Line #32 Main/VehicularTurnabout


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4	->''"Just once, I'd like to destroy a ship ''we'' didn't pay for!"''
5	-->-- '''Admiral Hurkk''', ''Franchise/StarWars'', on Rebel Nebulon-B frigates
6
7	An extremely common plot in fiction is commandeering enemy equipment and turning it against its former owner as soon as possible, often with the thief in command of the hardware. The commandeered material will often then remain in continuous service rather than being reverse-engineered and mass-produced.
8
9	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).[[note]]Translating the ship's name to the language of capturing nation was usually seen as not really "changing" it, but the foreign-language name would usually be kept if the translated name was already taken. For example, HMS ''Guerriere'' kept the French name after being captured by the Royal Navy because there was already an HMS ''Warrior'' in service. But if the name was the same in both languages ''and'' already taken by another active ship, [[OneSteveLimit it had to be changed regardless of being unlucky]].[[/note]] See Website/TheOtherWiki [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prize_money for more information.]] Because SpaceIsAnOcean, science fiction works will sometimes use the same concept with spaceships. In real life, actually ''using'' captured warships instead of scrapping them became dramatically less common starting with the age of steam and steel, since two different navies would rarely use the same parts for their machinery and thus it would produce logistical difficulties.[[note]]Previously, all ships being made of wood and not having any machinery meant that any repairs or "replacement parts" would be hand-fitted regardless, so whatever differences might exist in the foreign designs weren't going to be a problem. And cannons of that era were still capable of firing ammunition that wasn't quite the same size as what they were designed for, so it wasn't even necessary to swap out the weapons. But as warships got ever more complex, any captured vessel would need increasingly-expensive refits to standardize it with the rest of the fleet, making the ship less likely to be actually worth keeping unless it's very small (meaning the expense isn't going to amount to much), it's dramatically better than whatever else is available, or the capturing navy is desperate enough that they have no choice but to accept all the downsides. The latter two not being particularly common since the inferior navy doesn't usually capture the superior navy's ships. These same downsides can also apply to captured land vehicles and aircraft, but since those are much smaller and usually less expensive and complex than ships it's not nearly as important, which is why captured trucks, tanks, and planes have remained a part of warfare for much longer than captured ships.[[/note]]
10
11	SuperTrope to GrandTheftPrototype, which is the SuperPrototype or otherwise "super weapon-y" version of this trope. See also HoistByHisOwnPetard, UseTheirOwnWeaponAgainstThem, EnemyExchangeProgram, and DeathByIrony. [[JustForFun/IThoughtItMeant Is not a case]] from the ''Franchise/AceAttorney'' series.
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13	----
14	!!Examples:
15	[[foldercontrol]]
16
17	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
18	* ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'' has done this several times over.
19	** The artbook ''MS Era'' has a picture of a [[Anime/MobileSuitGundam Federation GM]] painted green and marching alongside Zakus.
20	** In ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing'', the pacifist Sanc Kingdom obtains several of OZ's Taurus, paints them white, and uses them for their self-defense forces. Not long after, the space rebels White Fang capture an OZ factory, taking not only Tauruses (which they paint brick red) but the new model Virgo II.
21	** In the backstory of ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEED'', the Earth Alliance got the combat data needed to make their own mobile suits by having Jean Carrey, a [[DesignerBabies Coordinator]] pilot, use a GINN captured from ZAFT's forces; in order to ensure he didn't get hit with FriendlyFire, Carrey's machine was painted white.
22	** The protagonists in ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamIronBloodedOrphans'' does this on an almost regular basis. [[PrivateMilitaryContractors Tekkadan]] is a struggling mercenary force of ChildSoldiers short on cash, so they try to salvage as much as possible from their battles. Notable examples include Gjallarhorn Lieutenant Crank's generic Graze-model Mobile Suit, and the [[SpacePirates Brewer's]] Gundam Gusion and even their flagship. And that's not even getting into how much random material they recover: most of the weapons and armor for Tekkadan's Gundam Barbatos are jury-rigged from battlefield scraps.
23	[[/folder]]
24
25	[[folder:Comic Books]]
26	* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman'':
27	** ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1942'': The "gremlins" steal the Ytirflirks' mothership during their SlaveRevolt, then turn around and use the thing to attack the Ytirflirk homeworld and free the rest of their people. They later show up with the thing to put a quick end to the Ytirflirks' attempted attack on earth, which was already going poorly given the local heroes.
