[oldE]

Pat,

The Aleutian campaign, (Japanese) was a feint to draw US forces away from the mid-Pacific.
"On 6-7 June, 1942, the Japanese followed the Dutch Harbor raid with an invasion of American soil. After months of reconnaissance, they landed on Kiska and Attu Islands in the Western Aleutians, over 1,000 miles from Dutch Harbor. On Kiska, they took a small Naval weather crew captive; on Attu, they took the whole village hostage, later shipping them back to Japan as prisoners of war." (About.com)

The weather station was valuable to commanders operating in the Pacific. It was worth getting back. There was a bit of hysteria at the time, both on your side and our side of the border, but the Japanese were overextended as it was. After the defeat at Midway, they were forced into a defensive posture.

Letters of marque have historically been employed by those interrupting shipping, rather than by those defending it. It is a matter of concentration of forces. I have been wondering how long before some form of convoy system is employed in areas such as the Straits of Molucca to combat piracy.

"an illegal payment of bounty for trade, " Perhaps I misunderstand you, but this seems to be a euphanism for piracy and extortion, something which was practised by the Barbary states at that time and had, by 1800 cost the US government approximately 1/5 of its total income. Such a threat was addressed under Section 7 of the CftUSA:
"To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas,
and Offenses against the Law of Nations; "

They could not afford to pay the ransoms, (at one time $4000 per seaman and $1400 per cabin boy and it wasn't the companies who had lost the ships, cargoes and crews who were paying ransoms, it was the government 'by the people for the people'). It was cheaper to build a fleet and fight. They were not fighting individual ships and pirate captains, but the nation states which demanded ever increasing 'protection money'.
Without commerce your economy is crippled. It sounds like you are advocating arming all trading ships for their own protection and paying for that defence through the directly passed on increase in the cost of goods. That won't work because of the principle of concentration of forces. You would have to convoy your ships wherever they went.

What would you have done?

Les