History Main / InsaneAdmiral

* General Bowe in the ''Wiki/SCPFoundation''.
* Website/SFDebris treats Kathryn Janeway of the USS ''[[Series/StarTrekVoyager Voyager]]'' as a supervillain while she's only a captain, but in his review of ''Film/StarTrekNemesis'', she gets the full treatment, with a nearly three-minute [[https://youtu.be/q0lZytCblEE?t=1m9s monologue]] detailing how the entire plot of the movie including half the {{plot hole}}s was a part of her plan to take over the entire Alpha Quadrant.

* Even in videogames ''Franchise/StarTrek'' doesn't escape. In ''VideoGame/StarTrekOnline'':

** Admiral Zelle [[spoiler: Undine Infiltrator]], Romulan Colonel Hakeev, and Chancellor J'mpok of the KDF.
** We also have a case with Admiral T'Nae, though she typically makes up for it by being right.

** ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'': While Katrina Cornwell thankfully isn't quite this, she does get dangerously close to this territory when the Federation is on the brink of defeat and she approves the mission to bomb Qo'noS into oblivion, only seeing sense when Burnham points out that abandoning Starfleet principles for the sake of survival was the exact mistake ''she'' made when she committed mutiny. A more straight example is Patar, a logic extremist[[note]]basically the Vulcan equivalent of, at best, a UKIP supporter[[/note]] who heads Section 31 and is adamant that Spock be captured, no matter the evidence that he did not commit murder escaping from Starbase 5. [[spoiler:However, it later turns out that Control, the AI that Section 31 uses for decision making, murdered Section 31 High Command, including Patar, because [[AIIsACrapshoot it had developed a Skynet complex]], so perhaps Real!Patar wasn't ''quite'' as insane as Control!Patar.]]

** ''Film/StarTrekIntoDarkness'': In grand Trek tradition, [[spoiler:Admiral Marcus is one. He deliberately revived Khan in order to exploit his brutality and created a number of terrible weapons systems with his help. Marcus planned to [[BloodKnight start an "inevitable" war against the Klingons preemptively]]. He even went so far as to secretly build himself an unmarked, black starship twice the size of the ''Enterprise'' and designed purely for combat. He had no compunction about murdering loyal Starfleet officers in cold blood.]]

** ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'': While Katrina Cornwell thankfully isn't quite this, she does get dangerously close to this territory when the Federation is on the brink of defeat and she approves the mission to bomb Qo'noS into oblivion, only seeing sense when Burnham points out that abandoning Starfleet principles for the sake of survival was the exact mistake ''she'' made when she committed mutiny. A more straight example is Patar, a logic extremist[[note]]basically the Vulcan equivalent of, at best, a UKIP supporter[[/note]] who heads Section 31 and is adamant that Spock be captured, no matter the evidence that he did not commit murder escaping from Starbase 5. [[spoiler:However, it later turns out that Control, the AI that Section 31 uses for decision making, murdered Section 31 High Command, including Patar, because [[AIIsACrapshoot it had developed a Skynet complex]], so perhaps the real Patar wasn't ''quite'' as insane as Control's puppet.]]

** ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'': While Katrina Cornwell thankfully isn't quite this, she does get dangerously close to this territory when the Federation is on the brink of defeat and she approves the mission to bomb Qo'noS into oblivion, only seeing sense when Burnham points out that abandoning Starfleet principles for the sake of survival was the exact mistake ''she'' made when she committed mutiny. A more straight example is Patar, a logic extremist[[note]]basically the Vulcan equivalent of, at best, a UKIP supporter[[/note]] who heads Section 31 and is adamant that Spock be captured, no matter the evidence that he did not commit murder escaping from Starbase 5. [[spoiler:However, it later turns out that Control, the AI that Section 31 uses for decision making, murdered Section 31 High Command, including Patar, because [[AIIsACrapshoot it had developed a Skynet complex]], so perhaps Real!Patar wasn't ''quite'' as insane as Control!Patar.]]

->"''I'm proud to say I've written another insane admiral. They must put something in the water at Federation Headquarters.''"

* ''Series/TheOrville: [[spoiler:Admiral Perry]], who commits treason to ensure the total destruction of an enemy species.

