Sky Pirates

[Gryphos]

Pretty self explanatory. I need to brainstorm the logistics of sky pirates' tactics. For context, the airships in my world have a suspended gondola design and are often relatively small. Most military ships are around the size of a sailing boat or yacht and cargo airships are usually slightly bigger (but slower) than those. Airships have horizontal propellors mounted on the rear to drive the ship as well as vertical ones to make the ship rise and fall, though gas can also be injected or removed from the balloon.

So how would a sky pirate go about raiding a cargo airship? My immediate thought was that they would use a long-range sniping cannon to disable their engines, before closing the distance and boarding with grappling hooks. Then they could either lock up the crew, repair the engines and take both ships back to their hideout, or maybe they could just load the cargo onto their own ship and fly off.

Any thoughts on how sky pirates could operate?

 

[Scribble]

I would think about devices that could be used to stall a ship, rather than destroy it. If the ship goes into free-fall, you risk losing the booty. I'll toss out a few ideas, did not consider all the physics, so...

What about a kind of bola/net projectile used to tangle propellers. If one propeller is tangled, the ship would go in circles.

What about some kind of device that disturbs air currents, creates a kind of air-whirlpool? Maybe some kind of sonic blast cannon?

Para-hooks - these barbed javelins are launched at the ship, when the tips pierce the hull they extend parachutes to slow the progress.

 

[Gryphos]

I would think about devices that could be used to stall a ship, rather than destroy it. If the ship goes into free-fall, you risk losing the booty. I'll toss out a few ideas, did not consider all the physics, so...

What about a kind of bola/net projectile used to tangle propellers. If one propeller is tangled, the ship would go in circles.

What about some kind of device that disturbs air currents, creates a kind of air-whirlpool? Maybe some kind of sonic blast cannon?

Para-hooks - these barbed javelins are launched at the ship, when the tips pierce the hull they extend parachutes to slow the progress.

I don't think sonic cannons would work as that's an awful lot of technology for the 19th century aesthetic I'm going for. And para-hooks and nets seem needlessly complicated when they could just snipe out their engines with a precise long-range cannon.

 

[Scribble]

I don't think sonic cannons would work as that's an awful lot of technology for the 19th century aesthetic I'm going for. And para-hooks and nets seem needlessly complicated when they could just snipe out their engines with a precise long-range cannon.

I can see that, but it strikes me that the "balloon" above the ship makes for a nice big target.

If one attacks from above, "hiding in the sun", so to speak, you have an advantage of surprise. The thing is, what can you hit from above except for the balloon itself, that's why I envisioned something that could attach or pierce the balloon part.

 

[Queshire]

Wouldn't there be a risk of the cannons punctuating the balloon or causing an explosion when it hits the engine? Even if precise for the relative tech level they couldn't be perfectly accurate.

 

[Gryphos]

Wouldn't there be a risk of the cannons punctuating the balloon or causing an explosion when it hits the engine? Even if precise for the relative tech level they couldn't be perfectly accurate.

I've just realised there may be some confusion. When I say engines, I mean the propellors themselves, not the actual fuel containy combustiony part. The pirates would disable the propellors to bring the ship to a stop. And as to the possibility of hitting the balloon, the propellors are positioned far enough away from the balloon and the sniper cannons are accurate enough that it would take a really bad shot to accidentally hit the balloon. If they missed they would most often hit the hull and do very little damage. And even if they did hit the balloon the ship wouldn't go down as the balloons have separate compartments and the gas is non-combustible.

 

[ink.]

I'd personally recommend some of Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell's 'The Edge Chronicles' if you wanted ideas on sky piracy, they're for a slightly younger audience but there's some great ideas in there and they enchanted me when I was a kid.

Assuming you don't just want to blast the ship out of the sky, then collect whatever lands on the ground or just blow holes in their ship until they surrender there are some other options.

1. Clouds. Why would you risk exposing yourself to a military ship, or even a trade ship which is likely to have superior resources and therefore weaponry to your pirates, when they can take cover in the clouds and spring a surprise attack? Spring out from through the clouds where visibility is limited, lay across some boarding ramps and get hoarding.

2. Storms. Use pirate's superior knowledge of the skies to drag unsuspecting militia through a storm they aren't prepared to sail, which gets their equipment damaged and leaves them easy pickings. Limitations include the frequency and severity of storms...

