Thanks for the detailed response. I am old enough to remember the tanker war in the Gulf where there was talk of fitting supertankers with chaff and other antimissile systems, but I recall it being rejected for much the same reasons you described. In a way, some of these concerns are similar to those that made the “classic” pirates successful, for economic reasons merchant ship crews were small in number compared to pirate crews and not well enough paid to have any incentive to fight off a pirate attack (and the pirates would kill everyone on board a ship that resisted). Better to surrender and take your chances.
Thanks again for the information