering the South China Sea should make a careful examination of their own coastlines and offshore possessions to insure no pirates are finding haven within their waters.

Second, the nations deploying to the region should coordinate anti-piracy activities on the open sea. No overlapping of resources, each nation should take a portion of the sea adjacent to the waters it controls. Areas of operation should be very specific, i.e., the Philippines will patrol from their waters west to such-and-such a longitude and north to so-and-so latitude. Other powers deploying to the region like the Americans or Canadians might take some more of the ‘middle’ areas between the powers. Ships like the American light carriers or the Palk Bay and her scout-bombers will be very useful.

Third, each nation should advise its civilian air traffic to fly at a lower altitude for the duration of the crisis and report any suspicious activity they sight at sea. Specific information should be given to these civilian flier to whom and were to report said activities. The same information should be passed on to all merchantmen transiting the area.

Fourth, for ease of dealing with so many national forces, a clearinghouse should be set up for information, say in Manila or Haipong.. All forces will report at designated intervals (not all at the same time) on designated frequencies to the clearinghouse. The clearinghouse will catalog and pass on any action information, or forwarded reports of suspicious activity from third party sources. All forces should monitor their wireless around the clock.

Fifth, I would spread rather loudly and vociferously in the various media that a large number of submarines will be deploying into the South China Sea from said nations, and that they will have permission to fire on any suspicious vessel stopped at sea. (Whether or not any submarines are actually sent or what orders they are given would be up to the individual states. But such a threat should make the pirates very paranoid about their activities at least, or deter them at best. )

Finally, while it might be beyond the duration of the conflict, secretly deploying a Q-ship into the area might prove useful. An MTB operating close aboard a mechantman might have a similar effect of luring the pirate close enough for action.

My thoughts.

Greece use to have a pirate problem but we started using bullets with bacon bits and the problem went away.

What about China's solution to Japanese pirates in the 1500's IIRC - ban coastal shipping. Talk about killing the patient with the cure.

Cheers,

Yugoslavia's representive to the conference Slavko Stimac:

The problem of piracy is to be regarded same as any other criminal act.And there for is to be left to civilians.
Law enforcments are too be given tools to chatch this criminals.
The problems that the law enforcment is having is that the pirates operate outside of there jurisdiction.
Current law prohibit even the moust capeble of police ships to operate out side of there resoected teritorial waters.
That laws are to be change aloving the law enforcment to operate in international waters to fight pirates.
Other problem is that criminals are oportunistic that attack those that cannot fight back. There is a long history of arming civilian shiping, however the current law prohibit it.
In number of countires a civilian person can own a firearm legaly for self defence, why cant a civilian ship have weapons for self defence,as single old field altilery piece will deter all but the most determine pirates.

In short the problem is a legislatic problem.
Thank You for Your time.

Quoted

Privateers.

A nation's armed forces may be overkill, but a properly motivated and equipped independant organization may be an economic response.

As Commodre April suggests, an independent organization might be an economic response.
Certainly a bounty on known pirates would provide economic incentive for non-national entities to go after the pirates. Unfortunately, those non-national entities that are best equipped to go after pirates are other pirates.

While I am sure most of the nations of Wesworld would like to see the pirates at each other's throats, giving legitimacy to these men by making them 'pirate hunters' defacto pardons their previous crimes. It also enable future piracy, for what will these men turn to when the pirate problem is greatly reduced or solved?

Should a 'privateer program' be pursued, the pursuing nations might explore the possibility of passing suitable arms onto legitimate firms that could pursue pirates, but have other interest to sustain them. An example that springs to mind in the United States would be the Pinkerton Detective Agency, which frequently engages in security-for-hire details.

The danger with privateers is the risk of increased international tensions. If, for example, Philippine privateers begin stopping French Indohina or British Dutch shipping or even fishing vessels, chances are nations navies will be drawn in on both sides.

I would suggest that an alternative, especially to heavier armed pirates might be a Letter of Marque to a specific ship or group of ships under a single officer of a nation's navy. Such a ship or squadron would have the supporting infrastructure they require. While this has the same potential as the privateer of raising international tensions, naval professionals should be very aware of the international implications of their actions.

Regards,

The Chilean Government has no firm grasp on how or where the Pirate Captain Harlock operates a light cruiser much less an old battleship up until it was sunk. We suspect maybe some sort of corperate or underworld financing, or perhaps his family is or was independently wealthy. We don't want to sink to the level of accusing foreign governments of supporting this man or any pirates directly without having them be privateers just as was done over a century ago. Give what shell sizes we have uncovered from damage to our vessels and the few freighters we know he has attacked, the Chilean Governement would say Harlock uses metric sized weapons even though the Arcadia had stacked turrets similar to the old American Virginia-class battleship, but not using guns of the correct calible. Both Arcadia and Deathshadow seems to be one of ships that were not built for any naval power. Where they were built and how has remained a mystery to our government. We suspect his raids are for material to keep his ships going or to get parts and materials for a new ship to replace his aging ships.

Someone remind me where Arcadia was sunk? And the feasibility of diving the wreck to investigate it's origins?

I believe the Arcadia was sunk somewhere between the Pitcairn Islands and Easter Island, or at least somewhere in that region east of the Pitcairn Islands. I don't imagine recoverly or even diving operations will be possible until at least the 1950s if not latter.