History Main / CrewOfOne

** Though in the film, he mostly just drives the tank, with apparently limited maneuverability. When he ''does'' fire the cannon, it is completely stationary (implying that he moved about in it) and is being fired at an oncoming train.
** Behind the scenes, Brosnan wasn't controlling the tank, just sticking his head through the front hatch. The real driver was lying prone on the floor underneath him and looking through a concealed glass panel cut out of the glacis plate.

* Taken to spectacular heights in Creator/KeithLaumer's ''Literature/{{Bolo}}'' series, where massive continent-sieging combat vehicles can be operated by a single pilot. Some of the later models, however, ''[[InstantAIJustAddWater don't even need a pilot at all]]''.
** Though supposedly not artificially intelligent, one Bolo mk III demonstrates the ability to operate entirely without human control. Most Bolo stories feature mk XV or higher units that have no real need for human crew, though almost all marks are intended to carry a commander.

* ''VideoGame/{{Starbound}}'': According to lore, Protectorate ships such as yours are supposed to be staffed by a minimum of three crew members (the smallest is roughtly the size of a bus; each tier above that takes two more), but since you start the game fleeing a planet-destroying EldritchAbomination, you may be excused for flaunting protocol by flying solo. You can recruit crew if you want, but they mostly exist to accompany you on planetside exploration and tend to spend time on the ship just lounging around. (Although mechanics and engineers have a direct effect on the ship's performance, even if they're not ''seen'' doing anything.)

* Averted in the MMO-FPS ''VideoGame/WorldWarIIOnline''. More of a Simulator than a true FPS, driving tanks and boats required multiple crew members for multiple respective positions; The driver is, in fact, unable to shoot, has poor viability, etc. The player can swap between positions easy, however, but that doesn't lend much good in battle when one well-aimed shell can take you out.

[[quoteright:350:[[VideoGame/MedalOfHonorAlliedAssault https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/193353_medal_of_honor_allied_assault_spearhead_windows_screenshot.jpg]] ]]
[[caption-width-right:350: Notice how there's no loaders or spotters? This is just the tip of the iceberg...[[note]]The PlayerCharacter in a later level here manages to operate a ''tank'' without the need of additional crew members.[[/note]]]]

* ''VideoGame/FTLFasterThanLight'' splits the difference. One person ''can'' control the ship by themselves, but without additional crew at the various duty stations for weapons, shields, etc they function noticeably worse. And that's before they start taking damage.

* The Landmaster in ''VideoGame/StarFox''. Probably justified due to the advanced tech of the races in the Lylat system. Also, it does seem to be hardly larger than an Arwing (at most), and just about as complex.

** While UNSC planes (space or otherwise) ''can'' be flown by one pilot, most of them do seem to operate with a full crew. It's mostly [[SuperSoldier Spartans]] with their advanced neural interfaces who can operate them solo, like when the Master Chief pilots a Pelican gunship in ''VideoGame/{{Halo 4}}''.

* [[https://www.orionsarm.com/eg-article/48e1514fc0720 Interstellar singleships]] in ''WebOriginal/OrionsArm'' are spaceships capable of traveling interstellar distances while being piloted by just one person. They're usually crewed by one to five people.

* The title ship in 'Manga/QueenEmeraldas'' is crewed by a single person, her eponymous captain, possibly justified by Emeraldas being one of the two legendary pirate captains of the Anime/{{Leijiverse}} and by the ship having an advanced AI (whose personality, however, is apparently a copy of her captain's, too). Metaphorically, this serves as a constant reminder that [[LonelyAtTheTop for all her power, Emeraldas is forever consigned to loneliness]].

* ''VideoGame/{{Halo 4}}'' has the ''Mantle's Approach'', an enormous Forerunner vessel piloted by one Forerunner, the Didact. This is justified since the Forerunners are {{Sufficiently Advanced Alien}}s with near-godlike abilities.
* The title ship in ''Anime/QueenEmeraldas'' is crewed by a single person, her eponymous captain, possibly justified by Emeraldas being one of the two legendary pirate captains of the Anime/{{Leijiverse}} and by the ship having an advanced AI (whose personality, however, is apparently a copy of her captain's, too). Metaphorically, this serves as a constant reminder that [[LonelyAtTheTop for all her power, Emeraldas is forever consigned to loneliness]].

