dcharles
Banned
That's true, but to be fair, I've identified some issues with it myself that the OP hasn't addressed. Details, but important ones.
The Star Spangled Empire: The Japanese-American War of 1853 and Beyond
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That's true, but to be fair, I've identified some issues with it myself that the OP hasn't addressed. Details, but important ones.
There are, but what people are saying is that it would be better to bring them to the attention of OP instead of admonishing them for making a couple of mistakes. This is a very creative and unique scenario, so don't get discouraged OP!
Yeah i do agree this is a unique scenario that rarely gets chosen so i mean i can see why the op made some mistake
More later but the word is " Privateering" not piracy. Privateering involves issuing a letter of Marque to a private ships owner or owners. This allows a privately owned The, manned, funded, supplied, and armed ship to legally prey on the commerce of the enemy nation.. The details vary but generally the arrangement is that the owner/ owners take on the full risk and cost of purchasing/ modifying a merchant vessel and arming it for war. When an enemy ship is captured its supposed to be taken to what's called a prize court ( Here they might be able to use the British port of Hong Kong). Their the court decides the value of the ship. Sometimes if it s a warship or could be used as one it's purchased by the government. Otherwise its sold. A portion of the proceeds go to the US government. The rest is divided between the ships owner, the captain, the officers, and the crew ( The privateers complement generally were not paid by the ships owners but instead received a share of any prize money). While Japan was semi isolationist it did have maritime commerce. Their were a limited number of Dutch ships allowed to set at Dejima every year. For political reasons these might not be touched. Otherwise Japan did conduct a legal trade with the rest of East Asia ( and a lot of illegal smuggling). There was also a considerable trade with the Ryukus. And finally their was significant coastal shipping ( basically small sail cargo ships that would carry cargo from one port in Japan along the coast to a different port. Lot cheaper to do that then say try and ship your cargo long distance by draft animal pulled cart. Their was also a large number of fishing boats. All of that can be raided as can small coastal towns and villages.
So yes privateering and commerce raiding can at least in part help pay some war costs and more importantly help feed the armada. Besides capturing say cargo ships carrying rice and grain they could f also capture a number of Japanese fishing boats. Man the fishing boats with say Chinese sailors hired out of Hong Kong or canton. Use one or more small undefeated coastal island as a base for warehouses of grain and to allow the fishermen to salt/ smoke/ dry/ pickle their catch. It would be a somewhat bland and to Americans alien ( Plenty of salted/ smoked/ dried fish and rice) but they could most likely feed the force by raiding.
Personally I'd say their best bet would be to try and take the Ryukus both to act as a base and to hurt the Japanese. If possible find a claimant or a potential claimant to the Ryukan throne and use his supporter and the American men, ships, guns, and weapons to overthrow the King and install the American ally in his place. Then raid and ravage Japanese shipping and fishing and attack, bombard, and if possible loot and burn various small Japanese coastal towns.
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