History Main / RunningTheBlockade

* In ''Film/GoneWithTheWind'' Rhett Butler atarts as a gallant hero running goods into the Confederacy. Later, as shortages bite and prices rise, he is looked on less favorably.[[/folder]]

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* During UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar, blockade runners became essential to the South's survival after the Union blockaded them. Some became quite noted for it, such as the ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Syren SS Syren]]'', which successfully penetrated the blockade 33 times.

* Creator/IsaacAsimov's ''Literature/{{Foundation}}'' trilogy.
** In ''Literature/FoundationAndEmpire'', Toran pilots his ship through the blockades set up by the Mule's ships around the planets Terminus and Haven to begin the search for the Second Foundation.
** In ''Literature/SecondFoundation'', Preem Palver tries to slip through the Kalganian blockade around the Foundation to arrange for the delivery of desperately needed food at premium prices. He gets caught... by the Foundation fleet, on the eve of a battle that might break the Kalganian fleet. [[spoiler:They are nice enough to pay the premium prices anyway once the battle is won, despite the changed strategic situation -- especially since Palver carried a message for some decently influential men.]]
* Creator/HenrikIbsen wrote a poem, Literature/TerjeVigen, about a Norwegian sailor trying to run the British blockade of Norway during UsefulNotes/TheNapoleonicWars. He did not succeed, and was captured. Tragedy ensued.

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->'''Princess Leia''': This bucket of bolts is never going to get us past that blockade.\\
'''Han Solo''': This baby's got a few surprises left in her, sweetheart.

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* ''Film/MadMax1'': Road Warrior has Max try to drive through the siege/blockade around the oil refinery but is intercepted and almost killed. At the end of the movie he tries again, driving the fuel tanker.
* For a [[AntWar miniaturised version]], see the heroic ladybug in ''Film/MinusculeValleyOfTheLostAnts''.

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Often, if they don't have the military might to break the blockade completely, they get some brash individuals willing to run right through it, and hope they can either outrun or outmaneuver the blockading forces, to contact allies. This is known as running the blockade. Chase sequences and close action scenes will probably follow.

** The third season opener had a small ship racing past Centauri blockade mines to give Marcus a chance to escape and reach Babyon 5.

-->-- ''Film/StarWarsTheEmpireStrikesBack'', about the ''[[CoolStarship Millennium Falcon]]''.

* ''Film/MadMax'': Road Warrior has Max try to drive through the siege/blockade around the oil refinery but is intercepted and almost killed. At the end of the movie he tries again, driving the fuel tanker.

* During UsefulNotes/WorldWarTwo, Leningrad was blockaded for almost 900 days by the Axis forces. During much of this time, the only way to deliver supplies to the starving city was the so-called "Road of Life" -- a precarious path across the frozen Ladoga Lake.
* Also in WorldWarII, Italian and British ships had to run through the enemy blockade, with British convoys from Britain bound to Malta and Egypt facing the Italian blockade and Italian convoys and isolated ships bound to Libya dealing with the Mediterranean Fleet.
** There were other blackade runners during UsefulNotes/WorldWar2. Germans used warships (especially submarines), their own freighters, and captured freighters under false flags, to run blockades. In cases where PoorCommunicationKills, some of these caprured freighters were sunk by German U-boats who mistook them for Allied freighters. Britain also ran through German blockade to obtain Swedish steel products needed for its war industry, to the point of developing a class of small high speed vessels for that purpose.

* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels'' uses the Y-Wing Starfighter as a blockade ''buster'', thanks to a ConvergingStreamWeapon that can take down a cruiser.

** In ''Foundation and Empire'', Toran pilots his ship through the blockades set up by the Mule's ships around the planets Terminus and Haven to begin the search for the Second Foundation.
** In ''Second Foundation'', Preem Palver tries to slip through the Kalganian blockade around the Foundation to arrange for the delivery of desperately needed food at premium prices. He gets caught... by the Foundation fleet, on the eve of a battle that might break the Kalganian fleet. [[spoiler:They are nice enough to pay the premium prices anyway once the battle is won, despite the changed strategic situation -- especially since Palver carried a message for some decently influential men.]]

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** There were other blackade runners during WorldWar2. Germans used warships (especially submarines), their own freighters, and captured freighters under false flags, to run blockades. In cases where PoorCommunicationKills, some of these caprured freighters were sunk by German U-boats who mistook them for Allied freighters. Britain also ran through German blockade to obtain Swedish steel products needed for its war industry, to the point of developing a class of small high speed vessels for that purpose.

* During UsefulNotes/WorldWarTwo, Leningrad was blockaded for almost 900 days by the Axis forces. During much of this time, the only way to deliver supplies to the starving city was the so-called "Road of Life" -- a precarious path across the Ladoga Lake.

* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsCloneWars'': Given the Separatists' fondness for blockades, the Republic found themselves running them on several occasions, notably when they had to get relief supplies to the Twi'leks on Ryloth, past the blockade around the planet.

* ''VideoGame/EscapeVelocity Nova'''s Auroran storyline normally starts with the player being hired as a blockade runner and then doing multiple supply runs to the Dominance station.

** {{Averted}} in ''Film/StarWarsANewHope''. While the Corellian corvette used by Princess Leia to transport the stolen Death Star plans in the film's opening moments is known to fans and in some supplementary material as a "Rebel blockade runner," this is an InformedAttribute. There is nothing in the film to suggest that it was ever used to run blockades, and the model's capabilities as established in various ExpandedUniverse materials make it poorly-suited for such a role, with a relatively slow Class 2 hyperdrive, light armament, and no stealth capabilities to speak of.