* ''VideoGame/{{Mercenaries}}'':
** Oddly, it's not allowed when driving the smaller vehicles. That missile launcher on your converted pickup will sit there and look adorable until you convince an ally to crew the bloody thing. And at least they make you run up and drop a grenade in a tank's crew hatch before 'borrowing' the whole thing.

* ''Tabletopgame/BattleTech'' normally has just one pilot (a [=MechWarrior=]) to control a [[HumongousMecha BattleMech]], albeit assisted by the mech's computer for movement and aiming. However, some models designed for [[FrontlineGeneral field commanders]] come with an additional seat and console for a radio operator. The disastrous [[ProudWarriorRace Clan Jade Falcon]] attempt to reintroduce the [[LostTechnology LosTech]] [[TransformingMecha land-air-mechs]] resulted in a mech with two cockpits - one for an Aerospace pilot, the other for a [=MechWarrior=] - which controlled the LAM's different movement modes. The bullheaded Clan warriors rarely cooperated. Across a weight class, the only [=BattleMechs=] to reliably avert this trope are the Superheavy Tripod 'Mechs from the Dark Age era, who all require a minimum of 3 crew members to operate; a pilot, a gunner, and an engineer.
** One idea that was briefly introduced was that of the Dual Tandem cockpit--this expanded cockpit allowed two Mechwarriors to fight side by side, one as the dedicated pilot and the other as the dedicated gunner. On the upside, this allowed each pilot to focus wholly on their respective duties (translating into buffs to various skills) and being able to take over for the other pilot and control the 'Mech themselves if their partner was incapacitated. The downside was that if a Mechwarrior in this duo was forced to act alone, the 'Mech performed noticeably worse than a traditional one-pilot machine, and the experience requirements made it such that Dual Tandem teams had to constantly live and train together to achieve good synchronization... and if one pilot lost their partner, all of that effort was effectively nullified and they would have to start training as a Dual Tandem team all over again from zero with a new partner.

Take the typical tank, for example. If you're in the driver's seat, you have limited visibility and you can't load or fire the main gun. If you're in the commanders seat, you can see all around you, but you can't drive, shoot or load the gun. If you're in the loader's seat, you can't see well or drive (you might not even be able to shoot the main gun). The training points out the fact blatantly: TheCaptain has to sit, look around and give orders, each crewman has a single task to perform and has to do it at his best, this is why absolute trust in your buddies is the most important thing you have to learn in the military.

However, this doesn't seem to be a problem in Fictionland. The Hero (usually a UniversalDriversLicense holder) can easily handle any such vehicle singlehandedly. Common in certain movies and video games (though in the latter case it could be considered an [[AcceptableBreaksFromReality acceptable break from reality]])

* In the 1992 Creator/StevenSeagal film ''Film/UnderSiege'', a crew of 3-4 men, out of which no one directly claims to be a trained artilleryman, load, aim and fire the 16 inch main gun of USS ''Missouri'' (BB-63) towards the small target which is a surfaced Diesel submarine. In RealLife, the machinery of each gun took 47 sailors to operate, a specialist observer operated the turret rangefinder and a trained artillery officer used an electromechanical computer to aim the gun. And the submarine was far too close to target with a 16 inch turret gun.

* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarships''. Whether you're commanding a 32,000 ton aircraft carrier or a smaller 1500 ton destroyer, it's you with hands on everything.

* ''VideoGame/{{Subnautica}}'' has the player character operate a Cyclops submarine, a vessel designed to be operated by a three person crew[[labelnote:*]]One pilots the vessel, one loads creature decoys, and one manages engineering[[/labelnote]], alone. Though it's extremely Justified, on account of you being the SoleSurvivor of a ship crash. Also you can't perform all three roles at once - if you want to reload the decoys and do some repairs, you have to abandon the cockpit.
* Averted in ''VideoGame/TalesOfBerseria''. A crew of three can barely get a ready-to-sail ship out of port, and quickly run aground. Even once they get an experienced captain to guide them, they can barely make their small skiff behave and a fully-crewed ship easily out-sails them. While a ship is sailed solo at one point, the feat is achieved by a [[ElementalPowers Wind Malak]], who presumably [[BlowYouAway cheated a bit]].