* ''Series/{{Orville}}: [[spoiler:Admiral Perry]], who commits treason to ensure the total destruction of an enemy species.

** Averted in the film's climax, when Lt. Greenwald praises Queeg for his prewar service in a Navy that most Americans simply ignored "...who was standing guard over this fat, dumb, happy country of ours, eh? Not us. Oh, no! ...who did the dirty work for us? Queeg did!" and condemns the ship's officers for failing to give Queeg the support that he should have expected.

* ''Series/TheOrville'': Averted. Despite being heavily inspired by ''Star Trek'', where nearly every admiral was in some way corrupt, the Admiralty of the Planetary Union are all presented as consummate professionals [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure willing to listen to reason]] but unafraid to [[DaChief dress down Mercer and his crew]] when [[WhatTheHellHero they rightfully deserve it]]. Y'know, like real Admirals. Eventually played straight after 3 seasons with [[spoiler:Admiral Perry]], who commits treason to ensure the total destruction of an enemy species.

** Averted with Admiral Freeman, who is very much not crazy and, despite his limited appearances, seems to be a ReasonableAuthorityFigure. (He's also the husband of Captain Freeman and Beckett's father, but that doesn't figure much into his appearances.)

*** Zeon Rear-Admiral Ginias Sahalin of ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamThe08thMSTeam'' is no picture of mental health. The head of the Apsalus project, his MommyIssues, combined with his obsessive need to control his sister and claim all the credit for the project causes his mind to deteriorate over the course of the series. By the end, he's an AxCrazy maniac who is ready to murder everyone around him, including his sister and all of his researchers, if it means that he gains sole control of the Apsalus III. This, combined with his poor health, has caused some fans to speculate that he has Wilson's Disease, a degenerative neurological condition that often causes schizophrenia-like symptoms.

*** Admiral Clancy is presented as this, [[ZigZaggedTrope but turns out to be an aversion.]] When a retired Admiral who left Starfleet under less-than-amicable terms comes to her office with a far-fetched story about Romulan spies and the daughter of his long-dead android crewmate, presumptuously requesting his old job back so he can go on his personal quest despite having no concrete evidence to justify doing so, she [[ShutUpKirk understandably shuts him down]]. And [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure then contacts the head of Starfleet Security to start an official investigation of Picard's claims]], out of "[[ProperlyParanoid an excess of caution]]". [[spoiler: She had no way of guessing that the head of Starfleet Security, Commodore Oh, was not only a Romulan spy but an AI-hating fanatic who was willing to hamper an evacuation of ''her own homeworld'' to prevent robots from being built. When Picard contacts her again later with considerably more evidence for his claims, Clancy readily [[TheCavalry dispatches a squadron of ships to help him]], telling him this in the same breath she tells him to shut the fuck up.]]

** Averted it with Admiral Freeman, who is very much not crazy and, despite his limited appearances, seems to be a ReasonableAuthorityFigure. (He's also the husband of Captain Freeman and Beckett's father, but that doesn't figure much into his appearances.)
** [[spoiler: Admiral Buenamigo]] turns out to be this, willing to risk lives and ultimately commit mass murder for the sake of getting a pet project off the ground. It turns out the reason admirals are ''prone'' to this is the competitive atmosphere at Starfleet [=HQ=]--they have to do something big to stand out from the crowd, leading to these ill-advised ventures.

** [[spoiler: Admiral Buenamigo]] turns out to be this, willing to risk lives and ultimately commit mass murder for the sake of getting a pet project off the ground.

* ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekLowerDecks'': Lampshaded by Lt. Cmdr. Ron Docent in "Cupid's Errant Arrow" when he claims that the admiral he knows is a psycho.
** That said, ''Lower Decks'' also subverts it with Admiral Freeman, who is very much not crazy and, despite his limited appearances, seems to be a ReasonableAuthorityFigure. (He's also the husband of Captain Freeman and Beckett's father, but that doesn't figure much into his appearances.)

In fictional military settings, the brass tend to be a bit unstable. Frequently they become so obsessed with their own pet projects that they endanger national security. Other times their brazenness and/or paranoia almost leads to wars breaking out between rival superpowers. They may be a ConspiracyTheorist with authority investigating the heroes, an ObstructiveBureaucrat making hell for the heroes, or they may be covering up for their own wrongdoings. These are the ones most likely to send the heroes on a dubious mission. They could be a GeneralRipper obsessed with the enemy, or they could be cowards who fear public exposure of their own wrongdoings.

