History Main / VehicularTurnabout

This trope is ubiquitous in works of naval fiction that are set in the age of WoodenShipsAndIronMen. This is because sailors were awarded prize money for capturing enemy ships. Captured enemy ships would often be incorporated into the captor's own navy (often under their original names, as it was considered bad luck to change the name. HMS ''Guerriere'' is a good example). See Wiki/TheOtherWiki [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prize_money for more information]]. Because SpaceIsAnOcean, science fiction works will sometimes use the same concept with spaceships.

* ''VideoGame/TreasurePlanetBattleAtProcyon'' has this as a game mechanic, where successfully [[{{Boarding Party}} boarding]] an enemy ship will transfer the target ship to your fleet. If enemy ships are captured in the campaign, they will stay in the players fleet for the remainder of the campaign, [[{{Final Death}} unless they are sunk]].

* Ironically, the first fighter planes of the nascent Israeli Air Force were four German-designed Messerschmitt BF 109s. Subverted since they were license-built postwar by Czechoslovakia, and due to a different engine were poor knock-offs of the original marks of the aircraft. In a further irony, they were flown against Egyptian Spitfires -- when most of their pilots had been flying British Spitfires against German Messerschmitts a few years before. The Israeli army also used thousands of rifles from Nazi Germany (which in some cases, still bore swastikas, though these were usually obliterated by stamping) and even some German tanks during the 1948.

* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1987'': Pretty much every ship in the revolutionaries' fleet started out as a Sangtee Empire ship before being stolen by the revolutionaries and used against the Empire.

* In ''VideoGame/StarTrekArmada'', it's possible to knock down enemy shields and then start transporting crew to capture the ship. At that point it becomes yours. As expected, the Borg excel at this. The ships they assimilate also attain a characteristic green glow and gain additions to their hulls that look like pieces of a Borg cube. Also, capturing a construction ship can allow you to build an entire base of the enemy faction, including all of its ships.

* The easiest way to build up a huge navy in games like ''VideoGame/TotalWarShogun2''? Fight enemy ships and board them instead of sinking them with cannons or ArrowsOnFire. Just remember to bring your fleets to port for resupply so you don't fight with a bunch of under-crewed ships. This tends to be averted in ''The Fall of the Samurai'' DLC, where trying to board a ship will likely result in your own ship being pummelled into scrap long before you get in range.

In ''Series/StarTrekPicard'', Seven of Nine uses the queencell to take control of the Artifact, a Borg cube that has been cut off from the Collective and studied by the Romulans for over a decade, temporarily becoming the queen of a micro-Collective.

--> ''Seven of Nine:'' WE ARE BORG! (''echoed by thousands of drones'')

* From the ''VideoGame/MetalSlug'' series of games, since the fourth game onwards, features enemie vehicles that can be occasionally hijacked by the player characters. Including the LV Armour, M-15A Bradley and T-2B Melty Honey.

* In ''VideoGame/SilentStorm'', this is the main way of capturing [[PoweredArmor Panzerkleins]], since they're usually already used by an enemy when you see them. Panzerkleins are very difficult to destroy. Fortunately, their pilots aren't that resilient, especially if you have weapons with high penetration or FrickinLaserBeams. After you kill the pilot, you can remove the dead body from the Panzerklein and then climb inside. After the mission, any Panzerklein you're using at that moment is placed in the hangar of your base, where you can repair and rearm it for free. The only Panzerklein you can't capture is the one used by the BigBad, partly because the game ends as soon as you kill her and partly because it's actually flying, so when you kill her, the armor crashes and explodes.

%% Please see thread to discuss a new image.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/4a69132586b73fb52765f91472aff2fc.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[UsefulNotes/WorldWarI This week]] on ''[[UsefulNotes/ImperialGermany Pimp Mein Panzer]]'': Heinz, the [[SecretWeapon revolutionary new Mk I Tank]] from [[UsefulNotes/BritsWithBattleships Britain]]!]]

-->'''Kanan:''' ''[on a captured Imperial shuttle]'' How is it the Empire keeps letting us steal these things?\\

!!!Examples:

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* ''Franchise/StarWars'': Chewbacca and a pair of Ewoks famously commandeer an AT-ST in ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi''
* In ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger'', American [=POWs=] turn HYDRA's advanced weapons and technology against them. The opening seconds of the breakout is a ZergRush, but with every soldier taken down, the escapees get access to weaponry and vehicles.