28	** ''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.
29	[[/folder]]
30
31	[[folder:Films — Live-Action]]
32	* A recoilless gun mounted on a militia technical is taken over by Deltas and turned against the on-site commander in ''Film/BlackHawkDown''.
33	* 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.
34	* In ''Film/{{Firefox}}'', Clint Eastwood does a GrandTheftPrototype of one of the two of the eponymous Soviet supersonic fighters and uses it to shoot down the one sent after him.
35	* 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.
36	* 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.
37	* The climax of ''Film/RamboIII'' has Rambo hopping into the hatch of a badly-damaged Soviet tank and using it to kick ass on the warzone.
38	* ''Franchise/StarWars'': Chewbacca and a pair of Ewoks famously commandeer an AT-ST in ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi''.
39	* In ''Film/{{U571}}'', while the initial plan is to simply board the sub and scuttle it after capturing its Enigma machine, the loss of their own submarine forces the heroes to take control of U-571 and use it in battle against the Germans.
40	[[/folder]]
41
42	[[folder:Literature]]
43	!!!'''In General:'''
44	* ''Literature/HoratioHornblower'', the ''Literature/AubreyMaturin'' series, Alexander Kent's ''Richard Bolitho'' and other similar book series depict such captures on average at least once a book, if not more. It would be impractical to list every incident.
45	!!!'''Authors:'''
46	* In Creator/SvenHassel's World War II fiction, the lads are often sent on suicide missions or are otherwise caught behind Russian lines and need to get home. This invariably ends up in escapades in Soviet kit they do not know how to use and have to figure out on the spot.
47	** PlayedForLaughs in ''OGPU Prison'' when they swap tanks with a Soviet crew so each can pretend they captured an enemy tank after their own was destroyed.
48	!!!'''Works:'''
49	* 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.
50	* Happens many times in the ''Literature/{{Destroyermen}}'' books. In the final book, [[spoiler:TheAlliance captures a number of [[PuttingOnTheReich League]] warships, including several battleships, severely weakening the League while boosting their own strength]].
51	* In ''Literature/TheGenesisFleet'', the recently settled colony world of Glenlyon receives a visit from a hostile colony called Scatha in the form of an obsolete corvette demanding they pay them protection money. Since Glenlyon has no SpaceNavy, the planetary council asks a retired naval officer named Robert Geary and several others for help. A hacker named Ninja suggests that she can hack the obsolete ship's operating system in order to allow it to be boarded by an assault team. Geary and a group of volunteers don spacesuits and travel aboard a freighter to the corvette, whose sensors have been spoofed by Ninja. She also opens the outer hatch in order to allow the assault team inside while suppressing any warnings. Rob and the team make a leap across space from the freighter to the corvette and take the Scathan ship. He is then placed in command of the newly-named ''Squall'', just in time to face several waves of Scathan attackers. At the end of the novel, Geary is forced to repeat the trick, but the fight for the other ship is tough and costs a lot of lives. The captured destroyer is also too badly damaged to be used.
52	* On ''Literature/{{Gor}}'', naval fights, being of the WoodenShipsAndIronMen type, often use this. Specifically, in ''Renegades of Gor'' the river town of Ar's Station use this to supplement their navy. Ar is a land superpower but doesn't have much of a navy, so they fill their holds with infantrymen and swarm their enemy's ships when they get boarded, capturing the ship and then using it against the enemy's other vessels.
53	* Alexander Kent's ''His Majesty's U-Boat'', set in WWII, is a fictional example of a WWII-era vessel being used against its former owners -- actual captured U-boats never went on patrol under Allied colors.
54	* One novel in ''Literature/TheHistoryOfTheGalaxy'' takes place immediately after the live test of the [[LaResistance colonial]] AntiMatter WaveMotionGun, which results in the destruction of both the colonial and [[TheEmpire Earth Alliance]] fleets. Realizing they have to act before Alliance higher-ups find out that colonies are virtually defenseless (the Alliance can quickly put together another fleet), the colonial admiral hatches a daring plan to steal two Alliance flagship cruisers along with their space docks. The crazy plan succeeds, and the Free Colonies get a reprieve until more ships can be built.
55	* 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.
56	** 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.
57	** 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.
58	** 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.