The unfortunate combination of BadBoss and WeAreStrugglingTogether. GeneralRipper is a major {{Subtrope}} of this. And see also KickedUpstairs, which is frequently how they end up getting to be Insane ''Admirals'' instead of insane forty year-old ensigns. For competent brass, see TheBrigadier or ReasonableAuthorityFigure. Senior officers who manage to be both at once fit best under BunnyEarsLawyer.

Note that this trope is a DefiedTrope in RealLife armed forces, especially in democratic countries and particularly in the modern era where it's less likely that mental instability would go unnoticed. Mentally unstable officers jeopardize lives of thousands of soldiers, and pose a heavy risk on the success of the operations themselves. Mentally unstable officers are usually quickly [[KickedUpstairs transferred to non-combat positions or forced into early retirement]]. In fact, citing mental instability is usually the only legal way for their subordinates to remove a superior officer, specifically because it's so dangerous. None of this necessarily has an impact on ''competence'' of the armed forces, of course, which is a different matter.

* ''Literature/LegendOfTheGalacticHeroes'' mostly revolves around admirals, so it makese sense that it would have it's fair share of these guys. Duke Braunschweig, who holds the rank of Fleet Admiral and commands 150,000 warships goes off his rocker after his nephew is killed. He decides to take revenge by bombing the planet his nephew used to rule, killing 2,000,000 people in the process. His second-in-command, Marquis Littenheim panics while losing a battle and confuses his supply ships for enemies, despite his chief of staff telling them who they are. He blasts them to smithereeens anyway. Alliance Vice Admiral Willem Holland has some success during a battle. Rather than listening to more experienced fleet commanders, he decides to charge in outpacing his supply line and gets killed for it. Fleet Admiral Lobos accepts a deluded commodore's idea for an invasion of the Empire. The plan doesn't take supply lines into consideration and even after the fleets are starving and/or battered, Lobos refuses to allow them to retreat to their base of operations. The result is that 20 million sailors end up killed.
* Fittingly, since the ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'' franchise is largely considered to be ''Franchise/StarTrek'''s Japanese counterpart, it contains an equally disproportionate number of high ranking nutcases:
** Gihren Zabi of the original ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam''. He's Zeon's commander-in-chief, a brilliant public speaker and the real power behind his aging father, Sovereign Degwin. He's also a megalomaniacal psychopath and SocialDarwinist with a fascist philosophy and a limited grasp of what it means to be a human being. This causes him to commit a number of tactical errors later in the series, and he adopts a very "Hitler in the bunker" type attitude by the end.

*** Zeon Rear-Admiral Ginias Sahalin of ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamThe08thMSTeam'' is no picture of mental health. The head of the Apsalus project, his MommyIssues, combined with his obsessive need to control his sister and claim all the credit for the project causes his mind to deteriorate over the course of the series. By the end he's an AxCrazy maniac who is ready to murder everyone around him, including his sister and all of his researchers, if it means that he gains sole control of the Apsalus III. This, combined with his poor health, has caused some fans to speculate that he has Wilson's Disease, a degenerative neurological condition that often causes schizophrenia-like symptoms.

* ''ComicBook/StarTrekEarlyVoyages'': In "Futures, Part One", Captain Pike, Spock and Dr. Boyce are sent on a secret mission (later revealed to be an undercover mission to the Temazi homeworld in "Thanatos"). Number One is left in command of the ''Enterprise'' while Admiral Robert April is assigned as mission commander. In "Thanatos" and "Nemesis", Admiral April seems to be working towards his own agenda which includes provoking conflict with the Klingons when it could potentially be avoided. Sita Mohindas appears to be taking orders directly from him. The reasons for April's behavior are never explained as the series was cancelled before the story arc could be concluded.

* Rear Admiral Graham in ''Film/DownPeriscope'' goes from a "mere" asshole to this, as Dodge keeps beating him in the wargame. Not only does Graham consider Dodge and his entire crew unfit for his perfect US Navy, he will happily cheat in order to win a game, whose purpose is to determine how vulnerable the US is to a rogue sub attack (i.e. he's putting personal pride and career over his duty). It's very satisfying when Vice Admiral Winslow chews him out at the end and tell him he can forget about his promotion.

