History Main / SinkTheLifeboats

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-->-- '''Weyoun''', ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'', "The Changing Face Of Evil"

* Under Protocol I, article 42, sections 1 and 2 of the Geneva Conventions, adopted in 1977 to supplement the 1949 Conventions, pilots who survive the destruction of their aircraft are considered ''hors de combat'' ("out of combat"), since they can no longer perform their intended role, and as such, attacking them is considered a war crime.[[note]]I.42.1 No person parachuting from an aircraft in distress shall be made the object of attack during his descent.; I.42.2 Upon reaching the ground in territory controlled by an adverse Party, a person who has parachuted from an aircraft in distress shall be given an opportunity to surrender before being made the object of attack, unless it is apparent that he is engaging in a hostile act.[[/note]]

** On one occasion, though, this would come back to [[LaserGuidedKarma bite the offending fighter pilot in the ass]]. On March 31, 1943, a B-24 crewman named Owen J. Baggett was shot at and wounded by Japanese fighters in his parachute after bailing from his fatally damaged aircraft. Upon taking a hit, he [[PlayingPossum played dead]] in his harness, hoping to convince the Japanese pilots to fly away. Most of them did, but one pilot decided to fly in closer to confirm the kill. When he got close, Baggett pulled out his [[CoolGuns Colt M1911 pistol]] and fired four shots into the fighter's canopy, causing it to stall and plummet out of sight. [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome This made Baggett legendary as the first (and only) man to shoot down a Japanese fighter using an M1911]].

* In ''FanFic/OrderInChaos'' the commander of a Centauri picket gives this order about the life pods of the Orieni explorer ''Farthest Horizon''. [[{{Justified}} 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]].

* Under Protocol I of the 1949 Geneva Conventions, pilots who survive the destruction of their aircraft are considered ''hors de combat'' ("out of combat"), since they can no longer perform their intended role, and as such, attacking them is considered a war crime.

* 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 EstablishingCharacter moment 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.

* ''WesternAnimation/TitanAE'': During the HomeworldEvacuation of Earth, most of humanity escapes [[RedShirt to varying]] degrees of success when much of the evacuation ships get blown up.

* In the classic ''WebAnimation/LlamasWithHats 2'', Carl manages to sink an entire cruise ship.

* In the classic ''WebAnimation/LlamasWithHats 2'', Carl manages to sink an entire cruise ship. The dialogue goes something like:
-->'''Paul:''' Ummm...where are the lifeboats?\\
'''Carl:''' I have no idea what you are talking about...\\
'''Paul:''' Where are the lifeboats, Carl?\\
'''Carl:''' Probably at the bottom of the ocean. I bit lots of holes in them.

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

** ''Manga/MobileSuitGundamTheOrigin'': The Black Tri-Stars disable General Revil's flagship, the Ananke and in the OVA version of the events, Mash snipes the escape ships as they flee the sinking Magellan. Gaia stops him before he can blow up Revil's escape vessel as he's more valuable alive.

-->-- '''Weyoun''', ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine''

** 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.''

** It's also dangerous for the submarine. 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.

** Both sides of the coin were seen in the aftermath of the Cruiser Night Action off Guadalcanal on November 13, 1942 (which happened to be a Friday). The light cruiser USS ''Atlanta'', badly damaged and dead in the water, was the only ship left floating in [[MeaningfulName Ironbottom Sound]] the day after the battle, with the badly-bloodied American and Japanese fleets having both withdrawn. ''Atlanta'''s crew did what they could to rescue men in the oil-slicked and shark-infested water (both sides had lost ships), but Japanese sailors refused the lifelines thrown to them, with some even shouting insults in English at their would-be rescuers. The men aboard ''Atlanta'', who had lost hundreds of shipmates aboard their own battered vessel, took personal offense and began shooting Japanese survivors in the water. An aversion took place at the same time, as a motor launch pulled alongside with men of both nationalities aboard. It took several minutes for anyone to notice that the boat's coxswain was a Japanese petty officer (they figured he was a Bosun's Mate, because "the rating insignia is the same in pretty much every navy"). The crew of ''Atlanta'' accepted his help without complaint, and even detailed a few men to help him handle the boat. When ''Atlanta'' has to be scuttled that afternoon, the Japanese Bosun's Mate with the motor launch helped evacuate the ship's crew and the men they had rescued. In the end, he saved over a hundred lives.

