Privateer Vessel

Line Combatants (Primary - Capital)				Escort Combatants (Secondary - Subcapital)				Military Auxiliary (Tertiary)
B- Battleship	C- Cruiser	O- Ortillery	V- Carrier	D- Destroyer	E- Escort	F- Fighter	H- Defense/Security	I- Combat Transport	Q- Combat Support	S- Scout	U- Utility	X- Commo	Z- Special

Mercantile Commercial Ships (Trade & Profit)				Non-Mercantile Commercial Ships (Industry & Profit)					Non-Commercial Ships (Nonprofit)			System Craft (Intrastellar)
A- Tramp	M- Freighter	R- Liner	T- Transport	G- Industrial	J- Prospector	K- Expedition	P- Corsair	U- Utility	L- Science	N- Medical	Y- Private	WB- Barge	WA- Satellite	WO- Space Station

Privateer Vessels use vessels to raid the ebony's commerce with legal charter from a polity.

• They perform many of the same missions as pirates, but while pirates have no legal charter, privateers do. Raiders often perform the same missions: commerce raiding.
• Privateers are included as part of the P-class Corsair Vessel mission grouping.
• The Supraclass designation is also known as Ship Mission, Ship Mission Code, Mission, or Ship Hull Designation.
• It is a starship supraclass.

Library Data Referral Tree

Please refer to the following AAB Library Data for more information:
Starship:

• Starship User Types
  • Civilian Ship
  • Military Ship
  • Non-Commercial Vessel
  • Paramilitary Ship

• Advanced Ship Classifications
  • Ship Mission Code / Supraclass
  • Ship Type Code / Superclass
  • Ship Class Code / Class
  • Model (TL)
  • Bloc (Lot)

• Basic Ship Classifications
  • Adventure Class Ship
  • Battle Class Ship
  • Capital Ship
  • Fleet Class Ship
  • Size-Role Classification
  • Subcapital Ship
  • QSP
  • USP
  • World Class Ship

• Ships by Function
  • Bigcraft
  • Boat
  • Capital Ship
  • Largecraft
  • Non-starship
  • Smallcraft
  • Spaceplane
  • Spaceship
  • Starship
  • Subcapital Ship
  • Subcraft
  • System Craft
  • Warship

Speed of Travel

• Astronomical Unit (AU)
• FTL
• Light Speed (c)
• Light-week (lw)
• Light-year (ly)
• NAFAL (STL)
• Parsec (pc)

Description (Specifications)

A privateer generally operates under a Letter of Marque. Failure to comply to the articles of the Letter qualifies the vessel as a pirate.

Corsairs are infamous throughout space, especially the dreaded Vargr corsair! Corsair vessels may be purposefully built at rogue shipyard or, as often as not, converted from existing ship types and classes.

• Piracy is one of the scourges of Interstellar Trade within Charted Space.
• Some vessels act as privateers with legal imprimatur or commerce raiders under military purview.
• And even other vessels act as Q-ships in a distinctly anti-piracy mission and role. Q-ships are technically H-class security vessels, but are included in this entry since they interact with Type-Ps by design.

Image Repository

No information yet available.

Strategy & Tactics (Doctrine)

Raider Vessels are typically ambush ships, hoping to surprise, overcome, and loot unarmed victims. Prize vessels are always desired as well. Most predatory pirate vessels carry boarders not only to overcome enemy crew, but to temporarily crew captured vessels until they can be sold or otherwise disposed of. And Privateer vessels, in turn, ambush corsair vessels along with Q-ships.

Supraclass Roles

Privateer Vessels typically serve the following roles:

1. Ambush Ship (PR)
2. Commerce Raider (PR)
3. Corporate Raider (PR)
4. Escort Raider (PR)
5. Frontier Raider (PR)
6. Pirate Raider (PR)
7. Privateer (PRP)
8. Privateer Vessel (PRP)
9. Raider Escort (PR)
10. Raider Q-Carrier (PR)
11. Raider Tender (PR)
12. Raider Vessel (PR) (Namesake)
13. Scout Raider (PR)

Military Subcraft

Military subcraft (...both smallcraft and bigcraft) are carried by some of these vessels:

1. Battle Rider (BR)
2. Combat Barge (WBG)
3. Combat Transport Smallcraft (UI)
4. Fighters (F)
5. Militarized Utility Craft (UQ)

Supraclass Archetypes

PR-class Raider Vessel Supraclass Archetypes
Archetype	Type Code	Exemplar	Remarks
Raider Vessel	PR	Chameleon class Commerce Raider	Raider vessels attempt to attack enemy ships and assets in order to degrade their war making capability. R = Raider, Commerce Raider, etc.
Privateer Vessel	PRP	Slade Mark I class Frontier Raider	Privateers are a polity-sanctioned vessel that raids opposing polity vessels with a legal sanction. R = Raider, Commerce Raider, etc. P = Privateer
NOTES: There is semantic overlap between many of the classes and codes. Some codes organize by mission or capability, others by size and tonnage, and yet others by other characteristics.

History & Background (Dossier)

One role not normally taken by the Imperial Navy is that of privateer. Dating back to the days of sea navies, governments have issued letters of marque and reprisal which allow a ship captain to attack enemy shipping, and seize cargo and goods. Many smaller Imperial Navy ships have been issued such instructions by their faction and sent off to raid the trade lanes of the enemy.

The raided enemy has another word for this activity: piracy. To the raided enemy, pirates are little better than criminals, subject to harsh combat action if discovered and to the death penalty if captured.

Privateers lead a difficult existence. They cruise for months along the trade lanes, raiding shipping for goods and supplies. When successful, they also drive off the very ship traffic they need to survive and attract naval forces to suppress them. Virtually no port of call is safe for them, so small, clandestine bases become essential if their ships are to be hidden and resupplied. Alter a long mission, they return to their own territory for needed maintenance and new orders.

Selected Variant Types & Classes

Paramilitary Vessel - Privateer Vessels:
Paramilitary Vessel - Corsair Vessel - Privateer Vessels:

1. Type PRP class Privateer
   1. Jet Wasp class Corsair
   2. Kom class Commerce Raider
   3. Slade Mark I class Frontier Raider
   4. Vengeance class Commerce Raider

Ship Summary List

Some of the most commonly used vessels in this role or these roles include:

0 Representative Raider Vessel (PR) Classes
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0 Representative Privateer Vessel (PRP) Classes
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References & Contributors (Sources)

This article is missing content for one or more detailed sections. Additional details are required to complete the article. You can help the Traveller Wiki by expanding it.

This list of sources was used by the Traveller Wiki Editorial Team and individual contributors to compose this article. Copyrighted material is used under license from Far Future Enterprises or by permission of the author. The page history lists all of the contributions.

• Marc Miller. Fighting Ships of the Shattered Imperium (Game Designers Workshop, 1990), 8.
• J. Andrew Keith. Letter of Marque (Cargonaut Press, 1998), TBD.
• Steve Daniels, Jim McLean, Christopher Thrash. Far Trader (Steve Jackson Games, 1999), TBD.
• Gareth Hanrahan. The Pirates of Drinax (Mongoose Publishing, 2011), TBD.
• Marc Miller. T5 Core Rules (Far Future Enterprises, 2013), TBD.
• Gareth Hanrahan. The Pirates of Drinax (Mongoose Publishing, 2017), .
• Traveller Wiki Editorial Team
• Author & Contributor: Lord (Marquis) and Master of Sophontology Maksim-Smelchak of the Ministry of Science