** In ''Film/TheAvengers2012'', [[BigBad Loki]] used the army that [[TheManBehindTheMan Thanos]] gave him to try and conquer Earth. In contrast to [[ManipulativeBastard the more calculating way he carried out his plans]] during ''Thor'', he was more {{ax crazy}} and [[InferioritySuperiorityComplex egotistical]] in this movie, which [[SanityHasAdvantages likely led to his defeat.]] The World Security Council could also qualify, as they unleashed a nuclear weapon on New York to wipe out the alien army without trying any other options, like sending in the military to help the Avengers, or aiming the weapon at the alien ship in the first place.

* ''Literature/TheDrownedCities'': Colonel Glenn Stern of the United Patriotic Front is a KnightTemplar madman who believes he is saving America (something he barely understands the concept of) by chopping off the hands and feet of those he takes prisoner, and turning children into ChildSoldiers. His archrival, General Sachs of the Army of God is implied to be just as crazy, as are the leaders of Taylor's Wolves, Tulane Company, the Freedom Militia, and all the other groups in the story.
* The ''Literature/{{Flashman}}'' novels generally give this view of 19th century British brass. Lord Raglan (his commander in the Crimea) and Major General Elphinstone ("Elphy Bey", his commander in Afghanistan) are portrayed as basically senile, while the British aristocracy that produced the Empire's generals is as eccentric as in any other literary portrayal.

* From ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' we have... just about any fleet commander of any note of the Ironborn at any point in history. The Iron Isles openly prides itself on what is considered BlueAndOrangeMorality (or just downright nuts) by everybody else in Westeros, and, in battle, this often translates to having some [[AttackAttackAttack very]]... [[LeeroyJenkins interesting]]... [[HitAndRunTactics hit-and-run]] "[[AttackAttackRetreatRetreat tactics]]". As. Standard. (It's telling that the one ruling family who tried very hard ''not'' to follow this template alone are not exactly held in the highest regard: all of the Hoares have been given terrible sobriquets indicating just how little their subjects liked them for, you know, ''trying'' to use [[{{Realpolitik}} more boringly sane things like overarching strategy, diplomacy, outside marriage ties, governance and trade]] over things like just more random raiding and extortion.) However, when the RapePillageAndBurn works, it really, really works (mainly because, despite everything, the Ironborn know how to sail better than anybody). When it doesn't, it goes very badly (doesn't matter how good you are at maneuvering in shallow waters if you're both bonkers ''and'' trying to go too far inland without changing things up: SanityHasAdvantages). Now, if you want arguably the most insanely dangerous Ironborn fleet leader of recent memory? Try Euron Greyjoy on for size. He's absolutely, unabashedly and bloodthirstily nuts by ''Ironborn standards'', let alone anybody else's. And, more Ironborn houses than you'd be comfortable with actually ''support'' him for this, in a dreaded kind of way. It's no great prediction to say that this is not going to go well. [[{{Troll}} Which is exactly how Euron likes it.]] For others.

** Admiral Rittenhouse in the ''Star Trek'' [[Franchise/StarTrekExpandedUniverse novel]], ''[[Literature/FortunesOfWar Dreadnought!]]''. He commissioned the titular warship and named it Star Empire, and if that doesn't tell you where he stood on things, nothing will. His goal was to protect the Federation from its enemies was to overthrow the civilian government and establish a military dictatorship. It was so bad for Starfleet's reputation, that a later novel by the same author used it as a major reason Kirk was more or less forced to accept promotion to Admiral as he was something of a living legend by the end of the five year mission.

* ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'' isn't short of crazy senior military officers. The vast majority are in the employ of the various Sith-run empires throughout history, but that isn't surprising given the Sith not only bring their own level of crazy to anything they get involved in, but encourage it in others.

** Most of the various Warlords that broke away from the Empire following the Emperor's death in ROTJ tended to be a bit extra crazy as well. A bunch of them get out crazied by Daala who gets them all to a peace summit and then gases them to death when they can't come together to present a unified front. [[spoiler:ironically, this ends up ensuring the Imperial Remnant's survival, as by the end of that particular crisis its leadership ends up in the hands of Admiral Pellaeon, the Imperial OnlySaneMan ''par excellence''.]]

