Line #126 Main/SubmarinePirates


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7	[[quoteright:314:[[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/namor_submarine_pirates.png]]]]
8	[[caption-width-right:314: [[FridgeLogic ...How is he seeing through that periscope with an eyepatch on?]]]]
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10	A SisterTrope to SkyPirate and SpacePirate.
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12	Submarine Pirates are pirates who have moved with the times and use a [[SubStory submarine]] as their vessel for attacking shipping (or in "underwater" works, [[HotSubOnSubAction other submarines]], which makes them a bit more like {{Space Pirate}}s). They may be RuthlessModernPirates or APirate400YearsTooLate, depending on their personal style. They may wear a CreepyOldFashionedDivingSuit.
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14	----
15	!!Examples:
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17	[[foldercontrol]]
18
19	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
20	* In ''Manga/GhostInTheShell 2'', Motoko catches a bunch of pirates in a stolen Imperial American submarine sneaking under her clients' [[CityOnTheWater floating city]]. Fortunately, she has a better sub.
21	* ''Anime/LupinIIIPartIII'': In [[Recap/LupinIIIS3E4 "Telepathy is Love's Signal"]], Lupin and Jigen battle a sub full of female pirates for possession of a sunken pirate ship full of Spanish gold beneath the Bermuda Triangle.
22	* Submarine pirates appear in ''Anime/GunXSword'' episode "Thank You Ocean".
23	* ''Anime/MarsDaybreak'': Submarine mecha pirates on Mars.
24	* ''The New Adventures of Anime/{{Gigantor}}'' had an episode called "The Pirate Submarine".
25	* In ''Anime/NadiaTheSecretOfBlueWater'', Captain Nemo and his crew live aboard the Nautilus. So it serves as their home as well as their base of operations.
26	* ''Manga/OnePiece'': In addition to standard sailing ships, this series also has submarines and ships capable of operating underwater similar to subs. Examples include:
27	** The ship of Trafalgar Law and his crew, the Heart Pirates, is a [[Music/TheBeatles yellow submarine]] named the ''Polar Tang''.
28	** The Straw Hat Pirates have a Midget Submarine called the ''Shark Submerge'', one of several mini vehicles deployable from the Soldier Dock System of the ''Thousand Sunny''.
29	** The ship Wapol used when he was pretending to be a pirate was a sailing ship called the ''Bliking'' that was capable of submerging.
30	** There's also another pirate submarine owned by an unnamed pirate crew that attempted to kidnap the royalty of Dressrosa and Prodence on their way to the World Council meeting during the Reverie Arc, but they ultimately fail thanks to Coby and Helmeppo who were assigned as their Marine Escorts.
31	** All ships are capable of operating underwater when they have been coated in a special resin bubble. This is mostly used to allow pirates and other criminals to travel to the New World by going under the Red Line through Fishman Island, but can also be used to attack or surprise enemies as seen by the Whitebeard Pirates in the Summit War. The big difference is that these ships are regular ships that can only go underwater when they are coated. The moment the coating comes off, they turn back to normal and cannot submerge again until they are re-coated.
32	* ''Anime/PokemonRangerAndTheTempleOfTheSea''. The BigBad is a pirate named Phantom who travels around in a giant submarine. He even has a PirateParrot -- a Chatot that rides on his shoulder.
33	[[/folder]]
34
35	[[folder:Comic Books]]
36	* ''Franchise/TheDCU'':
37	** ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'':
38	*** The Shark, one of the Terrible Trio, often uses submarines to commit acts of piracy.
39	*** Batman takes on submarine pirates in "The Flying Dutchman II!" in ''ComicBook/DetectiveComics'' #170.
40	** The Barry Allen version of ComicBook/TheFlash fought submarine pirates in ''Showcase'' #13.
41	** The Sea Scourge was a submarine pirate who fought ComicBook/GreenArrow in ''ComicBook/AdventureComics'' #134.
42	** ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1942'': Di deals with a group of salvagers working out of a submarine who are trying to secretly take everything of value from wreaked ships in the Caribbean and will murder to keep their activities and the sites of the wreaks they're taking from secret.
43	* ''ComicBook/TheFurtherAdventuresOfIndianaJones'': In #15-16, Indy clashes with a crew of RuthlessModernPirates led by PirateGirl Esmeralda Vasquez who operate from an American S-class submarine they stole from the US Navy.
44	* Captain Nemo also makes an appearance in the comic and its film adaptation ''Comicbook/TheLeagueOfExtraordinaryGentlemen'' where he also captains pirates on a submarine.
45	* ''Franchise/MarvelUniverse'':
46	** The page picture is of Captain Barracuda, a pirate who uses advanced submarine-type ships armed with high-tech weaponry. The [[http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix/ Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe]] has a [[http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix/capbar.htm complete write-up on him,]] including pictures of some of the submarines he's used.
47	** Commander Kraken, originally a ComicBook/SubMariner foe who later fought ComicBook/IronMan.
48	* The ''ComicBook/MickeyMouseComicUniverse'' has Doctor Vulter, who debuted as one -- one good enough that he had been able to capture (not sink, capture men and all and bring back to his base) a ''battleship'' among other things. Nowadays he's mostly a WesternTerrorist, but submarines remain a favorite of his.
49	* In the ''Franchise/{{Tintin}}'' book ''[[Recap/TintinTheRedSeaSharks The Red Sea Sharks]]'', the submarine from Di Gorgonzola's slaver gang.
