Noun
commerce raiding (countable and uncountable, plural commerce raidings)
(military, historical) A form of naval warfare that primarily targets enemy merchant ships on the open sea.
The German cruiser Admiral Graf Spee had been located in the South Atlantic a long time before the war began, and had been commerce raiding after the war began in September 1939. Source: Internet
In January 1941, the battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau were sent on a successful commerce raiding mission in the Atlantic. Source: Internet
It proposed what would nowadays be termed a sea denial strategy, based on fast, long-ranged cruisers for commerce raiding and torpedo boat flotillas to attack enemy ships attempting to blockade French ports. Source: Internet