** Dracule "Hawkeye" Mihawk, however, plays this straight, and is perhaps the most literal example of this trope: Mihawk is the only person on his crew and operates his boat all by himself. A combination of being the [[LonelyAtTheTop World's Greatest Swordsman]] and having a caustic, offputting personality means he cannot get along with anyone except Perona, whose talents lie in fields other than operating a ship (and thus does absolutely nothing when at sea). He is also the only successful such instance in the series, though he has to rely on his incredible strength and toughness to not die.

In games, tanks and other [=AFVs=] are by far the outstanding demonstrator of this trope; more often than not, a single person will be able to drive, aim, and fire the main weapons of an armored vehicle on their own. Games which involve having multiple players operating one vehicle will usually have one player driving and any others operating the vehicle's weapons systems, but even then this will typically take the form of the first player/driver controlling the movement and aiming/firing the main gun, while the second player will simply take control of a mounted machine gun on the top. It is also ''very'' rare to get a real first-person view inside the tank, usually to avoid showing the crew working but also because this is usually not conducive to gameplay. The rest is a RuleOfFun issue; it's rather hard to get people excited about getting to be a tank's loader or radio operator. And in games that ''don't'' involve multiplayer co-op, this is the only way to make tanks playable ''at all''. Even if the tank in question has fully automated loading of its main gun (most don't), every tank that has a turret has the driver seated in a separate compartment with no ability to control the weapons, and everybody in the turret likewise has no ability to drive the tank.

** In a few missions of ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty1'', ''[[VideoGame/CallOfDuty2 2]]'', and ''[[VideoGame/CallOfDutyWorldAtWar World at War]]'', the player is in control of all of the functions of a tank, but it is understood that the tank has a proper crew, as they repeatedly talk to you across the mission, and the machine gun in front fires on dismounted enemies ahead of you without the player's input. The HandWave is that you're the tank commander, and this is gameplay shorthand for you playing spotter and telling the crew what to do.

** On the other hand, the [[AllThereInTheManual manual]] states that the reason the Mammoth tank and its equivalents in all games are able to self-repair is because they're large enough to house a full repair crew onboard.

* The Landmaster in ''VideoGame/StarFox''. Probably justified due to the advanced tech of the races in the Lylat system. Also, it does seems to be hardly larger than an Arwing (at most), and just about as complex.
* ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'': Master Chief is capable of operating a Scorpion Tank by himself; in the [[AllThereInTheManual fluff for]] [[VideoGame/HaloCombatEvolved the first game]], it's explicitly stated that a Scorpion can be operated by two Marines ''or'' a single Spartan, as the latter has a neural interface advanced enough to let them to do it. That said, unaugmented troops are also able to operate Scorpions solo in later games, though that might be just a concession to gameplay.
* In ''Film/XXxStateOfTheUnion'', Darius' single handed operation of the tank stretches believability. It does look more awkward than his pursuers (fully staffed tanks), but it is his first time.

** Behind the scenes, Brosnan wasn't controlling the tank, just sticking his head through the front hatch. The real driver was lying prone on the floor underneath him and looking though a concealed glass panel cut out of the glacis plate.
* Rambo does this in ''Film/RamboIII''. He's apparently able to drive, fire and load a Soviet tank with his head sticking out the front hatch.

** Though supposedly not artificially intelligent, one Bolo mk III demonstrates the ability to operate entirely without human control. Most Bolo stories feature mk XV or higher units that have no real need of human crew, though almost all marks are intended to carry a commander.

* In the original ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'', while not all tanks can be run by one man, the crew sizes are still small. TheFederation's Type 61 tank has only a driver & a gunner, with the commanding officer usually taking the latter station, possibly justified by panoramic view provided by tiny cameras on the hull & screens in the interior. The Guntank also starts out with a driver/gunner crew, but by necessity after the driver's death it is later upgraded so it can be piloted singlehandedly. The Zeon Magella Attack Tank, on the other hand plays it straight, with a single pilot in the turret, which can detach & become a fighter jet.

