History Main / CrewOfOne

* Averted in the MMO-FPS ''VideoGame/WorldWarIIOnline''. More of a simulator game than a true FPS, driving tanks and boats requires multiple crew members for multiple respective positions; the driver is 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.
* 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, a 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 than one crewmember if you want to drive and use its weapons at the same time.

* ''Film/{{Airplane}}'': Ted Striker flies a modern jet airliner by himself, a task that normally takes a crew of three (pilot, co-pilot, flight engineer).
** 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.
** It's long been a standing joke in the airline industry that the flight crew will soon be reduced to just a man and a dog. The man will be there to feed the dog, and the dog will be there to bite the man if he tries to touch the controls (though [[FridgeLogic one has to ask what kind of dog would (literally) bite the hand that feeds it]]).

* How a HumongousMecha show plays this trope is usually a good indication of how Super or Real it is.
** The titular HumongousMecha in ''VideoGame/MetalArmorDragonar'' require high-powered AI to aid in operation in order to keep the crew size down to a single person.
* In the ''VideoGame/AceCombat'' series, when you choose any aircraft with a crew of 2 or more (F-15E, F/A-18F, F-14, etc...), you still control all of its functions yourself as if it only needed one person. However, when you look at the actual plane's model, you can see a guy in the back seat, presumably doing his job alongside the pilot - which gets silly when, for plot reasons, someone is forced to eject from their plane but only one parachute is seen.
* ''VideoGame/AirForceDelta Strike'' does this for its 2-man fighters as well.
* As does ''VideoGame/{{HAWX}}'', though for at least one mission in the first game the guy in back is actually acknowledged (he's the one training you in the game's main gimmick).
* Before it entered beta, this was weirdly subverted by ''VideoGame/VectorThrust'', where ''nobody'' was flying the planes.
* 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.
* Inverted on ''Series/TopGear'': In a crossover challenge with German motoring show ''D Motor'', the presenters had to drive double-decker cars, with one person on top steering and a second person on the bottom operating the pedals and gearshift, thus turning a vehicle that normally is Crew of One into Crew of Two.

* Both used and averted in ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedBrotherhood''. The [[spoiler:Bomber]] is justified as only having enough space for one man. The [[spoiler:Tank]] needs three people to run it, though gameplay usage does not act as such. The [[spoiler:Machine Gun]] is clearly meant to have a driver and gunner, but you get separate parts of the mission for using both and during the latter the thing is on autopilot or something. The [[spoiler:Naval Weapon]] clearly is meant to have a gunner and driver too and this time Ezio has to switch between the two positions as necessary.

* Can be seen in ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'' with both dune buggy and air boat. Being piloted by one fellow is reasonable enough, but that same fellow being a simultaneous driver and gunner? Not so much. Multitasking capabilities aside, there is a certain minimum of available arms required to perform both tasks, which can lead to only one conclusion: Gordon Freeman has an extra set of invisible hands. This would also explain how he can [[LadderPhysics climb a ladder while reloading a gun or firing it at an enemy behind him]].
** Well, [[Webcomic/{{Concerned}} he can]] [[http://www.screencuisine.net/hlcomic/index.php?date=2005-05-10 pick up objects without using his hands.]]
* Averted by all multi-crew vehicles in the ''VideoGame/{{Tribes}}'' games. Even the HoverTank has a driver and gunner, to say nothing of the larger aircraft where there is always a pilot who only handles flight and a tailgunner whose main duty is chucking flares at incoming missiles. Bombers have a weapons officer to handle the onboard ordnance and gunships have four passenger slots whose occupants can use their own infantry weapons to rain DeathFromAbove; a single-man gunship is just a big fat target but a fully loaded one with everyone sans the pilot wielding mortars and missile launchers is a flying fortress. If you want to switch positions, you have to physically disembark the vehicle first.