* ''Manga/{{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.]]

* A rare heroic example in ''Anime/TowardTheTerra''. After the TimeSkip (the series had a lot of them), [[spoiler:Jomey has taken over as Soldier and has had it with humans and their treatment of the Mu. To the point he basically declares war on humanity and broadcasts a warning to stay out of the Mu's way or die. To illustrate Jomey's new [[MoralEventHorizon state of mind]], Tony and the other Children Of The Mu take down an entire fleet of human warships with just 3 fighters. As the escape pods are trying to flee Tony lands on one and telepathically asks Jomey a question. The response is to do it. Tony then proceeds to destroy them all, leaving no survivors]]. Even the rest of the Mu are [[WhatTheHellHero taken aback by the move]].

** This is usually the Dominion M.O. in ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine''. In "Valiant", for example, the Dominion shoot down the titular ship's escape pods moments after launch (but conveniently miss the main characters, who were shielded by the explosion of the ''Valiant''). They do take prisoners occasionally, though certainly not as a rule. This is defied in "The Changing Face of Evil," in which the female Founder orders Weyoun NOT to destroy a swarm of escape pods. Her reasoning is that the [[SpareAMessenger frightened troops will return home and spread their fear]], thereby demoralizing the enemies of the [[TheEmpire Dominion]].
** ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'' ("In A Mirror, Darkly", Part One). ''Enterprise'' is destroyed by the Tholians who also shoot at the escape pods even though they're already trapped inside a Tholian energy web, as befitting the DarkerAndEdgier world of the MirrorUniverse. There are only [[CreatorInjoke 47 survivors]], but that's enough to allow a Part Two.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

Subtrope of LeaveNoSurvivors. If the lifeboats are carrying wounded, overlaps with KickThemWhileTheyAreDown. Frequently treated as a MoralEventHorizon. Shares some similarities in terms of the moral blackness of the act with ShootTheMedicFirst, though the latter can be arguably be justified for pragmatic reasons, this trope is almost always ForTheEvulz.

It generally shows just how evil a villain is, and can be a very quick means of [[MoralEventHorizon making the villain irredeemable]] in the eyes of the audience, in addition to having the audience cheer louder when the guy who did this finally bites the dust.

** An inversion happens in ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam00'', where The Innovators utilize [[EscapePod Core Fighters]] built into their Mobile Suits [[VillainExitStageLeft in order to eject should their Suits get severely damaged.]] [[spoiler:In the final episode, Allelujah Haptism in his fight against one of the Innovators manages to tear out the Core Fighter from his opponent before destroying the Mobile Suit.]]

* In ''LightNovel/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.
* ''Franchise/DragonBall'':

** In the eighth ''Manga/DragonBall Z'' movie, 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.
* ''Anime/MazingerZ'': [[TheDragon Baron Ashura]] ordered a [[RoBeast Mechanical Beast]] to sunk a passenger ship. Then he personally machine gunned the survivors in the lifeboats to death while laughing manically.
* In ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamIronBloodedOrphans'' Season 2, [[spoiler:when the Turbines get attacked by Gjallarhorn, Naze orders everyone to evacuate, intending to take them on solo (though his wife Amida Arca refuses to abandon him). Iok orders his men to sink the lifeboats, and they manage to get a couple before Tekkadan's boys "accidentally" stumble across the battle and cover their retreat.]] As horrible as the act is already, there's an even more cold-blooded reason for it: [[spoiler:Iok's forces are using illegal Dáinsleif railcannons [[{{Hypocrite}} (the weapons they accused Naze of transporting)]] and [[LeaveNoWitnesses they're assuring that nobody can report them.]]]]
* A slightly less severe version occurs in ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEED'', where Yzak sees a civilian escape pod and shoots it down because he assumes it's full of military personnel.[[labelnote:*]]This isn't as ludicrous as it sounds, since the pod originated from a military base and Yzak had no way of knowing that a group of refugees had been brought there by the ''[[CoolShip Archangel]]''.[[/labelnote]] When he learns the truth later on, he's horrified that he killed civilians, and on the whole the character is treated sympathetically.
* ''Manga/MobileSuitGundamTheOrigin'': The Black Tri-Stars disable General Revil's flagship, the Ananke and in the OVA version of the events, Mash snipes the escape ships as they flee the sinking Magellan. Gaia stops him before he can blow up Revil's escape vessel as he's more valuable alive.

