History Main / SpaceIsAnOcean

To some extent, Space Is An Ocean is a JustifiedTrope: not only was space thought to be some kind of fluid until the turn of the 20th century[[note]]The fluid was called "luminiferous aether"; physicists knew they couldn't detect it, but thought that they simply did not have the technical skill to do so at the time. We later discovered that the reason aether couldn't be detected is because it doesn't exist. This wasn't because they were stupid back then and couldn't imagine empty space -- it's because they were sure light waves needed a medium (such as air or water) to propagate through, just as sound waves do. As it turns out, light behaves as both wave and particle, making it possible for light to travel through the vacuum of space like any other matter.[[/note]], but seafarers long ago evolved the organizational techniques necessary to safely operate a self-sufficient vessel in a potentially hostile environment for an extended period of time, and it makes more sense to adopt nautical administrative and logistic features (and the terms for them) instead of inventing everything from scratch.

** This is especially noticeable in his "Juvenile" novels that involved commercial or military space travel such as: ''Literature/BetweenPlanets'', ''Literature/CitizenOfTheGalaxy'', ''Literature/FarmerInTheSky'', ''Literature/SpaceCadet'' and ''Literature/StarmanJones''.
* The ''Literature/HonorHarrington'' novel series technology was set up explicitly so author Creator/DavidWeber could do Literature/HoratioHornblower {{IN SPACE}}, with formations of spacecraft blasting away broadsides at each other and even using "gravitational sails" to navigate hyperspace (hyperspace itself having "currents", "waves" and areas just too damn stormy...err, gravitationally random, to move through safely).

* Creator/PeterFHamilton's spaceships (especially in the ''Literature/NightsDawn'' trilogy) are spherical, and for a reason: Adamist (that is, non-biotechnological) starships use a "ZTT drive" to jump across lightyears. The drive creates a wormhole that, like a black hole, has a spherical event horizon. Activating the drive while the ship is in non-spherical mode (that is, with sensors extended) will lead to everything beyond the event horizon being torn apart and compressed to fusion density. BOOM!

** ''Space Pirate Anime/CaptainHarlock'' is steeped in nauticality: the main title song references the "Sea of Space", the eponymous space pirate's ship ''Arcadia'' has a sterncastle, with a Skull and Cross Bones pirate flag hung above it (and [[LampshadeHanging there's actually a device made specifically to move the flag as if there was wind]]). The ship is steered with an old-fashioned wooden steering wheel, and Harlock has, on occasion, sailed her on and below an ocean. Harlock's friend Emeraldas' ship ''Anime/QueenEmeraldas'' is a literal ship, suspended from a zeppelin.

** In ''Manga/GalaxyExpress999'', and ''Anime/TheGalaxyRailways'', though, [[CoolTrain space is a railway.]]

* Spaceships have a [[TheBridge bridge]] with a big window in the front that looks out on space and is usually at the front or top of the ship. The decks of the spaceship will be parallel to the direction of flight.

* A spacecraft can be caught in an [[SwirlyEnergyThingy "ion storm"]] or the like, which will toss it hither and thither and ultimately run it aground on a strange exotic uncharted planet. [[note]]Ion storms ''are'' a real phenomenon, but they don't work like ocean storms; an ion storm is simply an unusually intense burst of solar wind.[[/note]]