* 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 modifies 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 by a single individual due to a sheer lack of space--a complete 180 of the usual expectations in humongous mecha settings.
* Numerous vehicles in the Franchise/GIJoe action figure line. While many had extra places for gunners and other crew, some only had one. Notably, the franchise's first tank was like this, even though in the comic it was shown to have space for a driver and radioman.
* ''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]], which utilizes a special, expanded cockpit called a Command Console that adds a second seat for a commander so that they can focus on directing the battle while the pilot fights. 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 due the Clan method of training not allowing a single warrior to train in both. The bullheaded Clan warriors rarely cooperated, resulting in a complete disaster that was abandoned after their first trial. 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 a commander. Each of them are capable of performing the tasks of both of the others, but each crewman who's incapacitated causes the mech's performance to suffer.
* ''VideoGame/FarCry2'' has a bit more of a realistic take on this than other games. For land-based vehicles, the player has the usual button dedicated to switching between the driver's seat and the mounted gun, but there is actually an animation of the character climbing between the two positions rather than instantly teleporting between them when the player presses that button. For boats, the player instead has to manually move between the driver's seat and the gun because they're further apart[[note]]getting out of the driver's seat in this game has your character simply stand up from it, rather than dumping them right in the water five feet off to the side like other games[[/note]].
* ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'':
** 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/Halo4''.
** Averted by most vehicles with a turret; for example, you can't operate the gun on a Warthog jeep and drive it at the same time. This is justified in that the gun controls are physically located in a different part of the vehicle.
* Various points, most notably Salmon Run, in ''VideoGame/Splatoon2'' feature cannons where the sole crew is both gunner and loader, loading the cannon from the crew's own ink supply. Reloading the crew's ink requires exiting the cannon. While in a cannon, the screen gives tunnel vision to focus on what the cannon is aiming at, leaving the crew vulnerable to a foe sneaking up from the side (and the cannon is a relatively big target). In Salmon Run, any golden eggs freed up by the cannon's shots will be some distance from the cannon, meaning it is optimal for only one of the four players to crew a cannon, supporting the other three who collect the golden eggs.
* Lampshaded in ''VideoGame/ValkyriaChronicles4''. The codex entry for Grenadier's default mortar makes a big deal of how recent advancements have turned a formerly crew-served weapon into a single-operator man-portable device, and the effects this has had on how they're deployed on the battlefield.
* Downplayed but still present in the ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyWorldAtWar'' mission "Black Cats", where you man the guns of a PBY Catalina during a shipping raid that is running at only half its intended crew for no particular reason, forcing you to clamber between multiple gun positions at several points across the mission because two of the four gunners are AWOL. Amusingly, this applies to one of the remaining NPC crewmates more than it does to you, as he's apparently forced to take on the roles of flight engineer, navigator, and radio and radar operator all at once.
* ''Film/RamboFirstBloodPartII''. Rambo controls a Huey from the co-pilot station, which is perfectly understandable given how they work, but then somehow fires the door-mounted miniguns from the co-pilot station, despite that door-mounted guns of any variety on a helicopter universally require someone to manually operate them.

* ''Anime/MartianSuccessorNadesico'''s movie shows the humans' One-Man One-Ship project attempting to engineer a human that could handle a ship all by himself, with onscreen results in the form of Ruri (a SuperPrototype?), Harry, and Lapis.
* 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.
** At the same time, Not only is the player controlling their ''own'' ship, but also the [[PlayerMooks many many ships of their empire at the same time]]. (Although these too are computer controlled, the "living" NPC pilots aren't much smarter than your AI-controlled ships.)
** ''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 co-pilot.

* Franchise/StargateVerse
** It's actually come up several times in the Verse when the main characters get their hands on a spaceship but the fact that one person or the few present ''cannot'' fly it by themselves is the source of drama.
** ''Series/StargateSG1'': While an early appearance by an Asgard ship has Thor refer to having evacuated his crew when the ship was overrun, later appearances seem to imply it's just him aboard. He's certainly able to operate all its functions without even leaving his chair. This is most likely the same situation as in ''Star Trek'' above: Automation allows a single person to operate the ship (although possibly not as well as a full crew), but maintenance is impossible. There is no sign of anything like maintenance bots, for instance.
** ''Series/StargateUniverse'' has this as a major plot element -- the ship can handle itself, but if they need to turn off the autopilot so they can do something else it's quite a chore.
* In ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', the Cerberus-built Normandy includes an AI that could theoretically take over pretty much every aspect of running the ship, apart from helming it, and allow it to be run by a crew of one. Cerberus intentionally made the AI unable to do so, [[spoiler:at least without overriding its safety constraints which you have to do late on in the game]], and thus the ship features a full human crew complement.
** However, while the ship's AI can theoretically ''pilot'' the ship, she can't ''maintain'' the ship, and would need at least human crewmen to act as engineers. In addition, any task performed by crew frees up processing power for other tasks, which proves crucial when the AI needs to focus all available resources towards hacking the Collector ship to allow Shepard to escape.
*** In the third game, the AI gains control over a humanoid robot that could theoretically maintain and helm the ship, although this is never put to the test.
** She also makes it clear that while she ''can'' pilot and operate the ship, she ''shouldn't''. A skilled organic pilot is superior to full AI control simply because her maneuvers would be too predictable.

