Did pirate ships really sneak up on British ships? I am watching

They would fly the flag of the country of the ship they were approaching, so as to hide in plain sight as a friendly vessel

>>2251497
They would also change the rigging and deck configuration to disguise themselves as a different type of ship like a whaler, cruise ship, or junk ship to lure the other boat into a false sense of security.

>>2251499
oh wow, I didn't realise boats were modular. That's pretty cool anon.

>>2251499
>auto-boats transform and sail out!

>>2251511
It's a practice that continued well through WWII with Germans using exceptionally well crafted merchant raiders around the Atlantic that could disguise themselves as several different types of vessels to sink allied ships, in WWI the famous merchant raider SMS Wolf sank a total of 29 allied ships.

File: SMSSeeadlerFront.png (2MB, 1146x1452px)

2MB, 1146x1452px

Maybe the oddest pirate was german sail ship SMS Seeadler. Captured 16 steamships in WWI while sailing half way around the world.

>>2251612
also Q ships were used by several navies in both world wars, mostly as anti submarine weapons

>>2249828
Aren't pirate ships and British ships the same thing?
Hell they gave Drake the title of Sir.

>>2251933
It was originally a Scottish built American ship. The Germans captured the ship before America had entered the war while it was en route to a Russian port. They added a diesel engine, two main guns, MGs and a prisoner hold for raiding. At one point the ship was sailing with 300 prisoners. The Germans off loaded the prisoners on a captured ship under the charge of a British officer. Pretty crazy history.

>>2249828
Warships have to fly their countries/naval war flag before making an attack or else they really were pirates. That is why German submarines 'flew' their flags while submerged.