59	* ''KG 200'' by J.D. Gilman and John Clive is about a Luftwaffe unit that specializes in flying captured Allied aircraft (the unit actually existed, but used them for long-range reconnaissance and dropping enemy agents). In the novel, however, the intention is to use American aircraft to bomb London, to sow discord between the US and British forces.
60	* 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.
61	* Seen a fair bit in ''Literature/PerryRhodan'', with the earliest iconic example probably being the STARDUST II -- an Arkonid battleship that shot down the protagonists' much smaller craft after its first proper interstellar jump to the Vega system, turned out to have been ''already'' stolen by the rather non-Arkonid aliens who had invaded there at the time, was "liberated" by Rhodan & Co. in turn, and eventually became the first flagship of the still-embryonic Terran space fleet for quite a while. (That very shot-down craft is possibly an edge case since, while Rhodan had nothing to do with it and was in fact allied with them at the time, the attack that nuked its stranded mothership on the Moon and left Thora and Crest as its sole surviving crew members simply because they were planetside at the time still came from other parties ''on Earth''.)
62	* In ''Literature/{{RCN}}'' series, the enemy ships are often captured and used against them.
63	* ''Literature/{{Safehold}}'': Charis is afraid this will happen in ''Hell's Foundations Quiver'' after one of their armored ships is captured mostly intact by the Dohlaran Navy. Unfortunately for Dohlar, by the time they seized the ship [[ItWorksBetterWithBullets she'd run out of ammunition for her main guns]] and Dohlar couldn't produce more in time to put the ship into their service.
64	* In ''Literature/ShipOfTheLine'', a Klingon named Kozara manages to capture the ''Enterprise''-E on her shakedown cruise, intending to take the ship to Cardassian territory and lay waste to the enemies of the Empire, as well as ruining the name "Enterprise". At the end of the novel, Kozara's bird-of-prey is captured by the captured Starfleet officers offloaded there.
65	* 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.
66	** 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]]).
67	* This is {{discussed}} in ''Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds'', when the Artilleryman fancifully suggests doing this with the Martian tripods.
68	[[/folder]]
69
70	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
71	* In ''Series/SpaceAboveAndBeyond'', the Earth military captured an alien Bomber. They had to spend some time learning how to operate it before they could use it against the Chigs, though.
72	* Happened frequently in ''Series/StargateSG1'' with the team capturing Goa'uld fighters, or other ships and using them back against the villain of the week. In early seasons the vehicles were [[StatusQuoIsGod often destroyed in the ensuing battle]] however by later seasons, they were reliably keeping their prizes long enough to start reverse engineering them. This shoots them in the foot the first time they try to make an Earth-developed fighter derived from Goa'uld technology, as Apophis booby-trapped his fighters just in case Teal'c ever got in one. This sent O'Neill and Teal'c careening through space and set adrift to slowly die of oxygen deprivation.
73	* Captain Sisko salvages a crashed Jem'Hadar ship in the ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' episode "The Ship". After it's thoroughly analyzed by Starfleet, Sisko uses it the following year in "A Time To Stand" to sneak behind enemy lines and blow up a Dominion storage facility.
74	* ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'', the MirrorUniverse episode "[[Recap/StarTrekEnterpriseS04E18InAMirrorDarkly In A Mirror, Darkly]]". The Tholians steal the USS Defiant (in The Original Series episode "[[Recap/StarTrekS3E9TheTholianWeb The Tholian Web]]") only to have it stolen again by the Terran Empire, hoping to use the Defiant as a GameBreaker due to its technology a hundred years in advance of their own.
75	* In season 3 of ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'', Osyraa, the leader of the [[TheSyndicate Emerald Chain]], captures the ''Discovery'', intending to study the spore drive and to use the ship as a TrojanHorse to get through the shield protecting Federation HQ. Naturally, some of the crewmembers manage to escape their captors and start preparing to retake the ship [[spoiler:with the help of the repair droids, which are being controlled by the Sphere data]].
76	* 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.
77	--> '''Seven of Nine:''' WE ARE BORG! (''echoed by thousands of drones'')
78	[[/folder]]
79
80	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
81	* The strategy game of ''TabletopGame/{{Shogi}}'' (aka "Japanese Chess") allows you to bring back captured pieces on your side as early as your next turn. This is said to be inspired by the actions of mercenaries who would switch sides when captured, rather than be executed.
