History Main / SinkTheLifeboats

A particularly ruthless (and dishonorable) enemy may decide he wants [[LeaveNoSurvivors no one to live to tell the tale]]. He may torpedo the life boats, shoot down an EjectionSeat or two, blast the [[EscapePod Escape Pods]] to ions, etc. Obviously, this is usually [[MoralEventHorizon a pretty low thing to do]], and in RealLife wars, may (rightly) be considered a war crime, [[WouldNotShootACivilian especially if the craft in question was a civillian craft]].

** Rommel, in fact, made a bit of a habit of this. When ordered to have the 'lazy/cowardly ones' among the Italian troops under his command shot to encourage the rest, he argued ever more [[RefugeInAudacity elaborate]] reasons why he couldn't (Culminating in the excuse that shooting all of them would deplete his ammunition, also a dig at his being horribly under-supplied). Truly crowning was that when he received an order similar to the Commando Order that he was to quietly put out the word than any Jewish prisoners of war he captured were to be taken away from the rest and shot, he ignored that and later once word had gotten out, even more quietly put out the word that any of his troops trying to follow that order would be separated from the rest and...

** Rommel, in fact, made a bit of a habit of this. When ordered to have the 'lazy/cowardly ones' among the Italian troops under his command shot to encourage the rest, he argued ever more [[RefugeInAudacity elaborate reasons why he couldn't (Culminating in the excuse that shooting all of them would deplete his ammunition, also a dig at his being horribly under-supplied). Truly crowning was that when he received an order similar to the Commando Order that he was to quietly put out the word than any Jewish prisoners of war he captured were to be taken away from the rest and shot, he ignored that and later once word had gotten out, even more quietly put out the word that any of his troops trying to follow that order would be separated from the rest and...

A particularly ruthless (and dishonorable) enemy may decide he wants [[LeaveNoSurvivors no one to live to tell the tale]]. He may torpedo the life boats, shoot down an EjectionSeat or two, blast the [[EscapePod Escape Pods]] to ions, etc. Obviously, this is usually [[MoralEventHorizon a pretty low thing to do]], and in RealLife wars, may (rightly) be considered a war crime, especially if the craft in question was a civillian craft. Subtrope of LeaveNoSurvivors.

* In ''NineteenEightyFour'', there's a scene where Winston watches a news report showing [[strike:the other side in the war]] ''his own side'' doing this. A prole woman is actually taken away because she had the gall to complain!

* In a scene near the beginning of ''StarWars: A New Hope'', two Imperials are shooting any escape pods launched from Princess Leia's ship if they detect life signs aboard.
** Of course, given the existence of sentient droids and the fact that they're trying to [[LeaveNoWitnesses stop information]], not a person, from escaping this was a rather foolish approach to take.
*** Except that Droids, like [[TheLordOfTheRings Hobbits]], are [[GenreBlindness always to be ignored or underestimated]].

* Similar to the above, the Battle of the Bismarck Sea (no, [[{{RealLife/CoolBoat}} not that Bismarck]]) A Japanese convoy heading to Papua New Guinea, comprised of 8 transports and 8 escort destroyers, was attacked and completely sunk by Australian Beauforts and American B-17's. Because of how close the convoy was to PNG and the fact that even a few platoons could turn the tide against the Aussies there, the next day the Beauforts returned and strafed every lifeboat they could find. Final body count- over 3,000.

* A slightly less severe version occurs in ''GundamSEED'', where Yzak sees a civilian escape pod and shoots it down because he assumes it's full of military personnel. When he learns the truth later on, he's horrified that he killed civilians, and on the whole the character is treated sympathetically.

* Similar to the above, the Battle of the Bismarck Sea (no, [[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/RealLife/CoolBoat not that Bismarck]]) A Japanese convoy heading to Papua New Guinea, comprised of 8 transports and 8 escort destroyers, was attacked and completely sunk by Australian Beauforts and American B-17's. Because of how close the convoy was to PNG and the fact that even a few platoons could turn the tide against the Aussies there, the next day the Beauforts returned and strafed every lifeboat they could find. Final body count- over 3,000.

