Vessel Hardening Guide

The ship-protection section of Best Management Practices that documents, annex by annex, how to fit and operate anti-boarding measures; in BMP5 (2018) it is the reference a master works from when preparing a vessel for a high-risk transit. Rather than a single tactic it sets out the layered package: a rigging plan for razor wire, siting of water cannon and charged fire hoses, hardening of access points and the accommodation block, citadel construction and stores, and the lookout, lighting, and maneuvering routine. It frames hardening as the self-protection baseline assumed before any decision on armed guards.