Quote:
Originally Posted by RyanW
Another possible subversion is that the sender wants the cargo to be lost, to give a convenient excuse for something (which need not even be in the cargo) to go missing.
Possibilities: - The item is being diverted to some use that needs to be kept off the books.
- Someone wants grounds to take action against the thieves (actual or framed).
- The item has just disappeared. Management, insurance, or regulations would accept theft quicker than incompetence.
- The item doesn't live up to expectations, and its inventor would prefer his patrons didn't find out he wasted their money.
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heh ... as an aside, there is the story of the
Atlantic Conveyor, a British cargo ship that was sunk whilst hauling supplies for the Task Force during the Falklands War. Her loss was a significant blow to the operation causing great annoyance due to the destruction of key supplies of helicopters (command staff) and chocolate (troops).
However, those who were involved in British Army logistics around 1982 tend to note wryly that if the amount of material written off has having been lost when the Atlantic Conveyor sank had actually been aboard her, then she would have sunk without enemy action. Enemy action was certainly more readily accepted than accounting exceptions...