History Main / SinkTheLifeboats

* In the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laconia_incident Laconia incident]] on 12 September 1942, the German U-Boat ''U-156'' had torpedoed the passenger ship [=RMS=] ''Laconia'' off Ascension Island, and was busy attempting to rescue around 2000 survivors, many of which were Italian prisoners of war, when an American B-24 Liberator bomber spotted the submarine, and was given orders to eliminate it. The bomber made repeated passes, bombing and strafing ''U-156'' and the ''Laconia'''s wreckage. Many survivors of the initial sinking were killed in this attack, and ''U-156'', plus another U-Boat, ''U-506'', were forced to abandon those who had not made it aboard to avoid being destroyed. While other vessels soon made the journey to the wreck site to try to rescue those who had not been killed by the bomber, the survivors of this second attack were now at the mercy of the sharks patrolling the sea, which, attracted by blood, proceeded to attack. The scale of the slaughter is shocking; around 1,658 to 1,757 people were left dead when the night was over, including approximately 1,400 Italians. A few days later, ''U-506'' and its complement of rescued passengers was attacked again, this time by a squadron of B-25 Mitchell bombers and the same B-24 from the day of the attack, the latter of which attempted to use depth charges to destroy the submarine, though it escaped destruction by crash diving. The attacks on the U-Boats led to the Kriegsmarine enacting the Laconia Order, forbidding U-Boat crews from conducting rescue operations and ushered in in unrestricted submarine warfare. [[KarmaHoudini The crew of the bombers who attacked the U-boats taking part in the rescue effort were awarded medals for doing so.]]

* In the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laconia_incident Laconia incident]] on 12 September 1942, the German U-Boat ''U-156'' had torpedoed the passenger ship [=RMS=] ''Laconia'' off Ascension Island, and was busy attempting to rescue around 2000 survivors, many of which were Italian prisoners of war, when an American B-24 Liberator bomber spotted the submarine, and was given orders to eliminate it. The bomber made repeated passes, bombing and strafing ''U-156'' and the ''Laconia'''s wreckage. Many survivors of the initial sinking were killed in this attack, and ''U-156'', plus another U-Boat, ''U-506'', were forced to abandon those who had not made it aboard to avoid being destroyed. While other vessels soon made the journey to the wreck site to try to rescue those who had not been killed by the bomber, the survivors of this second attack were now at the mercy of the sharks patrolling the sea, which, attracted by blood, proceeded to attack. The scale of the slaughter is shocking; around 1,658 to 1,757 people were left dead when the night was over, including approximately 1,400 Italians. The attack on ''U-156'' and ''U-506'' led to the Kriegsmarine enacting the Laconia Order, forbidding U-Boat crews from conducting rescue operations and ushered in in unrestricted submarine warfare.

** It's also dangerous for the submarine. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laconia_incident A celebrated incident]] of U-boats trying to save men they had sunk was (literally) scuttled by Allied air raids that caught them on the surface. Infamously (and rather inexplicably), the American bombers that came across the U-boats bombed and strafed them ''despite being able to clearly see and hear that the U-boats had survivors crowding their decks, were towing lifeboats with yet more survivors, and were calling for help in the clear.'' [[KarmaHoudini The crew of the bombers who attacked the U-boats taking part in the rescue effort were awarded medals for doing so.]]

* In the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laconia_incident Laconia incident]] on 12 September 1942, the German U-Boat ''U-156'' had torpedoed the passenger ship [=RMS=] ''Laconia'' off Ascension Island, and was busy attempting to rescue the 2000-strong survivors, many of which were Italian prisoners of war, when an American B-24 Liberator bomber spotted the submarine, and was given orders to eliminate it. The bomber made repeated passes, bombing and strafing ''U-156'' and the ''Laconia'''s wreckage. Many survivors of the initial sinking were killed in this attack, and ''U-156'', plus another U-Boat, ''U-506'', were forced to abandon those who had not made it aboard to avoid being destroyed. While other vessels soon made the journey to the wreck site to try to rescue those who had not been killed by the bomber, the survivors of this second attack were now at the mercy of the sharks patrolling the sea, which, attracted by blood, proceeded to attack. The scale of the slaughter is shocking; around 1,658 to 1,757 people were left dead when the night was over, including approximately 1,400 Italians. The attack on ''U-156'' and ''U-506'' led to the Kriegsmarine enacting the Laconia Order, forbidding U-Boat crews from conducting rescue operations and ushered in in unrestricted submarine warfare.