** A 4x4 driver on the other hand, can only drive and honk the horn. It takes a second player on the 4x4 to fire its machine gun.
* Utterly averted in ''VideoGame/OperationFlashpoint'', in which tanks have the full crew of three (driver, gunner, and commander), though you can do without a commander in a pinch (and suffer impaired visibility as a result). In the tank missions the player typically acts as a tank commander, giving movement orders to the driver and targeting and firing orders to the gunner over the radio. If the tank isn't operating with a full crew, the ones present can switch positions as needed; even one person can drive a tank provided he switches between driving and aiming/firing as needed, though this is obviously slower and more awkward than having a full crew, since you obviously can only do one or the other at any one time.

* Every vehicle in ''VideoGame/{{BattleZone|1998}}'', most of which are hovertanks of one form or another. The player can even snipe the driver of an enemy tank, run over and jump in. ''Even if said tank is explicity stated to be an AI-controlled drone.''
* Averted in the old Sony online shooter ''Infantry''. All the large vehicles required a driver and a gunner for each weapon the vehicle had. This meant that the hovertank required 4 players to be fully effective: one driver, one main gunner and two machine gunners.

* The MMO ''VideoGame/WorldOfTanks'' for the most part averts it. While the player can control a tank with a mouse and a few keyboard hotkeys, the vehicles have NPC crew members representing the commander, loader, gunner, radio operator, driver, and so on. However, losing crew members only debuffs the vehicle. It is possible to lose all crew members except for one, and still operate the tank with all of the main functionalities in order, only receiving a some drawbacks such as lower acceleration, lower view range, slower reload, decreased accuracy, etc.

** It is possible to play it straight as well. Anti-tank rifles through vision slits, tank shells through armor, or the shock from artillery can kill crew members in a tank. It's very possible to have a single living crewmember drive into position, climb into the gunner's seat, fire the gun, then climb over and load the next round. It's certainly not as efficient as in most games, as the tank can only perform once action at a time, and there is a delay between actions as the crewmember climbs around the interior.

* ''VideoGame/FromTheDepths'': The players ships are either controlled by the AI or the player alone.

** Also, although capital ships are implied to have a full crew, there's several third party mod where you can pilot one of these by yourself.

* Most games from the ''VideoGame/{{X}}-Universe'' series allow you to fly capital [[MileLongShip spaceships the size of space stations]] entirely on your own. Made all the more ridiculous because the ships in question are very clearly meant to house other people (at least, the lights and windows all over their surface suggest so), particularly in ''X2: The Threat'' with its capital ship bridges full of empty seats. Handwaved by having the ship's computer handle practically everything, though general fan consensus is that the ships ''are'' manned, just by invisible PlayerMooks. However, AI controlled capital ships (and corvettes) all have a large crew when open a comm channel with them - such as the Captain and navigation officer.

** ''Videogame/XRebirth'' averts this; while capital ships can be operated by just the captain, they will be helpless against attackers; most capital ships fly with at least three crew. The player's ship, the ''Albion Skunk'', always has a pilot and copilot.

** The Brawn is primarily there to keep the brain company, provide a physical presence outside of the ship and provide a layer of redundancy. In theory the brain can use their remotes to handle all routine tasks (such as maintenance, cargo handling etc.) but having the brawn on board means that repairs can be made if the brain loses that capability.

*** In the third game, the AI gains control over a humanoid robot which could theoretically maintain and helm the ship, although this is never put to the test.

** And then there's the Errant Venture, the only Star Destroyer in private hands in the entire galaxy. Belonging to Booster Terrik, it's basically a mobile starport for smugglers and a cool symbol of power - which is constantly falling apart, because it turns out that trying to fly a Star Destroyer with what amounts to less than even a skeleton crew is not exactly easy, and scraping up the budget to maintain a Star Destroyer as a private citizen isn't easy either.