* While Admiral Souther of ''Series/TheExpanse'' is an honorable man and a ReasonableAuthorityFigure, his colleague Admiral Nguyen is a complete nutcase and a GeneralRipper par excellence. Throughout the series he is quick to insist that anything strange going on is just [[SpaceColdWar Mars getting ready to attack Earth]], and the only possible solution is to destroy Mars. He eventually reveals the full depths of his madness during [[spoiler:his final on screen speech. Nguyen reveals his FantasticRacism, saying that he doesn't even consider the people who have [[ColonizedSolarSystem colonized Mars and the asteroid belt]] human anymore, comparing them all to insects and saying that they need to be wiped out accordingly. He attempts to do just that, ordering over a hundred [[HalfHumanHybrid human-protomolecule hybrids]] fired towards Mars, a force that likely would have directly resulted in hundreds of millions of deaths if they had actually reached Mars, and might have rendered all of Mars uninhabitable due to contamination from the protomolecule.]]
* Bialar Crais of ''Series/{{Farscape}}'' is a frothing lunatic who drops everything and starts wasting Peacekeeper resources and troops so that he can have his revenge on Crichton for killing his brother, something that was blatantly an accident. [[spoiler:He gets better after being [[MindRape placed in the Aurora Chair,]] which causesd him to become far more personable and reasonable, albeit still dangerous.]]

* ''Series/HoratioHornblower'': Captain Sawyer from this MiniSeries adaptation, expertly played by Creator/DavidWarner. His case is PlayedForDrama. He starts as viciously critical and unjust, continues to be extremely paranoid and ends up genuinely, tragically mad. His lieutenants are in an unenviable position, especially when the ship's surgeon is the captain's friend, an alcoholic and unwilling to pronounce him unfit for command. Whatever steps they consider to take would be ultimately a mutiny.

* ''Series/{{MASH}}'': Major General Bartford Hamilton Steele from the episode "The General Flipped at Dawn". He is promoted at the end to boot, after dancing a jig to 'The Missisippi Mud' out of a court-martial. On rare occasions, his lookalike Potter showed signs of a crazy edge--but considering the camp he ran, he can be forgiven.
* ''Series/MissionImpossible'': In "Submarine", the IMF have to stop a U.S. Navy admiral who sank one of his own subs as a demonstration of a weapons system he was planning to sell on the black market. He did this because he felt betrayed by the government conducting weapon limitation talks with the Russians, which stopped his computer virus attack system ever going into production.

* ''Series/TheProfessionals''. In "Lawson's Last Stand", a Lieutenant Colonel goes insane after his maneuvers fail disastrously due to a simulated nerve gas attack. He steals a couple of cannisters of nerve gas that the British government is not supposed to have and issues his demands: three chemical warfare research establishments blown up, two million pounds wired to his SwissBankAccount, and the [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking National Anthem played on Radio 2]], on the hour, every hour. Forever.
* ''Series/{{Revolution}}'': Bass Monroe is as an unhinged military dictator of the Monroe Republic (formerly the northeastern US and parts of Canada). As the show goes on, it becomes a DeconstructedTrope, with loyal officers [[spoiler: Mile Matheson (revealed to have been one in [[Recap/RevolutionS1E3NoQuarter No Quarter]]) and Tom Neville (occurred in [[Recap/RevolutionS1E13TheSongRemainsTheSame The Song Remains the Same]])]] betraying him, because he would have had them killed. His paranoia and insanity causes a lot of competent officers to be killed off, including [[spoiler: Colonel John Faber ([[Recap/RevolutionS1E8TiesThatBind Ties That Bind]]), a militia captain who worked under Neville ([[Recap/RevolutionS1E14TheNightTheLightsWentOutInGeorgia The Night the Lights Went Out In Georgia]]), and Jeremy Baker]], who calls him out on his behaviour before his death in [[Recap/RevolutionS1E17TheLongestDay The Longest Day]]. In fact, by the [[Recap/RevolutionS1E20TheDarkTower The Dark Tower]], [[spoiler: Tom Neville takes over the Monroe Republic and Bass Monroe is left to run off on his own]].