[[folder:Manga and Anime]]
* In ''OnePiece'', when Robin's island was destroyed by the world government, they sunk the "evacuation boat" as well. The sheer horror of this was what prompted would-be Admiral Aokiji to spare Robin.
* ''{{Area 88}}'': Nguyen's EstablishingCharacterMoment was [[KickTheDog gleefully]] shooting a pilot who ejected from a plane that he shot down. [[spoiler:He eventually suffers a KarmicDeath.]]
* In the eighth ''{{Dragonball Z}}'' movie, Paragas tries to use his {{Escape Pod}} 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.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Original]]
* In AJJEGames, ''Prinz Eugen'' (one of the LOTW ships) launched an attack on a pirate base. The captain ordered the destruction of escape pods from a pirate ship, on the grounds that the pirates would only conduct further murders.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:RealLife]]

----

* In an episode of the new ''{{Doctor Who}}'' [[spoiler: Harriet Jones, Prime Minister]] shoots down a retreating alien craft after the Doctor had just successfully talked them down from destroying Earth.

* The ''hero'' of ''Run Silent Run Deep'' does this at the climax of the book to make sure a particularly clever Japanese naval officer won't be around to sink any other U.S. subs. Most of his crew are appalled, and ''he'' feels pretty down about it, too.

* The WW1 U-boat captain narrator of [[{{Ptitledpl8vzco2u59}} H.P. Lovecraft]]'s short story "The Temple" [[KickTheDog kicks the dog]] early on by not only sinking a civilian ship, but then "dutifully" shooting the lifeboats 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 ''Run Silent Run Deep'' the hero does this. There is a certain grim logic to it. The reason he is there is to eliminate a captain that had sunk a number of American ships; if only the ship is sunk the whole voyage is meaningless. In the movie version that part [[LighterAndSofter was left out]]

*** Except that Droids, like Hobbits are [[GenreBlindness always to be ignored or underestimated]].

** Next they send dropships with troops to kill anyone who survived the landing on Halo. But keeping any humans from reaching Halo was their primary mission to begin with.

* German U-boats attacking Allied shipping during [[WorldWarTwo World War II]] were accused of this on occasion. Hitler made a strongly worded suggestion towards this end only to have Doenitz countermand it; the reasoning being that if the U-boat crews offered no mercy, they would be granted none. Given the number of U-boat crewmen who survived the war in Allied POW camps was several thousand, the decision was probably wise. Only one incident of a German submarine attacking lifeboats or people in the water was ever confirmed. This was vastly outnumbered by times when U-boat crews were surprisingly solicitious to people in lifeboats, offering food, navigation implements, and course to nearest land- WinstonChurchill in ''The Second World War'' even records a case of a U-Boat notifying the British of the coordinates of a sunk merchant ship.

* The Commando Order,any Commandos where to be shot even if in uniform and taken prisoner,still Even Evil Has Standards Rommel refused to relay this order to his troops.

** Of course, given the existence of sentient droids and the fact that they're trying to stop information, not a person, from escaping this was a rather foolish approach to take.

[[AC:{{Film}}]]

[[AC:{{Literature}}]]

* The WW1 U-boat captain narrator of [[{{Ptitledpl8vzco2u59}} H.P. Lovecraft]]'s short story "The Temple" [[KickTheDog kicks the dog]] early on by not only sinking a civilian ship, but then "dutifully" shooting the lifeboats after promising to let the passengers live (he needed them to oblige his getting pictures of the sinking ship first, since their bodies would have spoiled the shot). Since he's narrating a Lovecraft story, his status as a DoomedProtagonist soon to face KarmicRetribution with nothing but an ApocalypticLog left to tell the tale is all but assured.

[[AC:LiveActionTV]]

[[AC:{{Manga}} and {{Anime}}]]

[[AC:TabletopGames]]

[[AC:VideoGames]]

[[AC:WesternAnimation]]

[[AC:WebOriginal]]

[[AC:RealLife]]