* Most starships in the later years of ''Literature/KnownSpace'' history are computer-automated to the point that a single pilot is all the crew you need. Of course, the cruise ships, military vessels, and exploration craft all carry larger crews for other reasons (guest comfort, backup in case of death or injury, and so on), but they don't ''need'' to if all they want to do is get from Planet A to Planet B.
** It is perfectly possible for the autopilot to do ALMOST the entire flight, except for one minor detail: Traveling too close to a massive body while in hyperspace will destroy the ship, and a mass sensor, the only system capable to detecting such a hazard while in hyperspace, is a psionic device. That is, it operates only because a mind is examining the output.
* In ''Literature/PathOfTheFury'', there is exactly one kind of interstellar spacecraft capable of being crewed by a single person, and that is the alpha synth. Even small courier vessels or heavily automated larger vessels generally require a crew of at least six.
* ''VideoGame/BattlestarGalacticaOnline'': You can take command of starships that should need multiple crewmen, but no mention of those is ever made.
* ''Series/{{Farscape}}'' has ships operated by a pilot grafted on them, and some one-man crafts and fighters. However, the Luxan fighter has a pilot and gunner seats; D'Argo asks Crighton to pilot for him when he needs to go shoot something with it.
** Leviathans and Pilots are arguably a subversion. A Leviathan is a LivingShip and can fly just fine by itself, but it needs a Pilot if it ever wants to carry passengers since it can't maintain things like life support on its own.
* Ships in ''Literature/TheHistoryOfTheGalaxy'' books can operate with any number of crewmembers or even without them due to the fact that [[InstantAIJustAddWater AI modules]] are factory produced in great numbers. This could be one of the reasons why a 7-kilometer flagship cruiser can function with a crew of ''150'' (most of the maintenance is done by droids). In one novel, a single woman (with no combat experience whatsoever) commanded a fleet of highly-advanced warships set to full AI control. She used most of them in a suicide run against a heavily-defended world.
* 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 of people rigs one of the larger ships to have multiple specialized consoles, averting this trope.
* The backglass for Creator/SternElectronics' ''Pinball/{{Flight 2000}}'' pinball depicts a fleet of {{Sleeper Starship}}s flying through space, each with a single HumanPopsicle within.
* Zigzagged with H'rulka ships in the ''Literature/StarCarrier'' series. The 20-kilometer vessels are actually [[DetachmentCombat several ships docked together]], each crewed by one 200-meter LivingGasbag. Except the H'rulka is really a colony organism.
* 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.
* Generally averted in ''Literature/PerryRhodan'', where most ships tend to have crews of some reasonable size and even fully robotic ones usually feature at least mobile sub-units capable of some level of independent operation and reasoning if not an outright crew of independent robots altogether (Posbi "fragment ships" are a good example of the latter). However, ships constructed by sufficiently {{higher tech species}} sometimes play this trope quite straight -- famously, the classic "spore ships" built to spread life and intelligence throughout the cosmos for one faction of the setting's Powers That Be were designed to have a single pilot handling the whole 1126-kilometer diameter sphere and overseeing its operations.