*** Admiral Pressman conducted secret, dangerous, and illegal tests involving a Federation cloaking device and lied to other officers about it. Like Jameson, he was a captain at the time of the initial tests, but as an admiral he wants to start them up again. (He happens to be the admiral that Ron Moore is talking about in the page quote above.) Although it's worth noting that [[StrawmanHasAPoint he did have a point]] about the Treaty of Algeron (which let the Romulans keep their cloaking devices while the Federation gave the technology up) putting Starfleet at a serious disadvantage.

** That and his alcoholism dulls his interest in what's actually going on...

* Many occasionally appear in ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'': a good example is Khan Raina Montose of Clan Ice Hellion; she lead the Clan in their invasion of Clan Jade Falcons occupation zone. She orders her Clan push on their invasion even though their supply lines have been intercepted by the Falcons.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}: Szuriel, Horseman of War, and Angel of Desolation is what happens when you combine the worst traits of a GeneralRipper and a ColonelKilgore with PsychoForHire, WeHaveReserves, WarGod and DemonLordsAndArchdevils. It isn't pretty.

* In ''VideoGame/AceCombat7SkiesUnknown'', Captain Matias Torres, the CO of the [[CoolBoat submersible carrier]] ''Alicorn'', goes rogue along with his crew, whom he has indoctrinated into serving him with absolute loyalty and devotion after spending two years stranded at the bottom of the ocean when the ''Alicorn’s'' shakedown cruise went awry. In the process, Torres steals two Erusean nuclear warheads with the intent to use them to destroy the Osean capital city of Oured, ostensibly to force both nations to cease hostilities. In truth, the goal is an excuse for Torres to massacre millions of people in order satisfy his bloodlust.

* ''VideoGame/GodzillaUnleashed'' has Admiral Gyozen go insane due to exposure to [[spoiler:Spacegodzilla's]] crystals, exacerbating his already irrational hatred of the kaiju. He realizes it, but then decides to attack anyway. Even without the crystal on board his ship, he was still off his rocker due to seeing an UnknownRival in the Big G. Meanwhile, the King of the Monsters just wants to protect his turf.
* You can become one in ''VideoGame/KanColle'': farming Isuzu, grabbing her radar units once you've raised her enough and feeding her to other ships over and over again? Check. Disassembling or feeding on your fleet girls when they're not the one you wanted or you got bored of them? Check. If you are harsh enough, you can tire your ships under enemy fire just to risk their lives for victories. Your main ship / secretary ship cannot be sunk. And for the other ships? When they are sunk, they are KilledOffForReal. And don't forget they are [[MoeAnthropomorphism young girls]].
* In ''Videogame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'', both Darth Malak and Admiral Saul Karath could qualify, though Malak is the significantly more unbalanced of the two. He used to be a war hero who was presumably competent enough to become almost as influential as Revan, but by the time of the game, [[AttackAttackAttack his tactical abilities seem to have severely eroded]] due to being {{drunk on the dark side}}. In the beginning of the game, he destroys an entire planet to prevent one person from escaping his blockade, and [[BadBoss fails to evacuate]] all of his troops before he does so. By the time he is killed, he has destroyed three planets (and killed most of their citizens) by completely bombing their surfaces. Admiral Karath earns this title for obeying Malak's orders, and then justifying his actions as the normal loss of life during war.

* In ''Videogame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic'', the Sith Warrior companion Malavai Quinn formerly served under one Moff Broysc, an insane and senile Moff to whom he had to play the HypercompetentSidekick and win his battles for, only to be court-martialed and had the credit taken away from him. Eventually he starts contacting the Sith Warrior and starts raving about "Admiral Malcontent" (which he actually believes to be Quinn's actual rank and name). When it becomes clear that his rank and connections protects him from Imperial High Command, Quinn simply abducts him and has him killed.

** Vice Admiral Ross gets a bit of this treatment, too. While he's still a mostly ReasonableAuthorityFigure in Chuck's characterization--occasionally even more so than Sisko--Ross is a crass DirtyOldMan who likes to have a good time with his secretaries, and uses Starfleet funds to finance his relentless skirt chasing.