82	* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'':
83	** Orks often loot enemy vehicles, which involves riveting on some scrap metal armor plates, adding extra weapons, overclocking the engine, maybe giving it [[RedOnesGoFaster a red paintjob]], and welding on some spikes and other gubbins to make it look sufficiently Orky. In earlier editions they could field vehicles right out of other army codices, if using [[ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy the Orks' Ballistic Skill]], while in recent years Orks instead have access to generic Looted Wagons. Their weaponry tends to pack a punch, but every turn there's a chance that the driver will hit the wrong lever and go careening forward at full speed instead of firing.
84	** In a more in-game example, the Mechanicum army list for the Horus Heresy expansion builds almost every vehicle used by the Imperium of Man, and almost every Magos and Archmagos has a plethora of custom vehicle designs. To represent this on the tabletop, the Mechanicum can take every single Imperial superheavy tank and any superheavy flyers or Flying Gargantuan Creatures from ANYWHERE in the rulebooks published by Forge World (which is an extremely extensive collection) as a Lord of War choice as long as it's appropriately modeled as a Mechanicum vehicle. Hobbyists being who they are, this soon led to Mechanicum variants of not only regular heavy tanks but also [[GiantFlyer Tyranid Harridans]] or the [[AirborneAircraftCarrier Tau Manta]], each of which is an army on its own and can carry another two, even without the Mechanicum's fairly powerful vehicle buffs.
85	** Averted in the case of an Imperial commando who tried to hijack a Tau [[MiniMecha battlesuit]] - when the suit didn't recognize him as its pilot, it fried him.
86	* With working vehicles as rare as they are in ''TabletopGame/Twilight2000'' this happens all the time.
87	* Happens a lot in ''TabletopGame/{{BattleTech}}'' fiction -- battlefield salvage as a source of spare parts and entire "new" machines is a long-established part of the setting, and 'Mechs in particular lend themselves rather well to it since it takes a fair bit of effort to destroy them ''completely''. The game itself consequently backs this up with assorted optional rules for salvage, repair, and even outright hostile takeovers of enemy units on the battlefield.
88	[[/folder]]
89
90	[[folder:Video Games]]
91	* In ''Trax'', the titular tank controlled by the player is stolen from the enemy marching squad and converted into your own, giving you a chance to fight back and stop their invasion.
92	* One mission in ''Videogame/MechCommander'' has you escort an APC carrying an elite pilot to a powered-down Masakari assault mech, so the elite pilot can commandeer it and use it against the Smoke Jaguars.
93	* ''VideoGame/StarcraftII'': Raynor's Raiders pull a GrandTheftPrototype on the [[HumongousMecha Odin]], preventing its use by the Dominion. However, this is actually all part of a plan to get the Odin into the heart of the Dominion with a Raider pilot inside. Also, the chief engineer actually reverse-engineers the Odin in order to produce the Thor, a slightly smaller, less powerful, but mass-producible version.
94	** Also applies whenever MindControl abilities are used on a vehicle unit.
95	* One mission in ''VideoGame/{{Freespace}}'' required the player to capture a [[StarfishAlien Shivan]] fighter, and in the next mission use it for reconnaissance in an enemy-held system.
96	* Several missions in ''VideoGame/WingCommander IV'' centered on capturing Confed weaponry and equipment. By the end of the game, it is possible for the Border Worlds Union to have captured several weapons prototypes, two squadrons of advanced starfighters, and two carriers.
97	* The {{Superboss}} of ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiDreamTeam'' is [[spoiler:Bowser Jr, complete with his mini-Koopa Clown Car. After a few turns, he'll get out of it, at which point you can jump into it and chase him down while throwing various objects at him.]]
98	* ''VideoGame/MassEffect'':
99	** Sometime between ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' and ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'', [[TheHero Commander Shepard]] surrenders themself to the Systems Alliance and turns over the ''[[CoolStarship Normandy SR2]]'', which had been placed under their command while they [[EnemyMine were working with Cerberus]]. By the time the third game begins, the ''Normandy'' has nearly completed her refit process to bring her in line with Alliance standards (and to repaint her [[ColorCodedForYourConvenience in Alliance Navy colors]].) A sidequest in ''[=ME3=]'' also results in the capture of a squadron of Cerberus fighters, which are pressed into Alliance service.