* Done a few times with ships in ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'', notably the Navy ship in the [[Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanTheCurseOfTheBlackPearl first film]]. These ships are not stolen, [[InsistentTerminology they are commandeered]]. It's a nautical term.

* In ''Film/TheHobbitTheBattleOfTheFiveArmies'', Azog's army uses chain-steered trolls as shock troops. Bofur kills the rider of one of them and takes the reins, wreaking havoc across the enemy lines like he captured an enemy tank.

* In the ''Literature/HonorHarrington'' series, most space battles result in the complete destruction of enemy ships, however on several occasions, enemy ships are captured and then used against the enemy.
** Earl White Haven gave Grayson the Havenite ships he captured in ''The Short Victorious War,'' boosting the Grayson Space Navy while they built up shipyards for more capable designs.
** The ships Honor captured at Hades for the mass jail break in ''In Enemy Hands'' were first turned against the Havenite force coming to recapture the system, and then later were made a group that answered only to the Protector of Grayson (called "[[PraetorianGuard The Protector's Own]]"), to avoid trouble with Grayson laws limiting the armed forces legally available to Steadholders (like Honor). The ships themselves were initially jokingly called the Elysian Space Navy, which is how Honor triumphantly introduced them to her Manticoran superiors, causing Earl White haven to point out that it puts them in a legal pickle, as it, effectively, means that Manticoran officers are crewing ships of a foreign SpaceNavy. This is despite the fact that there is no star nation called Elysium. The name is a TakeThat to the planet they escaped from called Hades.
** Later in the series, the Manticorans are [[CurbStompBattle capturing hundreds of enemy ships while suffering negligible losses]] (for comparison, their fleet at this point numbers only about 500 capital ships), but they have trouble applying this trope, since the LensmanArmsRace has rendered those captured ships hopelessly obsolete. They wind up offering a few to their allies for study purposes and scrapping the rest, since using them as raw materials is the most effective way to bring the ships up to current standards.
* In ''Literature/{{RCN}}'' series, the enemy ships are often captured and used against them.

* In ''Literature/{{Biggles}} Goes To War'', Biggles and his friends are hired to help a small {{Ruritania}}n state develop its air force. They don't scruple to obtain enemy aircraft by trickery and press them into service.
* In the Literature/LiadenUniverse novel ''Plan B'', the turning point in the attempted invasion comes when the defenders steal three planes from the invaders' own airfield and use them against the invading troops.
* This is {{discussed}} in Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds, when a soldier fancifully suggests doing this with the Martian tripods.
* Quite common in ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'', in which the Rebel Alliance (and later New Republic) ends up with a good number of Imperial starships, gained through capture, defecting crews, or third-party arms dealers. The Nebulon-B Frigate mentioned in the page quote is used as much by the Rebels as the Imperials who originally built them, after [[Film/ReturnOfTheJedi the Battle of Endor]] the Rebels begin fielding captured Star Destroyers, and [[DecliningPromotion after he finally accepts the rank of general]], [[MauveShirt Wedge Antilles]] ultimately gets a Super Star Destroyer as his flagship. The New Republic is even willing to use the Empire's iconic [[MookMobile TIE Fighter]] and variants, though the Rebels at least are smart enough to install DeflectorShields on as many as possible. So as the war against the Empire progresses, veteran pilots have to deal with lingering nervousness when approaching a friendly Star Destroyer, and in some battles squadron leaders have to remind their pilots to [[FriendOrFoe check their IFF sensors]] before taking a snap-shot at a TIE Fighter.
** Notably occurs in ''[[Literature/XWingSeries Wraith Squadron]]'', when the eponymous fighter squadron steals the corvette ''Night Caller'' from Warlord Zsinj's fleet by [[ASimplePlan the simple expedient]] of a makeshift boarding pod disguised as debris. They take it so rapidly that the ship's superiors have no idea it was captured, allowing them to use it for TheInfiltration. Afterwards, it remains in New Republic service, presumably in a less prominent role (and maybe with a less [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast obviously evil name]]).

** For that matter, in ''Empire'', ''Napoleon'', ''Rome II'', and ''Attila'', one of the ways of defeating enemy ships is coming alongside and boarding them. While you can't use captured ships in the same battle, they're yours as soon as the battle is over.