-->'''The General:''' Good thing the money we paid that farmer with was made from experimental rocket-fuel! ''(detonates cash)''

* ''Series/TheOrville'': Averted. Despite being heavily inspired by ''Star Trek'', where nearly every admiral was in some way corrupt, the Admiralty of the Planetary Union are all presented as consummate professionals [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure willing to listen to reason]] but unafraid to [[DaChief dress down Mercer and his crew]] when [[WhatTheHellHero they rightfully deserve it]]. Y'know, like real Admirals. Eventually played straight after 3 seasons with [[spoiler:Admiral Perry]], who commits high treason to ensure the total destruction of an enemy species.

* ''Series/TheOrville'': Averted. Despite being heavily inspired by ''Star Trek'', where nearly every admiral was in some way corrupt, the Admiralty of the Planetary Union are all presented as consummate professionals [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure willing to listen to reason]] but unafraid to [[DaChief dress down Mercer and his crew]] when [[WhatTheHellHero they rightfully deserve it]]. Y'know, like real Admirals.

* ''Series/TheOrville'': Averted. Despite being heavily inspired by ''Star Trek'', where nearly every admiral was in some way corrupt, the Admiralty of the Planetary Union are all presented as consummate professionals [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure willing to listen to reason]] but unafraid to [[DaChief dress down Mercer and his crew]] when they rightfully deserve it. Y'know, like real Admirals.

All this insanity might make their organizations look incompetent, but presumably the Insane Admirals are just the ones we see... 95% of the brass in any given organization are probably decent folk, but spend their time rubber-stamping military contracts and attending state functions, and never do anything 45-minute drama-worthy. Please note this applies only to officers who are at command level, no one below the rank of Naval Captain/Army Colonel/Airforce Group Captain applies here, see TheNeidermeyer and SociopathicSoldier for those. If they are also completely incompetent, which may overlap, see GeneralFailure.

* The ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' episode "[[Recap/StevenUniverseS5E11LarsOfTheStars Lars of the Stars]]" features the [[EvilIsHammy hammy]] Homeworld space fleet Gem commander Emerald, who's repeatedly outwitted and refuses to shoot down her stolen ship because [[CompanionCube it's her "best friend"]].

All this insanity might make their organizations look incompetent, but presumably the Insane Admirals are just the ones we see... 95% of the brass in any given organization are probably decent folk, but spend their time rubber-stamping military contracts and attending state functions, and never do anything 45-minute drama-worthy. Please note this applies only to officers who are at command level, no one below the rank of Naval Captain/Army Colonel/Airforce Group Captain applies here, see TheNeidermeyer and SociopathicSoldier for those.

* ''Manga/LegendOfGalacticHeroes'' mostly revolves around admirals, so it makese sense that it would have it's fair share of these guys. Duke Braunschweig, who holds the rank of Fleet Admiral and commands 150,000 warships goes off his rocker after his nephew is killed. He decides to take revenge by bombing the planet his nephew used to rule, killing 2,000,000 people in the process. His second-in-command, Marquis Littenheim panics while losing a battle and confuses his supply ships for enemies, despite his chief of staff telling them who they are. He blasts them to smithereeens anyway. Alliance Vice Admiral Willem Holland has some success during a battle. Rather than listening to more experienced fleet commanders, he decides to charge in outpacing his supply line and gets killed for it. Fleet Admiral Lobos accepts a deluded commodore's idea for an invasion of the Empire. The plan doesn't take supply lines into consideration and even after the fleets are starving and/or battered, Lobos refuses to allow them to retreat to their base of operations. The result is that 20 million sailors end up killed.

*** ''Literature/StarTrekCoda'': In the [[AlternateTimeline First Splinter Timeline]] previously ReasonableAuthorityFigure William Ross was one of the main organic operatives of Section 31 until his arrest and death at the hands of a surviving spouse of one of the Section's victims.

** Admiral Rittenhouse in the ''Star Trek'' [[Franchise/StarTrekExpandedUniverse novel]], ''Dreadnought!''. He commissioned the titular warship and named it Star Empire, and if that doesn't tell you where he stood on things, nothing will. His goal was to protect the Federation from its enemies was to overthrow the civilian government and establish a military dictatorship. It was so bad for Starfleet's reputation, that a later novel by the same author used it as a major reason Kirk was more or less forced to accept promotion to Admiral as he was something of a living legend by the end of the five year mission.