100	** During gameplay in ''3'', you can hijack Cerberus Atlas mechs by killing the pilot, although it's difficult and they often fall apart shortly after you do so. The one time you're ''guaranteed'' to have one to play with, you don't have the opportunity to salvage it because the area is lost and you have to run away, but ''damn'' is it fun to use the rocket launcher on clusters of Cerberus troops.
101	* Prevalent through all continuities of ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquer''.
102	** ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerGenerals'':
103	*** The GLA can do this with the optional Hijacker unit, or by having HeroUnit Jarman Kell [[SnipingTheCockpit Snipe the Cockpit]], then ordering any unit to get in the vehicle.
104	*** In ''Zero Hour'', the Chinese can kill the crew of vehicles with a Nuke Cannon loaded with [[NeutronBomb neutron shells]] and send one of their infantry units to occupy it.
105	** In ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert3'', the Soviet commando Natasha can [[SnipingTheCockpit snipe a vehicle's crew]] with her own sniper rifle so a Soviet infantryman can jack it.
106	** In ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerTiberiumWars'', each of the three factions has commandos that can plant charges on the supports of any other faction's HumongousMecha. Then, any engineer can climb inside, instantly repair the damage, and pilot the vehicle.
107	* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 4}}'' treats PowerArmor as something you climb into rather than a piece of armor you don out of your inventory. This means that if you sneak up on someone wearing a suit and yank its fusion core out, then kill them when they're forced to disembark, taking the armor for yourself is as simple as putting the core back in. Alternatively, you can ''shoot'' the fusion core (difficult without the Penetrator perk, which lets you shoot through obstacles) and cause it to go critical and explode, and replace it with a new one when you finish off the armor's former user. But in either case, the power armor will be considered stolen rather than looted, so you'll lose approval points with "nice" companions if you use it in their presence.
108	** On the subject of Power Armor, a few of the Commonwealth's [[AlwaysChaoticEvil raiders]] have managed to refurbish some old suits using whatever scrap metal they have at hand. The results aren't as tough as a proper model of armor but can come as a nasty surprise to adventurers without heavy weaponry.
109	** Depending on how you end the game's main quest, the Minutemen or Railroad can gain captured Vertibirds after defeating the Brotherhood of Steel. [[spoiler:This is required if you finish the game with the Railroad, as you end up attacking the Brotherhood outpost at Cambridge Police Station (which involves killing [[NiceGirl Scribe Haylen]]) to steal a Vertibird to infiltrate the ''Prydwen'' with.]]
110	* The ability to scavenge enemy weapons and hijack enemy vehicles is a key gameplay element of the ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' franchise. You can board virtually any Covenant craft, from the nimble Ghost scout to the aerial Banshee… even while the original pilot is still inside.
111	* ''VideoGame/KirbyPlanetRobobot'' allows Kirby to disable an Invader Armor and then hijack it for his own use.
112	* ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedIVBlackFlag'' allows you to do this with enemy ships, as befitting a game set in the age of WoodenShipsAndIronMen. You can then decide what you want to do with the captured ship: break it down for pieces to repair your ship, use it to lower your wanted level, or send it to join your fleet, which operates in the Atlantic.
113	* 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. It's also the only way to obtain the awesome Black Ship that can pulverize any fleet with its cannons. 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. Also, ironclads are immune to being boarded and cannot board other ships themselves (even though, historically, the Japanese ironclad ''Kotetsu'' was at one point boarded, but the crew managed to repel the attackers).
114	** 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.
115	* From the ''VideoGame/MetalSlug'' series of games, since the fourth game onwards, features enemy vehicles that can be occasionally hijacked by the player characters. Including the LV Armour, M-15A Bradley, and T-2B Melty Honey. Of course, since the first game, the reason that you have friendly vehicles scattered around the stages for you to use in the first place is that the Rebel Army stole them. You're merely taking them back.
116	* 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 [[EnergyWeapon Frickin' Laser Beams]]. 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.
117	* Technically invoked by you, the PlayerCharacter (i.e. Venom Snake) in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain'', where you can explicitly run through the entire game stealing supplies, weaponry, vehicles ''and even personnel'', using them to build your base of power and army.
118	* ''VideoGame/TitanFall2'' reveals that the Frontier Militia stole a lot of Titans from the IMC. This helps justify why both factions use the same Titan chassis types in the multiplayer matches.