* In ''TabletopGame/HcSvntDracones'' ships built by Applied Sciences and Robotics can run with 10% of their normal crew complement, but their computer rating is drastically diminished if they do so. The [[LivingShip bioships]] of Transcendent Technologies Inc can also run with such small crews, but to do so the helmsman has to fight to maintain control.
* 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 that receive targeting information and group launch/recall orders from their carrier (and manufacturing factory), making this a bit more plausible.
** ''The Dylarian Shipyards'' mission in ''[=StarCraft:=] Brood War'' has the UED embark on an operation to hijack a fleet of Battlecruisers from the Terran Dominion. Only one pilot is needed to commandeer each stolen Battlecruiser in-game, though this is likely a case of GameplayAndStorySegregation which is fairly common throughout the [=StarCraft=] games in general.
* ''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 Engi cruiser's type-B layout in fact starts with only a single crewmember, with all the disadvantages that follow.
* The nature of [[CastFromHitPoints crew as damage points]] in ''VideoGame/StarControl'' means that at the end just one crewman (assumed to be her [[TheCaptain captain]]) can be controlling the entire ship. This becomes odd in some ships such as the Earthling Cruiser or the Spathi Eluder that show two crewmen in the animations, and continue so even in that case.
* ''VideoGame/Halo4'' 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 ''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]].
* An egregious example in ''VideoGame/{{SDI}}''. The US sends ''one'' guy up to command the SDI platform that defends the entire country, and it's not only his job to direct the lasers and shoot down the warheads, but to personally fly a fighter out to shoot down attacking Soviet planes and repair the satellites, and later [[spoiler:to take the fighter on a flying mission to the Soviet platform to rescue his CapuletCounterpart]]. You'd think they might send up specialists in the various tasks, but no: [[TheMainCharactersDoEverything the player has to do it all]], running between the fighter and the control room to ensure he's on time to stop each wave of missiles.
* 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]].
* Creator/IsaacAsimov
** ''Literature/FoundationSeries'':
*** "Literature/TheTraders": The three characters from the Foundation; Ponyets, Gorm, and Gorov, all have personal ships. If Ponyets's estimations of his ship is accurate (and assuming he doesn't have an exceptional ship), then they can also outfly and outfight more than one crewed ship at a time, so long as that ship isn't of Foundation design.
*** ''Literature/FoundationsEdge'': The ''[[CoolStarship Far Star]]'' is piloted solely by Trevize, and is known as a personal carrier.
** Literature/RobotSeries' "{{Literature/Risk}}": The ''Parsec'', an experimental [[SubspaceOrHyperspace hyperdrive]], is designed to respond to only one control, operated by a positronic robot.
* [[https://www.orionsarm.com/eg-article/48e1514fc0720 Interstellar singleships]] in ''Website/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 ''White Base'' in the original ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'' was short-handed even before Char first tried to blow the ship up in the first episode, killing most of the officers and a good part of the crew. As a result, they have to make do with whoever's left and informally impressed civilian refugees. Among other things, the CO is an Ensign, the helmswoman is a civilian shuttle pilot, the communications officer is a nurse who happened to be on the bridge when the previous one died, and the Guntank operator was selected because he had a license in handling construction tractors.
* ''Series/RedDwarf'' appears to have a crew of none, as Holly, the ship's computer runs the entire miles-long ship by himself. Lister is the only official recognized crew member and he was in stasis for three million years because of the accident which killed the entire crew except for him. Most of the maintenance appears to be done by "Scutters" which are small maintenance robots which do most of the work aboard; only answering to Holly until Lister was revived and then when Rimmer is brought back as a hologram.

* ''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 roughly 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.)
* Very common in ''VideoGame/{{Starfield}}''. Its CasualInterstellarTravel means that the crewman doesn't seem to need much training, either-- one random encounter is an elementary school teacher taking her class on a space field trip, with no other adults on board.

* ''Literature/TalesOfThePeculiar'':
-->"Where's the captain?"\\
"You're looking at her."\\
"Okay then, where's the crew?"\\
"You're looking at her."
** Justified in that the Captain / Crew can control the wind, and in doing so sail very easily.
* Parodied in the climax of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "New Kids on the Bleech", where pop band manager/Navy Lieutenant L.T. Smash singlehandedly hijacks an ''aircraft carrier''. Well...almost singlehandedly:
-->'''Bart''': Think he's going to do something dangerous?\\
'''Nelson''': How should I know? Just keep loading missiles. ''[loads one into a launcher]''\\
'''[[TheDitz Ralph]]''': ''[carrying a missile]'' Pop music's hard work.

* ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean''
** This trope is subverted in ''[[Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanTheCurseOfTheBlackPearl The Curse of the Black Pearl]]''. Jack and Will only manage to pilot the ''Interceptor'' ''after'' Norrington and his men set the sails. Even then, Jack admits that he can't sail it by himself, at least not well enough to dock in Tortuga - where they quickly enlist a more-or-less full-sized crew.
** In ''[[Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanDeadMansChest Dead Man's Chest]]'', they say that you could crew the ''Black Pearl'' with six men. Given that their priority was to escape [[ToServeMan the island]], this was probably the number needed just to get the ship into the water.

* 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.
* In ''Film/{{Battleship}}'', the ''Missouri'' is once again operated by a crew that can't even be called "skeleton", about half of whom are UsefulNotes/WorldWarTwo vets (who actually know the systems) and the other half are the crew of a modern missile destroyer used to things like all-digital systems, computers, and GPS. And yet they manage to make the battleship [[spoiler:slide sideways by simply dropping the anchor]].

* ''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.
* Singlehanded oceanic sailing in the RealLife. The first transatlantic singlehanded crossing must have occurred already in the 18th century. The first person to sail singlehandedly around the world was Joshua Slocum in 1895-1898 on his two-masted 36'9" ketch ''Spray''. This feat has been [[http://www.joshuaslocumsocietyintl.org/solo/solotable.htm repeated many times]]-- nowadays, there are even solo circumnavigation ''[[EpicRace races]]''.
* A modern RealLife example with "[[http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/14/max-hardberger-sea-captain-pirates-seized Max Hardberger: Repo man of the seas]]". While not a one-man operation, he claims he can "re-steal" a huge cargo freighter with only two or three other guys (one of whom is a chief engineer) right from under the authorities' noses. To be fair, the ships he steals are being held illegally by foreign nations seeking to make a quick buck in bogus "docking fees". Max charges the owners of the ship $100,000 to retrieve the ship and return it safely. He has already done it 15 times. It helps that most systems are computerized these days.
* When WesternAnimation/{{Popeye}} is hired by Castor Oyl in ''Thimble Theater'', the sailor learns that Castor honestly wants him to do all work on his ship. Castor asserts that this is a great honor, being given multiple jobs, to which Popeye retorts that if he's going to do the work of six men, he'd better get six salaries.
* ''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]].
* Mostly averted in ''Manga/OnePiece'', in which most aspiring captains find themselves overwhelmed if they attempt to sail the seas all by themselves, which protagonist Luffy quickly realized and thus prioritized gaining a crew. There are exceptions, which are some of the most literal uses of this trope:
** 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.
** There is also a semi-canon example in Douglas "[[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Demon Heir]]" Bullet, antagonist of ''Anime/OnePieceStampede'', who deliberately operates his submarine by himself as [[InTheEndYouAreOnYourOwn he doesn't trust anybody]] and believes true strength comes from [[IWorkAlone working alone]]. Bullet relies on his Devil Fruit powers to reshape his submarine as he sees fit, allowing him to take any role he needs.

* Subverted in ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert3'' with most ships (the Assault Destroyer in particular repeatedly asks how other sections of the ship are faring), but even these are just as vulnerable to SnipingTheCockpit as smaller vehicles.
* In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode "Legend of the Sea Devils", Madame Ching (based on the historic Zheng Yi Sao, who commanded a fleet of four hundred pirate ships) is sailing her junk single-handedly, with a {{handwave}} that her ''entire crew'' is being held hostage.

* ''VideoGame/{{Mercenaries}}'': ''Playground of Destruction'' plays this trope straight for tracked vehicles and helicopters but averts it for wheeled vehicles, where you can either drive or operate the weapons, but not do both (definitely an odd choice for a single-player game). ''World In Flames'' plays it straight for all vehicles, regardless of their type.
* ''VideoGame/{{Crysis}}'' has tanks, as well as jeeps and trucks, whose mounted weapons are controllable from the driver's seat. They just magically swing around. Note that this happens only in easy difficulty; harder difficulty levels require you to change seat in order to control the gun - although that still takes such a short time that it isn't really much of a hinderance.
** Note that, on the higher difficulties, you can still drive the tank and aim/fire the main cannon at the same time.
* ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty''
** 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.
** Averted in ''[[VideoGame/ModernWarfare Modern Warfare 3]]'', as [[PlayerCharacter your character]] only mans the [[GatlingGood minigun]] turret on an M1 Abrams tank to keep [=RPG=]-wielding infantry and helicopters at bay, while [[NonPlayerCharacter other people]] handle manning the main turret and actually driving, including a shot after you're knocked down into the tank of the loader pushing a shell into the cannon's chamber.
* The ''VideoGame/{{Commandos}}'' series averts this, at least with tanks: the Driver can drive tanks, but the Sapper must be on-board to fire the cannon.

