Quote:
Originally Posted by aspqrz
They can take the weight, sure, but can they take the stress of the weapons actually being fired ... now, this is from something in Alistair Maclean's 'The Golden Rendevous' so it may not be entirely correct, but I would expect it's not complete BS ... in that there are comments to the effect that the pirates are mounting something almost equivalent to a 3.7" gun in the Merchie ... and the First Officer thinks/comments that they would be lucky to get off more than a couple of shots before the deck plates buckled, rendering the mount (and the weapon) useless.
Now, this is from memory, and its more than 25 years since I read it last, and don't have a copy at hand any more, but I also STR that there was a comment to the effect that some Merchant Shipping Companies were paid (or subsidised) by HMG to put in reinforced hull sections on their ships so they could take heavier guns in an emergency ... I suspect that's no longer the case, and probably wouldn't have been by TW2K.
However, I would strongly suspect the bit about ruining the deck plating would still be true ... and how many people would know that in advance?
Any Navy/Merchant Navy/Coast Guard types have any inputs here?
Phil
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No one is going to be putting anything larger than a manually powered 20mm on any sailboat and the deck will easily withstand the recoil of a weapon like this (many Navy patrol boats are RIBS...fiberglass inner hulls with rubberized outer "inflation rings" and they mount similar weaponry). Most pirates using the readily available "private sector" sailing fleet are going to be limited to boats in the 35ft to 60ft range as these are the most common. These vessels will have basically unlimited endurance but will only accommodate 6 people comfortably. Small arms will be the predominate weapon type simply based on space and availability. Large pirate groups will probably "flotilla" (form fleets) in multiple boats and maneuver as "squadrons" in battle. The basic catamaran (my first choice) would also have the advantage of a shoal draft, allowing cats to "run into or through" the shallows while deeper draft monohulls would have to go around most shoals. Cats also have more storage space on board the vessel.
Many of the larger "commercial" fishing vessels will suffer the exact same fate as "commercial shipping," ie being grounded for lack of fuel. These vessels could mount smaller AT or larger AA guns but there wouldn't enough fuel to use them. A typical fishing vessel will use about 1 liter per kilometer traveled. That's a conservative estimate too. Any larger vessel in use will probably be used as a "mothership" and send out smaller RIBS or sailboats as an "attack force," in order to both preserve the larger vessel and because most larger vessels lack the speed to run down even a small sailboat.
Antique ships like the Brig Niagra being mentioned above DO NOT MOUNT their armament. The cannon can roll back upon firing and use "stop lines" made of heavy bull rope to arrest their movement. Those ships would be a powerful asset to a government due to their firepower (which is easily resupplied by any chemist) and independence from fossil fuels. These ships are rare, however.