3. Unbalance the ship. More of a problem in air than in water, if you had a larger ship which could carry heavier cargo and somehow managed to attach a heavy weight (maybe fire a harpoon with a ball and chain?) this could unbalance the ship and cause it to tilt or swerve sharply to one side, potentially sending crew flying off. The main point being the ship is incapacitated, and if doesn't really matter where you hit the ship, as long as its not the engine or some random barrel of gunpowder.


Edit: From what you just said above then, I see no problem in just going for the propellers. Takes a bit of the fun out of it though if these propellers are really far away from a balloon fileld with non-combustible gas. Quite advanced tech too since we struggled for a long time to find good gases in large quantities for that sort of use... the hindenberg comes to mind.

 

[Myoho]

How about smaller pirate ships setting out floating nets attached to the same kind of balloons as the ships but smaller, hanging in the clouds? An ambush situation. A ship going into the clouds would get snared as a whole or maybe just the propellers? Something like Wale Wars. Once the ship is disabled and "dead in the water", the pirates come in for the attack. It gives the opportunity to add suspense and describe the fear of clouds of the crew.

Just a thought

 

[jpoelma13]

Most real life air pirates operate by sneaking on to the airplane while its on the ground and kidnapping or killing then crew, and then diverting the airplane to a new destination. That's a lot simpler than trying a midair boarding.
If you really want to do a midair boarding, a specially designed airship would work. It would be much easier to board the ship if pirates were in a gondola on top of the ship, and came in from the bottom. Most airships were never built this way, as putting the gondola on top could cause it to roll over due to gravity. You would have to a stabilizing fin of greater weight than the gondola mounted on the bottom. The airship would also have to be a zeppelin, otherwise there would be nothing to mount the gondola to. As far as catching the ship goes, the pirates would need a small maneuverable airship that is faster than the cargo ship.

 

[Lace]

Most real life air pirates operate by sneaking on to the airplane while its on the ground and kidnapping or killing then crew, and then diverting the airplane to a new destination. That's a lot simpler than trying a midair boarding.

I like the idea of sneaking people into the ship as members of the "crew" before the ship sets sail. Perhaps as a cook or cannon boy, someone inconspicuous but who could easily sneak around and sabotage things.

I get the idea of something that would halt the ship, but I feel like if this happened enough than the cargo ships would eventually invent something that would counter the cannons or prevent them from being able to hurt the ship to begin with. If you think about piracy in previous centuries, they just had ships that were smaller and faster than the ships they hunted until they could catch up to them, board them, and then run away from them. So, that's always an idea too.

 

[Queshire]

Seems that sneaking in as crew would be too much work for just some piracy, sneaking in as passengers would be easier.

 

[Gryphos]

I can definitely imagine pirates sneaking insurgents aboard ships for particularly important heists. But as this likely takes a lot of pre-planning and effort, most of the time they would just disable and board.

As to how they'd board, I would imagine them simply using grappling hooks, or maybe a kind of harpoon cannon to grab the ship and pull it closer, perhaps even to the point whereby pirates could just leap aboard. (The balloons wouldn't impede this as they are comparitively smaller than real world airships)

 

[Wanara009]

In my mind, the best way to incapacitate an air ship is to go for the propulsion first, then incapacitate crew members. This can either be some sort of gas grenade thrown through the window with cannon or something. I like that sonic cannon idea too and in Grimm, there's something like that and I think the show said that it was made during the Victorian era. Maybe you can pillage that.

Since we're talking about about lighter-than-air airship, another armament that would be cool to have is some sort of flechette launcher. Pierce the gas-bag just enough to make the target sluggish and a good way to scuttle the victim once they are devoid of booties.

 

[evanator66]

They could match the speed of the other ship, fly above it, and jump down. They could have snipers on their deck that take out/ wound any crewmen on the deck. They could also have downward facing cannons built into the hull, that fire on the other ship from above. The crewmen could also attach some sort of syringe/pump to the balloon to siphon off the gas, forcing the ship to land. Another thing they could do is destroy the rear propellers of the craft, causing it to stop dead. After the ship has been immobilized, the pirates can either use a mechanical device to lift cargo up and down the boarding ropes. The pirates can then interrogate the crew for information about other vessels and steal logbooks. The final step in the operation is to either claim the ship or destroy it by setting fire to the balloon if it is flammable or whatever fuel is used to power the propellers.

 

[Abbas-Al-Morim]

How about extortion? Just threaten to pop their air balloon. Fire a few warning shots if necessary. I think civilian vessels wouldn't mind paying a tithe to stay airborne. Even if those civilian vessels have guns, they'd most likely prefer paying some money than risking an engagement. Although that would depend on how much you ask.

