How would you board a ship?

[Alius]

Highest probability of success: use a ticket. Or else.

Otherwise...how and why? Were there any successful (or attempted?) boarding actions of healthy capital warships in WW1 and WW2?

Covert hijacking. Another thing to like.

However, Cray, don't get too hung up on the WW1 analogues just yet. This is coming out of the age of sail where boarding ships after a brief spit of combat was normal. Usually, though, there was a spit of combat that would see a ship immobilized and even defanged first.

As I said, the best time to do it is when it can't move, and preferably when it can't fight back, too. Like if it's surrendered.

[Van Gogh]

The difference between the 1900's and the age of sail is in the neutralisation of the target ship before boarding: with sails, you just need to shoot off a couple of masts, and then the target is at your mercy .
With a steam battleship ? You have to shoot the boilers or engines to stop or slow it... which means there are also rather large holes in the hull, close or just under the flotation line. Your boarding crew needs to be rather fast (not counting those nice automatic maxim guns, just there on the target). And IF a couple a shells weren't slightly off-course and hit magazines instead of machinery.
So what about Levs then ? Flooding is not a problem anymore, so is it possible to damage air screws to reduce evading ability without breaking their keel, holing Tesla tanks or blowing up live ammunition ?

My personnal answer would be "not enough data, but I doubt a hundred dashing marines can overtake a thousand-strong crew and replace them all to sail off sunsetwards gloriously, however cool it sounds".

[cray]

However, Cray, don't get too hung up on the WW1 analogues just yet. This is coming out of the age of sail where boarding ships after a brief spit of combat was normal.

Age of sail. Right. Let's look at the similarities with the Age of Sail:

Age of sail ships puttered along at a few knots (e.g., Nelson's advance at Trafalgar). Leviathans move along at some tens of knots. Having just been on a boat moving at speeds varying from 0 to 30 knots, I have great respect for the difference. I'd like to see you try to dock with an unwilling target than can turn and run as fast as a leviathan - there's going to be lots of squishy marines unless the target is crippled (like the handful of ships boarded in WW1/2).

Age of sail ships went to great lengths to get close to each other - typically under 1000 yards - because they couldn't hit the broadside of a barn at 1500 yards with, well, a broadside. Frankly, grappling with each other was a great way to guarantee a decent hit ratio for Age of Sail guns. Leviathans, on the other hand, are passing that "knee" in the gunnery range curve where engagements begin being defined in terms of miles.

Age of sail ships went to great lengths to stay close to each other because wooden ships are quite buoyant and take a lot of shooting to sink. Some Age of Sail navies - like the French - even preferred to aim at masts and rigging because depending on hull damage to cripple a foe was too slow and inefficient. However, Leviathans plummet to the ground quite nicely when they take a number of good hits to their electroid tanks.

Age of sail ships had negligible internal compartmentalization. An Age of Sail gun deck was an unbroken, bow-to-stern open compartment. Fore and stern castles were the height of compartmentalization: you had to go up some stairs to get to important bits of the ship. Meanwhile, leviathans are built to steam age standards. The HMS Warrior figured out how to isolate its "citadel" with watertight doors, and subsequent ships never looked back - compartmentalization became quite the rage in iron hulled steam ships for the four decades running up to leviathans.

Age of sail ships often used boarding actions because of the above points: they were close to each other, they tried to stay close to each other, they even tried grappling and using boarding because their dozens of smoothbore cannon just couldn't sink the other ship. A leviathan, meanwhile, is a faster, long-range combatant that will probably be plummeting to the ground before boarding becomes physically feasible. When another ship CAN grapple with a leviathan, the boarders then get to deal with steel bulkheads, combat-locked hatches, and defenders who only need a grenade or Maxim to turn a corridor into a chunky-salsa-filled-horror.

As I said, the best time to do it is when it can't move, and preferably when it can't fight back, too. Like if it's surrendered.

And that's the only time that WW1/2 ships were boarded: when they were being abandoned.

[Alius]

I wasn't talking about capabilities, cray, but attitudes.

In anything but a time of war, I doubt a ship would fight to the bitter end. The only time they do that is if they know their enemy has a reputation for butchery. If no such reputation precedes a unit in a little one-on-one engagement, then usually the fight would end up being nothing more than a few shots, and the boat in the worst condition either booking, or surrendering if they can't.

And, that's just for boarding in general, not hijacking a ship. Most boarding actions would be to secure a vessel to keep the crew from doing anything 'heroic' (ie stupid).  After that:

If the winner was a group of bandits, they would pilfer what they want from the holds, and leave the ship and/or crew someplace where they could be found. Alive. It was a common pirate practice that if they caught a better ship, they would simply switch vessels, and leave the crew of the original adrift in their old, now sabotaged, boat.

If the winners are any form of navy, one can assume prisoners and ransoms would be involved. Maybe impounding and drafting of a captured vessel into the navy.

This is assuming that both vessels actually survive the fight in question.

Even with air fleets, this would be no different until the break of all-out war. And, even then. But, at that point, we're looking at many more ships in an encounter, and more firepower per side means more downed vessels.

[cray]

I wasn't talking about capabilities, cray, but attitudes.

In anything but a time of war, I doubt a ship would fight to the bitter end.

Agreed. However, the attackers would not be in a position to force a leviathan's crew to fight to the bitter end. Rather, they'd be a group of morons who'd die boarding the ship, die trying to open the armored bulkheads, die against basic 20th century weaponry, and just generally die. A military target would be baffled by the attempt even in peacetime - witness how the French handled a boarding action recently:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8294858.stm

The only time they do that is if they know their enemy has a reputation for butchery.

Or the defenders have an overwhelming advantage, like a combination of steel bulkheads, grenades, and repeating weapons.

"Gee, there's a dozen fools boarding our warship. Let's lock the hatches and throw a few grenades on the other side. What kind of morons have the attitude to launch such suicidal attacks?"

[Alius]

Why would they be fighting back if they've surrendered?

[turbosonic]

I think since its an "alternate reality" setting, its safe to say that one could come up with rules for boarding if only for the fun of it!  Whether that would be something that would be allowable within tournament settings, I doubt it.....but it'd sure be fun as hell to do it at home for fun.  I like the idea of being able to board another ship and disable guns and effectively "capture" the ship.  I really like being able to throw a scenario down where its something like "Okay, you're such and such squadron and youv'e just come upon the Enemy Convoy who is transporting such and such person or piece of equipment or information.  Destroy the bulk of the squadron but capture their light armoured cruiser.  Do NOT destroy that one ship, if you do, you fail your mission.  Makes it kinda cool.

[Jim1701]

I really don't see the "fun" in boarding actions.  This is a game of armored leviathans slugging it out among the clouds.  Not Pirates of the Caribbean.   

[turbosonic]

never said it was pirates!

adds another layer to the depth of play....and honestly its the kinda thing where if you are a player who likes to have that option in play, then you throw the rules into play.  If you don't, you don't!

[cray]

Why would they be fighting back if they've surrendered?

Why would they be fighting to board if the target has surrendered? No skill or combat rolls are needed when you're invited aboard.

adds another layer to the depth of play....and honestly its the kinda thing where if you are a player who likes to have that option in play, then you throw the rules into play.  If you don't, you don't!

Can other players have the option of maneuvering or sealing bulkheads to realistically fend off boarders? Having just played Death Watch quite a bit, the idea of chumming low-thread bad guys with a few grenades or bolters from behind very solid armor (like a bulkhead) is quite fun in play.