119	* ''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 player's fleet for the remainder of the campaign, unless they are sunk.
120	* ''VideoGame/SkiesOfArcadia'': In a game whose protagonists are SkyPirates, it's no surprise that you eventually steal the Empire's advanced prototype flagship to be your CoolAirship.
121	* In ''VideoGame/MercenariesPlaygroundOfDestruction'', often the only way to take on enemy tanks that are too close to order airstrikes on is to kill the machine gunner, then [[InsertGrenadeHere the rest of the crew]], and finally take it over and engage the rest of the enemies. Also, if an enemy helicopter is flying close to the ground, it can be hijacked via grappling hook, and used on the enemy.
122	* Possible in ''[[VideoGame/Interstate76 Interstate '82]]'' and required in one level. Taurus is attempting to sneak into Las Vegas through the sewers but has to open the way by using an enemy vehicle. Thus you have the hero exploring an AbsurdlySpaciousSewer in a [[WeaponizedCar weaponized station wagon]].
123	* ''VideoGame/Rockman4MinusInfinity'': Mega Man can hijack Joe vehicles in Wily Stage 1 and use their weapons against the enemies. This is even encouraged against the stage boss.
124	* ''VideoGame/Rockman7EP'': Mega Man can hijack Truck Joe's truck in a section of Turbo Man's stage and cause mass destruction.
125	* 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. In the sequel, some of the factions have assault ships that specialize in boarding actions. Species 8472 cannot have its ships be boarded or board the enemy themselves. As in the show, they're immune to assimilation.
126	* ''VideoGame/SecretWeaponsOverNormandy'' has a few opportunities in missions to land at an enemy airfield and steal an enemy plane. One notable example has you parachuting out of a bomber into a German airbase to steal an ME-262 jet ''while the base is being bombed''
127	* ''VideoGame/Borderlands3'' allows you to hijack enemy ground vehicles by throwing the driver out and taking the wheel yourself. If the vehicle has a modification that isn't in your library, you can take it to a Catch-A-Ride station and deconstruct it to gain the mod for yourself.
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129
130	[[folder:Western Animation]]
131	* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'': In [[Recap/StarWarsTheCloneWarsS4E8TheGeneral "The General"]], faced with Umbaran [[TheJuggernaut Juggernaut]] heavy tanks and with [[GeneralFailure General Krell]] refusing to send backup, Captain Rex sends Fives and Hardcase to sneak into the Umbaran airbase they're trying to capture and steal starfighters to use to destroy the tanks.
132	* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels'' continues the trend from ''Legends'', featuring numerous instances of the Rebels stealing enemy ships for continued use.
133	-->'''Kanan:''' ''[on a captured Imperial shuttle]'' How is it the Empire lets us keep stealing these things?\
134	'''Rex:''' Oh, I thought it was the same one we used before.
135	* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/GIJoeARealAmericanHero'' had Cobra steal several G.I. Joe vehicles in an attempt to discredit them. So the Joes stole ''Cobra's'' gear and kicked their butts anyway.
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137
138	[[folder:Real Life]]
139	* Happened during WWII to a great extent. The Germans used a great many captured tanks -- French ones were used as training, guard, and anti-partisan units, and Czech ones formed standard combat forces. In the Desert campaign, it was not unknown for both the Axis and Allied sides to scrounge and use each other's captured vehicles so long as the ammo and spares lasted, with Germans operating examples of practically every British tank, whilst so many Italian tanks were captured intact in early 1941 that they were used to equip entire ''armoured regiments''. In 1944, the Guards Armoured Division recycled captured Panthers as "Cuckoo" tanks. The Luftwaffe had a squadron of captured aircraft it used for spy missions, and the Kriegsmarine operated several captured submarines (for example UB-1, the former HMS ''Seal''). The Japanese used captured British Vickers and American M3 Stuart tanks. A number of battles were initiated specifically to prevent the enemy from taking advantage of captured equipment, most significantly the British Attack on Mers-el-Kebir which sank three French battleships and killed over a thousand French sailors [[note]] Britain feared (albeit incorrently) that a collaborationist government in Algeria -- the Vichy régime was fully announced a week later -- could hand the vessels over to Germany following the Armistice. Although Churchill never forgave himself for the loss of French lives, the French forces were given warning and made no attempt to defect to the Royal or Free French navies. [[/note]], and the French Navy itself, taking it as a point of pride that they'd scuttle their ships before allowing anybody to seize them (which they did indeed do when Germany later tried to seize the remaining fleet at Toulon after all).