* The ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto'' series.

* The Landmaster in ''Franchise/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.
* ''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 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.

* 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.
* In ''VideoGame/PlanetSide 1'' the factions' main battle tanks, along with jeeps, bombers, and transport vehicles, generally need at least one other player to man the guns, with the vehicle having to be stopped and a fair amount of motion needed to change slots. However, the Lightning skirmish tank, the Fury and Basilisk [=ATVs=], and the flight-capable HumongousMecha used this trope to be the game's only real single-person ground combat vehicles. Partially played straight in the sequel, where main battle tanks are both driven and can use their main gun with just one crewman, but require a second person to use the secondary weapons. [[CoolCar Harassers]], [[AwesomePersonnelCarrier Sunderers]], and [[GunshipRescue Galaxies]] still require one or more gunners, as the driver/pilot gets nothing to shoot with.
* Many old arcade shooters, when the player gets a tank, would let him crew it himself. ''Front Line'' and ''VideoGame/IkariWarriors'' come to mind.
** ''VideoGame/MetalSlug'', on the other hand, does ''not'' count, given that the tank in question is too small for a second driver/gunner anyway.
** ''Tokyo Wars'' is another example.
* Real-Life example: When [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shawn_Nelson a crazy man]] stole a tank from a San Diego National Guard base and began rampaging around, the news anchors describing the action had to repeatedly remind the viewers that he could not operate the main gun alone.
* 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.
* Interestingly zigzagged in ''VideoGame/MedalOfHonorAlliedAssault''. Stealing an enemy tank in the original game requires escorting a specially trained crew to the tank, but in the ''Spearhead'' and ''Breakthrough'' expansions, both Barnes and Baker manage to singlehandedly operate both German guns and tanks, though the player has to let go of the driving/cannon controls to man the 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.
** Also averted for the other types of vehicles in OFP. Boats, helicopters, and even armed jeeps have a separate driver and gunner. In all cases, the driver can still fire (though not aim) the weapons in the absence of a gunner.
** Helicopters and tanks can switch to "manual mode" where the pilot/commander handles firing weapons all by himself but tanks still need targeting orders for the gunner, the commander can't do that himself.
* 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 explicitly 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.
* Space Marine tanks in ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' have very small crew sizes: typically just a driver/commander and a single gunner, with advanced "machine spirits" taking care of jobs that would normally go to other crewmen. (Chaos Space Marine vehicles are much the same, but instead of machine spirits, they have ''daemons''.) The Imperial Guard, who possess more men and less impressive technology than the Marines, have tanks with more conventional crew sizes.
** Tau {{Hover Tank}}s have rudimentary [=AI=]s and automation to take the load off the crew, but keep a larger crew in case somebody gets incapacitated, and to prevent attention from being divided up too much. A Hammerhead Gunship, for example, has three crew members operating "glass cockpits" but can take over any tasks whenever necessary, so a single Tau operator could theoretically singlehandedly pilot the Hammerhead by tabbing between control screens.
* In ''VideoGame/ValkyriaChronicles'' it's implied that the crew of the Edelweiss consists of just Welkin and Isara. The Edelweiss is based on a King Tiger, with five crew positions; it even conspicuously has an access hatch for the radio operator it apparently doesn't have. Later entries sometimes only have a single named person for an entire vehicle, though this is usually the vehicle's commander and subordinate crew are mentioned offhand.
** The Edelweiss specifically justifies this: it's heavily modified with automated ammo loaders, combined systems, and so on so it can be operated by one commander and one driver/engineer. However, these extra systems require the driver to be specially trained, make the tank far too expensive to be mass-produced, and are implied to require a hideous number of man-hours in maintenance (again, with an overseer familiar with the tank's unique systems) so only the prototype model exists.
*** Even with this HandWave, Welkin would still have to act as the tank's gunner and commander simultaneously, ''in addition to commanding his squad at the same time.'' Talk about overwork.