* The trope is invoked in Creator/SergeyLukyanenko's novel ''Literature/{{Competitors}}'', where a Moscow freelance journalist is transported (sort of, he stays on Earth, but his duplicate is sent) to a space station far from Earth to pilot a ship in a RealLife recreation of an online space sim. He can explore the stars, [[AsteroidMiners mine asteroids]], settle on a colony, engage in [[SpacePirate piracy]], join the [[SpacePolice patrol]], fight alien hordes, etc. When he gets his first ship, he notes that the ship only has one set of controls, which are ridiculously simple for anyone who has ever driven a car (there are even gas and brake pedals) and were obviously designed for an average human. In fact, most of the precision maneuvering is done by the ship's computer, and the control are there to let the computer know what the pilot wants. Even giant higher-level ships are only designed with one person in mind, which results in the OldSchoolDogfight being the primary form of combat. Later, when the alien Bugs attack the station, the protagonist's wing is ordered to pretend to retreat and then strike at the Bugs from behind. The protagonist observes that this should be impossible in a normal space setting, where ships would have rear-facing turrets manned by people (or Bugs). However, it works perfectly, and he concludes that the Bugs are also engaging in this trope. Close to the end, however, a group people rigs one of the larger ships to have multiple specialized consoles, averting this trope.

* The titular character in Creator/GeorgeRRMartin's ''Literature/TufVoyaging'' singlehandedly crews the ''thirty-kilometer-long'' Old Earth Ecological Engineering Corp biowar seedship he calls the Ark. It originally had a crew of 200. He is able to do it through the centralized computer system on the bridge, vast amounts of automation and self-repairing gear.

* You can try this in ''VideoGame/ArtemisSpaceshipBridgeSimulator'', despite it being designed for [[CoOpMultiplayer a crew of six]]. In theory you only need Helm (most of the time) and Weapons (briefly, switching to it to actually fire then back to Helm while you reload): ignore Science since all unknown contacts are probably hostile, ignore Comms except when you need to change starbase production, leave Engineering settings at default, and do without a Captain since you know your own orders. To say the least, this is more difficult (at the same difficulty level) than playing with a full crew (assuming they are competent and cooperating).
* The Protoss Carrier in ''VideoGame/StarCraft'' is, as the name implies, an AirborneAircraftCarrier that can carry eight additional fighters inside (in the game, at least; the numbers might actually be larger). There normally seem to be large crews, but if there is an emergency (or a HeroicSacrifice), it can all be helmed and controlled apparently by ONE Protoss. With his mind, no less. The fighters are supposedly mostly autonomous robot vehicles which receive targeting information and group launch/recall orders from their carrier (and manufacturing factory), making this a bit more plausible.

* ''VideoGame/FTLFasterThanLight'' splits the difference. One person ''can'' control the ship by themselves, but without additional crew at the various duty stations for weapons, shields etc they function noticeably worse. And that's before they start taking damage.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Rodina}}'', there's only one person to control the 100 metre long Vanguard gunship: you, the player. All the more annoying when the ship's interior catches fire and there's only you to run around and put out fire from all those [[StarshipLuxurious fancy extraneous surfaces]].

* Averted in the sandbox war MMO ''VideoGame/{{Foxhole}}''. Light and medium tanks need a crew of three: A driver, gunner and a spotter/commander. Battle tanks have ''Five'' spots: A driver, gunner , a spotter/commander, a machinegunner and an engineer. The gunboat similarly has 4 spots to control its many weapons, and many other vehicles (armored cars, half-tracks, jeeps, etc) need more then one crewmember if you want to drive and use its weapons at the same time.
* Lampshaded in ''VideoGame/ArmoredCoreForAnswer''. The megacorporations in the game world used to rely on HumongousMecha which played this trope straight, until they figured out that [[PhlebotinumRebel it was too dangerous to leave that kind of firepower in the hands of a single pilot]]. Consequently they started building {{Military Mashup Machine}}s with hundreds of crew instead.

** The film sort of [[LampshadeHanging hangs a lampshade]] on this with what confronts Striker when he first enters the cockpit: a slow pan across a literally endless array of dials, levers, switches and knobs. The Boeing 707 seen ([[JustPlaneWrong but not heard]]) in the movie can be flown for a short time with a crew of one (the pilot). For longer flights, you need a flight engineer to keep an eye on the airplane's mechanical systems, and if you want to reach your destination, you add a third: the navigator. Modern jetliners only need a crew of two, the flight engineer's position having been given to computers.