140	* HMS Morse was a German U-Boat captured intact near Iceland. The ''Morse'' was used to patrol the approach routes to the German U-Boat bases in France: the reasoning being that a German crew so near home would relax and take her for a friendly vessel.
141	* The Germans during WWI operated captured British tanks in addition to their own (since their own design was more cumbersome and took a long time to build).
142	* The Freikorps, a German paramilitary organization formed by Imperial German veterans to combat revolutionaries, used several French and British tanks, and Russian armored cars captured by their previous government
143	* A standard tactic of LaResistance in pretty much any war ever.
144	* 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 war.
145	* Regarding the statement above, the renaming of enemy ships was common practice, just not amongst the British and American fleets. And the British took this rule to the extreme. During the Revolutionary War, the British took a ship called ''Ville de Paris'' (the City of Paris). This ship sank in a storm soon after it was captured, but a second ''Ville de Paris'' was commissioned twelve years later. The only problem was the time period: the second ''Ville de Paris'' was launched during the Napoleonic Wars, where she served admirably. British naval tradition has the battle honours earned by a ship [[LegacyCharacter inherited by any later ships of the same name]], which has resulted in a preference for reusing the names of any ship that's earned any such honours.
146	** Similarly both HMS ''Enterprise'' and HMS ''Temeraire'' were originally ships captured from the French that had their names reused for new ships after the original was lost.
147	* [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Stewart_(DD-224) The peculiar case]] of USS ''Stewart'' (DD-224). ''Stewart'' was a ''Clemson''-class destroyer built in WWI, assigned to the Asiatic Fleet when WWII broke out. ''Stewart'' fought valiantly against superior Japanese opposition in the Asiatic Fleet's [[HopelessWar retreat from the Philippines to Indonesia to Australia]], but was badly damaged and had to be scuttled in Surabaya Harbor on February 22, 1942. Beginning in early 1943, American planes and submarines in the western Pacific started reporting attacks by a "ghost ship" of sorts. She had Japanese-style trunked funnels and a raked-tripod mast, but still had the unmistakable silhouette of a classic American "Four-Stacker." The Japanese had refloated ''Stewart'', given her some cosmetic alterations to avoid friendly fire by looking more Japanese, and commissioned her as Patrol Craft 102. In Japanese service, she was partially responsible for the sinking of USS ''Harder'' (SS-257) in 1944. She was repossessed by the US Navy after the war's end, but since there was already a new ship named USS ''Stewart'', she was called "RAMP-224" (RAMP stands for "Recovered Allied Military Personnel"--rescued [=POWs=]) and transported former [=POWs=] back to the States. She was then decommissioned and sunk for target practice.
148	* The Republic of Texas operated a small navy during the brief period of time when Texas was independent of Mexico and had not yet joined the United States. One of the Texan ships, a schooner named ''Independence'', was captured by the Mexicans on the Brazos River, near the town of Velasco. She would be pressed into service with the Mexican navy as ''La Independencia''.
149	* The Swiss Air Force during World War II did this a lot, as planes from both sides of the war (mostly Allied bombers) would attempt to cross into neutral Switzerland rather than risk bailing out over or crashing in enemy territory. What planes actually made it down to the ground in one piece were often repaired and repurposed to intercept ''other'' incoming aircraft to force them to land for internment. This led to some...interesting incidents where Allied B-24's and B-17's were being threatened by Swiss ''P-51's.''
150	* The mass scale UsefulNotes/{{Russia}}n invasion of UsefulNotes/{{Ukraine}} since early 2022:
151	** In the early phase of the invasion, Ukrainian Ground Forces actually ''increased'' the number of tanks they operate compared to pre-war times because so many Russian tanks were captured or abandoned during the (poorly planned) early phase of the invasion, especially amidst the failed attempt to [[CapitalOffensive seize the capital city]], Kyiv.
152	** Russia's subsequent failure to capture and hold the Kharkiv Oblast in September 2022 resulted in an equally poorly organized pull-back; reports from the ground show ''an entire division'' of armored vehicles (nominally between 150 to 200 units, depending on type) were abandoned in a more-or-less functional state.
153	[[/folder]]

Context Main / VehicularTurnabout