* A rare heroic example in ''Anime/TowardTheTerra''. After the 2nd (or was it 3rd?) TimeSkip (the series had a lot of them) [[spoiler: Jomey has taken over as Soldier and has had it with humans and their treatment of the Mu. To the point he basically declares war on humanity and broadcasts a warning to stay out of the Mu's way or die. To illustrate Jomey's new [[MoralEventHorizon state of mind]], Tony and the other Children Of The Mu take down an entire fleet of human warships with just 3 fighters. As the escape pods are trying to flee Tony lands on one and telepathically asks Jomey a question. The response is to do it. Tony then proceeds to destroy them all, leaving no survivors.]] Even the rest of the Mu are [[WhatTheHellHero taken aback by the move.]]

* ''Franchise/StarTrek''

* ''Franchise/StarWars''

** [=BattleMechs=] are actually fairly safe to fight in (relative to conventional vehicles, anyway, to say nothing of service in the infantry); you can't actually ''count'' on taking out a [=MechWarrior=] by simply shooting up his or her machine, so depending on the circumstances taking that cheap shot may in fact be the single best chance you have to eliminate him or her more permanently as a threat. Something that won't be lost on the {{Combat Pragmatist}}s of the setting, obviously...

* At the end of the tutorial level in ''Videogame/AceCombatAssaultHorizon'', Bishop gets shot down, deploys his chute, and gets a chance to observe the ongoing furball before he is splattered against the plane that shot him down. It's unknown whether the pilot did this intentionally, but given the circumstances, it's actually quite likely.

* ''VideoGame/{{Allegiance}}'' has a game mechanic that discourages players from [[SinkTheLifeBoats 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.

* Occurs fairly frequently in ''VideoGame/EVEOnline'' and is commonly known as "Podding".
** Note that this does not kill anyone permanently, but it does destroy any implants the victim was currently using.
*** CONCORD does consider this a much more serious offense than simply destroying a ship. But CONCORD's jurisdiction is limited.

* This is done automatically in ''VideoGame/NexusTheJupiterIncident'' both by your ships and your enemies', as flak lasers cannot be controlled (you can shut them off, though).
** If one of your ships is damaged beyond repair, the crew starts evacuating in escape pods. If you manage to retrieve at least 50% of the crew, the new (identical) ship you get for the next mission will have the same experience as the lost one. You will, however, have to get all new equipment.
* The game ''VideoGame/OperationInnerSpace'' has a law against this kind of behaviour.

* A variant occurs in ''VideoGame/{{Starcraft}} Brood War'', with Kerrigan overrunning and destroying the fleeing forces of the UED to cement how evil she's become.
** It's then {{Subverted}} in ''VideoGame/StarcraftIIHeartOfTheSwarm'', as Kerrigan is placed in the same situation (her forces have routed the enemy and the opposing commanding officer tells her to let their men live) and spares fleeing enemy troops, demonstrating that she has regained her humanity. But it's played straight in the Kaldir missions, as Kerrigan had to prevent the stationed Protoss base from alerting to her presence. The "Shoot the Messenger" involve stopping their shuttles from reaching their warp conduits and the last segment of "Enemy Within" involves literally destroying their escape pods before the timer runs out and killing every last Protoss in the ship.
* This is almost always the result when the player ejects in ''{{VideoGame/Starlancer}}''. There is also a mission when the player has to stop enemy fighters which are attempting to perpetrate it on the [[EscapePod Escape Pods]] from a recently-destroyed SpaceStation.

** Despite this, your character doesn't see anything wrong with that.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Titanfall}}'', the losing team at the end of a game is tasked with escaping via jumpship extraction. The winning team, conversely, is tasked with making sure they don't: one way to accomplish this is to shoot down the jumpship before it leaves.
** It's also common to try to shoot those ejecting from their Titans. Of course, the ejectee is usually shooting back.

* One of the Kilrathi aces in ''VideoGame/WingCommander'' has a reputation for shooting ejection pods. This doesn't seem to come up if you eject when flying against him, though.

* In the classic ''WebAnimation/LlamasWithHats'' 2, Carl manages to sink an entire cruise ship. The dialogue goes something like:

[[folder:Webcomics]]