** However, the minimum crew size in a turreted vehicle is still three, because the only crewman who can realistically be replaced is the loader. And most western armies have avoided autoloaders because a good human loader is much more reliable, faster and more flexible. An autoloader can't help change a track, pull maintenance, stand guard, or sub for another crewman, either. He also serves as an extra pair of eyes to watch your back when he isn't loading.

* In ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' the [[FragileSpeedster Catapults]] used during [[PlayerVersusPlayer Wintergrasp]] fights have space for only one driver/gunner. The [[JackOfAllStats Demolishers]] also has a driver/gunner but have space for two passengers who can fire their own ranged weapons (bows, guns, etc.) from their seats. The [[MightyGlacier Siege Engines]] have a ram controlled by the driver, a turret-mounted cannon that requires a separate gunner and two passenger spots. Similar vehicles exist on the Isle of Conquest, Ulduar and other in-game locations.
* ''VideoGame/{{Prototype}}''. While Alex has learned how to pilot APCs, tanks and helicopters by consuming people trained to do so, he can somehow operate them all by himself. The guy does have the ability to shapeshift into basically anything... it isn't a far stretch to assume he just fills the entire vehicle with himself and can then easily operate all the switches, buttons and levers as he pleases.

** Real Life Subversion: [[http://tfl.gov.uk/dlr Docklands Light Railway]] runs trains with a crew of nought. Though the on-board Passenger Service Agent is trained to become the Crew of One and drive the train if computer operation fails.

** The electronic warfare variant of the A-6, the EA-6B Prowler, actually has the room to seat ''four'' people, the pilot and three electronic countermeasure officers, though closer to the trope it's not uncommon for Prowlers to fly without a third officer. The EA-18G Growler, an F/A-18 variant meant to replace the Prowler in Navy use, drops the crew down further to just one officer for the same workload.

* Creator/SergeyLukyanenko's ''Competitors'' novel mentions this absurdity several times in relation to starships. Humans on the Platform build these ships using matter synthesizers (i.e. replicators) based on plans in the station's database and available raw resources. While there are plenty of small fighter-type ships, even the giant ships have only one standard control console. Also, the entire thing has controls similar to a car, including ''pedals'' for acceleration and braking, in order to allow any human to use them. This is justified in that the station and the plans were created by aliens to be reminiscent of a web-based space exploration game (the game actually exists in RealLife). Later on, though, a group of rebels modify a large ship to function as a command ship of sorts with multiple consoles jury-rigged so that the ship would have an actual crew.

* Uncommonly inverted by ''VideoGame/MetalFatigue,'' a HumongousMecha RTS developed by the late Psygnosis. The [[HumongousMecha Combots]] are controlled by a crew of several men, explicitly shown to consist of a team of at least three pilots. In spite of this, the Combots are also explicitly shown to be MotionCaptureMecha, at least for the primary pilot. However, the non-Combot vehicles, including missile cars, tanks, and hovertruck worker units, appear to be crewed a single individual due to a sheer lack of space--a complete 180 of the usual expectations in humongous mecha settings.

** One idea that was briefly introduced was that of the Dual Tandem cockpit--this expanded cockpit allowed two Mechwarriors to fight side by side, one as the dedicated pilot and the other as the dedicated gunner. On the upside, this allowed each pilot to focus wholly on their respective duties (translating into buffs to various skills) and being able to take over for the other pilot and control the 'Mech themselves if their partner was incapacitated. The downside was that if a Mechwarrior in this duo was forced to act alone, the 'Mech peformed noticeably worse than a traditional one-pilot machine, and the experience requirements made it such that Dual Tandem teams had to constantly live and train together to achieve good synchronization... and if one pilot lost their partner, all of that effort was effectively nullified and they would have to start training as a Dual Tandem team all over again from zero with a new partner.

* ''VideoGame/{{Halo 4}}'' has the ''Mantle's Approach'', an enormous Forerunner vessel piloted by one Forerunner, the Didact. This is justified since the Forerunners are SufficientlyAdvancedAliens with near-godlike abilities.

** Subverted in one episode of ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' when this is one more reason Beverly Crusher realizes something is HORRIBLY WRONG when only she and Picard are piloting the ''Enterprise''. She asks him why there is no crew and he responds "We never needed anyone else."