Tactical strategy · Gulf of Aden · 2008–2011 · In development

The crew is in the citadel.
Take the ship back.

A bulk carrier was boarded at dawn, 200 nautical miles off the coast. Eighteen sailors are locked in the steering gear room and the pirates have the bridge. You have two boarding teams, a helicopter and the ship's general arrangement plan. Plan every move, then make the call.

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  • 2 boarding teams
  • 6 decks to clear
  • 1 crew to bring home
The boarding

Slow is smooth. Smooth is fast.

Seen from above, one deck at a time. Every operator goes exactly where you put them, looks where you tell them and waits for your word. A ship is a maze of steel stairwells, narrow corridors and watertight doors, and every one of them is a place to get it wrong.

Plan in the pause

Draw each operator's route, where they look, where they stop and what they do at the door. Stop the clock whenever you like and change it.

Go-codes

Alpha holds the C-deck stairwell until Bravo calls the bridge. Coordinate both teams across decks with go-codes, the way boarding teams rehearse it.

Fast-rope or ladder

Rope onto the hatch covers from the helicopter, or come up the stern from the boats. Fast and loud, or slow and exposed. Do both at once.

You see what they see

Each operator's field of view, and steel walls that hide everything behind them. Pirates you've lost sight of are only where you last saw them.

Crew or pirate?

Everyone you meet is challenged, made to comply, restrained and searched. Some surrender, some run and some reach for a hostage. Sorting them out is part of the job.

Evidence matters

Weapons, ladders and phones found on board decide whether a prosecution holds. Without them, the people you caught can end up back at sea.

The corridor · coming next

Keep the ships out of their hands.

Between boardings you run your share of a multinational effort: escorts and group transits through the Internationally Recommended Transit Corridor, patrol boxes, maritime patrol aircraft, helicopter patrols and the hunt for motherships. The monsoons close the sea, then open it again.

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What it isn't

Honest limits.

It's a game, not a training tool. The navies and operations of the period are named for history. The merchant ships, their crews, the pirates and every mission are fictional.