* ''VideoGame/{{Allegiance}}'' has a game mechanic that discourages players from Sinking The Life Boats in most situations. When an enemy player's spaceship is destroyed, they are ejected in an EscapePod, and must slowly fly back to a friendly base or ship to be rescued, get a new ship, and re-join the battle. This gives the enemy an advantage, since the team of the "podded" pilot now has one less member doing something useful until the pod reaches home. However, if the pod is shot down by the enemy, the pilot is immediately re-spawned back at base, and can immediately rejoin the fight. It is more advantageous to let them float.

** In ''Anime/DragonBallZBrolyTheLegendarySuperSaiyan'', Paragas tries to use his EscapePod to flee from his rampaging son, Broly, and from the comet about to collide with the planet he had previously lured the Z-Fighters to. Unfortunately for him, Broly catches up to him, [[SelfMadeOrphan crushes the pod with his bare hands]], and throws the remains into the sun.

[[quoteright:350:[[UsefulNotes/WorldWarTwo https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/women_and_children_first.jpg]]]]

* ''Anime/AldnoahZero'' decided the show the depths that Trillram, a martian pilot with advanced alien technology (including DeflectorShields), was willing to go in the name of [[WarIsGlorious glory]] when he mercilessly slaughtered a squadron of F-22 Raptors, culminating in him ''ramming'' an ejected pilot just to kill him, and enjoying every moment of it.

* In ''Literature/CrestOfTheStars'', the Abh's enemies make no effort to prevent their long-range missiles from destroying escape shuttles (possibly even intentionally targeting them), the barbarity of which shocks Jinto. Lafiel is as calmly rational about it as she is most things, noting that the enemy considers the Abh nothing more than rebellious machines.
* ''Manga/DragonBall'':
** In the movie ''Anime/CoolersRevenge'', the backstory of Planet Vegeta's destruction and Goku going to Earth is expanded, with it revealed that Goku's pod was spotted by Cooler's ship, but he prevents his men from shooting it down, on the grounds that it's Frieza's problem and that Goku [[UnderestimatingBadassery isn't a threat]]. At the end of the movie, when Cooler is [[HurlItIntoTheSun launched into the sun by Goku]], he remembers this and realizes [[NiceJobFixingItVillain he should've shot Goku's pod when he had the chance]].
** In ''[[Anime/DragonBallZBrolyTheLegendarySuperSaiyan Broly – The Legendary Super Saiyan]]'', Paragas tries to use his EscapePod to flee from his rampaging son, Broly, and from the comet about to collide with the planet he had previously lured the Z-Fighters to. Unfortunately for him, Broly catches up to him, [[SelfMadeOrphan crushes the pod with his bare hands]], and throws the remains into the sun.

* In ''Manga/OnePiece'', when Robin's island was destroyed by the World Government, they sunk an evacuation boat full of innocents as well on the off-chance that one of the scholars they were after was on board. The sheer horror of this was what prompted would-be Admiral Aokiji to spare Robin, and the ship that sank it was commanded by Aokiji's fellow Admiral-to-be, the KnightTemplar Akainu/Sakazuki.

* In one story by Creator/WalterMoers: One evil, opium-addicted captain sabotages the lifeboats (but one) of his own ship, as part of his EvilPlan to take the women passengers to an unknown island and make them into his [[SexSlave harem]].
* ''ComicBook/TheUnknownSoldier'' was on a mission that got him trapped on a U-Boat while still in disguise. When it sinks an Allied ship, a fanatical Nazi officer in command on top has a lifeboat destroyed with the U-Boat's artillery gun with a smug smile. That was too much for the Soldier who attacks the Nazi and is of course instantly subdued and unmasked.

* In ''FanFic/OrderInChaos'' the commander of a Centauri picket gives this order about the life pods of the Orieni explorer ''Farthest Horizon''. [[{{JustifiedTrope}} This has a very good reason]]: a ship from the ''Farthest Horizon''[='=]s escort had previously landed on Na'ka'leen to try and find out why the Centauri had not colonized the very rich planet, [[GoneHorriblyRight and had found out when a Feeder got on the escort and proceeded to infect the whole squadron]] with other Feeders, [[NightmareFuel mind-eating creatures that creeps around in total silence, with any survivor of an encounter with them possibly having been infected and carrying a developing Feeder around]]... [[OhCrap And they had told the Centauri when they tried to surrender]]. Simply put, the Centauri knew that allowing even a single Feeder to land on an inhabitated planet (such as the very close ''Centauri Prime'') would cause a galactic-scale threat, [[IDidWhatIHadToDo so they took the necessary steps to prevent it]]: [[ShootTheDog destroy the ship and most life pods, check the few survivors for infection and kill any infected, interrogate the rest to find out the numbers of the escort ships, and hunt down those too]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon'', when cornered by [[{{Kaiju}} the Red Death]], Spitelout shouts, "Back to the ships!" Stoick, realizing what's going on, shouts, "No!" Sure enough, the Red Death torches the Vikings' ships, leaving Stoick and his people stranded on the island and seemingly easy pickings, until [[BigDamnHeroes Hiccup and the Dragon Riders arrive.]]