The tactic wouldn't work for military vessels, which are usually more heavily armed than pirate vessels.

 

[Snowpoint]

If the ship is going long distance, pop small holes in the balloon in a remote point on their route. They will slowly loose altitude. You force them to land at a prepared site you planned in advance. The ground crew overwhelms the airship crew and steals the cargo.

Patch the balloon and take the ship for yourself.

 

[Saigonnus]

A couple things come to mind. First, use ballista to spear the enemy ship like a fish, with a heavy steel grapple connected to a winch. With two or more vessels attacking, you could easily "reel" them in and board them like any other naval vessel without risking the sturdiness of the ship (in case you want to steal that too).

Another option that comes to mind is gliders. A night attack using black gliders could be good for invading an enemy ship; give the attackers a good foothold on the ship before there is any retaliation. With magic, it would be easy enough for the attackers to have rings of feather fall, levitation charms or something similar, so they don't die if they fall during the attempt.

Perhaps a swarm attack could work too. Have several small attacking vessels and attack the ship all at once. Even with defensive weapons, some attackers are bound to succeed in offloading their crew onto the main ship for melee combat, making further success more likely.

 

[stephenspower]

I think you're only considering half the equation, the other half being: how are sky pirates defended against? How has sky piracy influenced the evolution of airship design? Would airships have more nimble escorts, the way fighter planes escorted bombers in WWII? Are there ground stations looking out for pirates and able to send up intervention forces? Knowing this, you can determine how sky pirates' tactics and goals have changed over time and, thus, what they would do now. You could even add a crusty old COB who mourns for the old days of nettin' the props and swingin' aboard.

Regardless, walking the plank on a sky pirate ship would be even more terrifying.

 

[Gryphos]

Thanks for the input. These are some great ideas on how it could operate. Of course there would never be any single way for all sky pirates to operate. Sometimes they would just hail the ship and threaten to destroy them, other times they would use a shock attack with immobilising sniper cannons, and sometimes they would infiltrate the crew to make sure they put up less of a fight. As to boarding, there would also be various methods I would imagine. If the pirate ship is well equipped enough they could reel the other ship in close enough to leap across using a harpoon cannon. If they aren't equipped for that, they could use grappling hooks, or just order the ship to land.

I think you're only considering half the equation, the other half being: how are sky pirates defended against? How has sky piracy influenced the evolution of airship design? Would airships have more nimble escorts, the way fighter planes escorted bombers in WWII? Are there ground stations looking out for pirates and able to send up intervention forces? Knowing this, you can determine how sky pirates' tactics and goals have changed over time and, thus, what they would do now. You could even add a crusty old COB who mourns for the old days of nettin' the props and swingin' aboard.

This is a very good question. I would imagine a most obvious way to protect cargo ships would be to give them military escorts, the size depending on the importance of the cargo or the willingness of the merchant to pay for defence. Also, they would probably set up ships to patrol popular aerial trade routes every so often. And, as well as patrolling the routes, it would be a good idea to set up watch points at intervals along the route able to send out a rapid response force comprising of fast ships or even a few fighter planes (which do exist as a new and rather experimental technology).

But another question to consider is how pirates would react to these defences. The way I see it, the patrols wouldn't be too bad, as they could just tail the cargo ship all stealthy like and attack once they're in the clear. However, the watch points would prove difficult, but not impossible to deal with. One way would silly be to simply bring another, more powerful ship to defend against the rapid response force, or possibly some fighters of their own to intercept and delay them long enough for the operation to finish.

What I know is that these sky pirates would become organised, very organised. It wouldn't be single captains making their own living, it would be many captains operating within a criminal organisation, possibly under a kind of 'pirate king'. They would have vast networks of informants and spies giving them information on what deals were happening, what forces were in place along the route, the timings of the patrols. This kind of organisation would almost certainly not solely deal with piracy, but also smuggling and trading illegal goods. Subsequently, the pirates would also be very wealthy, able to afford top-class equipment and ships.

 

[sightlessghostraven]

I'm not entirely sure of how whimsical your world is, but have you considered a parasite type situation. Using a much smaller vessel, as well as gas powered grappling hooks, the pirates could, in the dead of night, attach ropes from their ship to the target. This would allow them to then either deflate the balloon, or cut it lose (profit/loss dependent) and attach their ship to the larger ship directly. Certainly this would be an all or nothing tactic as the pirates would have no avenue of escape should the attack fail. It would, however, allow for a more direct approach to sneaking aboard undetected. As I have said, it is a quite whimsical idea, though possible for those daring enough to do so.