* Subverted in ''VideoGame/UnrealTournament2004''. Several of the larger vehicles need a crew of multiple people to work at full capacity. However, the trope can also be played straight as only one pilot is needed for a vehicle's primary functions, like the movement and main weapon. The other pilots only operate secondary weapons or functions.
** The [[TankGoodness Goliath]], the [[CoolPlane Cicada]] and the [[GlassCannon SPMA]] has the driver handling movement and the main weapon at the same time, with the second crew member manning a secondary weapon (top-mounted machine gun for the Goliath, gimbal laser turret and flares for the Cicada, skymine launcher for the SPMA).
** The [[CoolCar Hellbender]] has a driver, one gunner shooting a skymine launcher and another gunner manning a back-mounted laser turret. Surprisingly, this actually has a purpose as the rear gunner has a stronger weapon but is completely exposed and vulnerable to snipers, while the other gunner has a slightly weaker weapon but is even harder to snipe than the driver. The driver himself can do nothing but honk the horn; on the other hand, the bots in ''2004'' are scripted to automatically board a honking Hellbender.
** The [[MilitaryMashupMachine Leviathan]] has not one but FOUR secondary positions, each handling a separate turret. As with the trio above, the Leviathan's driver also handles [[MacrossMissileMassacre both main]] [[WaveMotionGun weapons]].
* The World War 2 game ''VideoGame/RedOrchestra'' may be one of the few video games to subvert this. There is a driver, main gun, and machine gun position on a tank; the driver can't see, and the gunners can't move. A good team needs to have the two coordinating their actions during a tank fight. It is possible for a single player to command the whole vehicle by switching between different crewmen, but all actions not performed directly (sitting in the loader seat and driving) will be delayed by a half-second. The delay is explained about by the tank commander shouting the order just before it is carried out by the crewmember. Loading the main gun is done automatically by an AI crewmember.
** 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 one action at a time, and there is a delay between actions as the crewmember climbs around the interior.
* Stated in the ''VideoGame/{{Earth 2150}}'' [[AllThereInTheManual manual]] that [[TheEmpire Eurasian Dynasty's]] tanks are, essentially, late 20th century tanks that have been refitted to be piloted by a single cyborg.
** Partly justified because they're not using old Soviet/Russian tech but American M1 Abrams tanks, which are already heavily computerized.
* Tanks in ''[[Videogame/MechWarrior MechWarrior Living Legends]]'' are controlled entirely by a single player, despite several tanks being the size of buildings, and in contrast to the [[TableTopGame/BattleTech source material]] where tanks have a regular crew, in order [[PragmaticAdaptation to make them competitive]] with the [[HumongousMecha BattleMechs]] that are controlled by a single pilot.
* ''Videogame/SaintsRow'' plays this mostly straight; generally the Boss is more than able to hop in a tank and wheel around Stilwater or Steelport to his/her heart's content while cannoning anyone nearby. But a tank may also have a gunner position: bring a Saint along and he/she can crew a machinegun, just in case. Sometimes it's a race to see who can shoot down a helicopter first, your gunner or you.
* ''VideoGame/StarWarsEpisodeIJediPowerBattles'' have the Theed missions where you can hijack a Trade Federation AAT and rampage it through droid armies, using it's missiles, cannons, and multiple laser turrets simultaneously alongside the usual CarFu. Despite how supplementary materials states that [=AATs=] are supposed to contain a crew of three to five battle droids.
* ''Videogame/HeroesOfTheStorm'' has Sgt Hammer, who pilots a Siege Tank on her own.
* ''VideoGame/FromTheDepths'': The player's ships are either controlled by the AI or the player alone.
* ''VideoGame/GearsOfWar2'' averts this with Fenix, Dom, Cole, and Baird taking a specific role to keep the Centaur running and gunning.

*** Many smaller ships throughout the Expanded Universe also have slave circuitry, which fell out of favor for warships after the Katana Fleet disaster but remains highly advantageous for smaller freighters and civilian space yachts. Han Solo, on the other hand, specifically refuses to include such a system on the Falcon, because he doesn't want anybody else being able to remotely control his ship, ''ever''.

** 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."