* In ''Film/AirForceOne'', as he is wearing one parachute and tossing the rest out of the plane, Creator/GaryOldman's character gloats that either way (live or die) he wins since the GreaterScopeVillain General is being released at the same time.

* In French film ''[[Film/TheDamned1947 The Damned]]'', a Nazi submarine sinks ''another German ship'' -- Germany has surrendered, but the submarine is manned by TheRemnant, which sinks the surface ship for obeying the surrender order. The folks on the submarine then machine-gun the lifeboats to LeaveNoSurvivors.
* ''Film/MurphysWar'' (1971). The title character's RoaringRampageOfRevenge against the U-boat is due to the Germans machine-gunning his crewmates; Murphy being the SoleSurvivor.

* In ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour'', there's a scene where Winston watches a news report showing his country doing this. A prole woman is actually taken away because she had the gall to complain!
* In Creator/JohnBirmingham's ''Literature/AxisOfTime'' trilogy, UsefulNotes/JohnFKennedy and his crew aboard the PT-109 are horrified when the "uptimers" begin to shoot at the Chinese survivors who are trying to get board and are threatening to capsize the boat. Given that the "uptimers" come from a world where terrorism has gone too far, this may be expected.

* One of the stories in ''Literature/ClassicSingaporeHorrorStories'', titled "Message in A Bottle", which is set in the second World War starring a sadistic Japanese submarine commander as it's VillainProtagonist. His EstablishingCharacterMoment have him ordering his men to sink an American ship, the USS Albatross, via torpedoes (to the cheers of the submarine's crew) and then break surface as he takes aim at the lifeboats. Before cracking a smug smile at how he sank four boats with exactly four shots.

* In Creator/TimothyZahn's ''Literature/TheConquerorsTrilogy'', the Zhirrzh deliberately target and destroy the life pods of the human vessels they defeat. The humans take this as evidence of their bloodthirstiness, [[spoiler:until learning that radio waves are dangerous to the Zhirrzh, causing them to mistake the pods' automatic distress beacons for weapons]].
* Towards the end of [[Literature/TheExpanse Caliban's War]] a UN ship gets holed by a missile [[spoiler:containing a Protomolecule monster. The ship is quickly overrun and a quarantine enforced on it.]] Some time after Admiral Nguyen is denied rescue, a lifepod is launched and the other UN ships shoot it down to stop anything from escaping.
* In Creator/JohnHemry's ''Literature/TheLostFleet'', both sides have been known to fire upon escape pods.

* The World War I U-boat captain narrator of Creator/HPLovecraft's short story "Literature/TheTemple" [[KickTheDog kicks the dog]] early on by not only sinking a civilian ship, but then "dutifully" shooting the lifeboats [[ILied after promising to let the passengers live]] (he needed them to oblige his taking photos of the sinking ship first, since their bodies would have spoiled the shot). Since he's narrating a [[CosmicHorrorStory Lovecraft story]], his status as a DoomedProtagonist soon to face karmic retribution with nothing but an ApocalypticLog left to tell the tale is all but assured.
* In the Barrett Tillman novel ''Warriors'', a Saudi Tiger Force[[note]]an F-20 Tigershark force led by foreign instructors[[/note]] pilot kills an ejecting Israeli with his guns, assuming it was fair game after another Israeli collapsed the parachute of one of his comrades.[[note]]This was accidental, though the Saudi pilot did not know it.[[/note]] The Tiger Force commander is incensed as it sets a bad precedent and demotes the pilot from flight leader.

* In ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'', General Grievous orders his flagship, the ''Malevolence'', to shoot at fleeing escape pods. [[ForTheEvulz On the grounds that]] [[TheDreaded he has a reputation to uphold]]. He also had the slightly more legitimate reason of ensuring that the Republic does not learn of the ''Malevolence'''s secret weapon (a giant ion cannon) and begin countermeasures. Sure enough, it doesn't take long after some survivors are successfully recovered that the ''Malevolence'' is crippled and scuttled.