50	* "The Crew of the Alexandria" in ''Victorian Secret: Girls of {{Steampunk}}'' features an [[PirateGirl all-female]] [[AmazonBrigade crew]] of Submarine {{Privateer}}s.
51	* An Australian Navy submarine turned pirate attacks the ship 'The Whale' in ''Comicbook/YTheLastMan''. Or so the latter claims; the Australians claim to be shutting down their drug smuggling activities.
52	[[/folder]]
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54	[[folder:Comic Strips]]
55	* ''ComicStrip/TerryAndThePirates'': Captain Judas used a submersible crawler to continue his piratical career when he first returned.
56	[[/folder]]
57
58	[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
59	* The cat pirates in ''Animation/CatCity'' use a submarine instead of a ship.
60	[[/folder]]
61
62	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action ]]
63	* In the 1910 short ''Film/TheAerialSubmarine'', a man's son and daughter are kidnapped by pirates in a mysterious submarine. The father finds his children's camera, with a picture of the sub, and he takes it to the police. Meanwhile, the pirates sink a treasure ship and manage to get the loot on board before they're chased by a British navy ship, which is astonished to discover that not only can the sub go under water but it can also fly.
64	* [[TheFamilyThatSlaysTogether Father and son]] Jesse and David Kane's crew in ''Film/{{Aquaman\|2018}}'' were hired and equipped by [[BigBad Orm]] to hijack military submarines using a stealthy submersible prototype, [[spoiler:Orm's aim being [[PretextForWar to provoke retaliation from the surface world and thus justify a unified Atlantean invasion]]]]. Jesse's father, a particularly skilled frogman[[note]]not [[FrogMen that kind]]; a trained combat diver[[/note]] who served for the U.S. Navy in the Second World War, had turned to scavenging and piracy after the war when his home country's government mistreated him in spite of his service. [[FamilyBusiness He passed his stealthy diving skills to Jesse, and Jesse in turn to David.]]
65	* ''Film/AssaultOnAQueen'', a lesser-known Music/FrankSinatra movie from 1966. Pirates were using a salvaged German submarine to steal gold from the ''Queen Mary'', hitting it with a dummy warhead and threatening to use live ones.
66	* ''Film/BatmanTheMovie'': The Penguin owns a submarine in which he brings the United Underworld along (Joker, Riddler and Catwoman) in order to ambush Batman with a torpedo, and his NumberTwo in it is a stereotypical pirate of old somehow, [[TalkLikeAPirate pirate talk]] included.
67	* In ''Film/DownPeriscope'', a U.S. Navy war game calls for simulating an attack by terrorists working in conjunction with Submarine Pirates. The sub commander is specifically ordered by the admiral in charge of the war game to "think like a pirate". One of the particularly funny scenes involves the crew making [[spoiler:XO Pascal]] walk the plank while tied-up and blindfolded [[spoiler:right into the waiting nets of a fishing vessel]].
68	* In ''Film/InventionForDestruction'' (''The Fabulous World of Jules Verne'') the BigBad uses a submarine to sink ships and recover cargo.
69	* ''Film/PirateSubmarine'' features a heroic version. During WWII, the French submarine, the ''Casabianca'', escapes from German-held Toulon, and, upon joining the Free French forces at Algiers, is sent on a secret mission to Corsica to take two secret-service agents to make contact with the underground there. The agents contact the Marquis resistance forces, and learn they are ready to revolt but lack the needed arms and ammunition. The submarine is sent back to Corsica with the necessary weapons for the resistance-fighters, and also returns with trained troops to assist the resistance forces in attacking the Germans.
70	* ''Film/ASubmarinePirate'' is a 1915 silent film where an inventor and his accomplice plan to rob a ship carrying gold bullion by using a submarine.
71	[[/folder]]
72
73	[[folder:Literature]]
74	* Literature/DocSavage fights submarine pirates in ''The Submarine Mystery'' and again later in ''Five Fathoms Dead''.
75	* Played with in the Creator/FrankHerbert story ''Literature/TheDragonInTheSea'' (AKA ''Under Pressure'') has a future in which oil is so scarce that submarines are sent into foreign territory to secretly mine undersea sources of oil. These are government submarines however, rather than pirates. This trope only applies because it's a SpaceColdWar and none of this is happening officially.
76	* Hagbard Celine in ''Literature/{{Illuminatus}}''.
77	%% * ''The Pirate Submarine'' by Percy F. Westerman is about ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin.
78	* The Yabba-Dabba-Doo from ''Literature/SewerGasAndElectric'' is an environmentally friendly, green, pink polka-dotted pirate submarine.
79	* The Literature/TimeWars novel ''The Nautilus Sanction'' incorporates events from ''Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea'' so it naturally includes submarine pirates.
80	* Creator/JulesVerne:
81	** Captain Nemo from ''Literature/TwentyThousandLeaguesUnderTheSea'' is probably the TropeMaker, although he was more of a sea-going anarchist, complete with political philosophy, than a true pirate.
82	** Another submarine pirate, Ker Karraje, appears in the Verne novel ''Literature/FacingTheFlag''.
83	[[/folder]]
84
85	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
86	* An episode of ''Series/BurnNotice'' featured an AmoralAttorney who counted a drug cartel among his many evil clients. To rescue his daughter, Westen and crew request that the attorney get them a one-man submarine from the cartel. The submarine ends up being Team Westen's payment.
87	* The crew of HMS ''Achilles'' from ''Series/TheLastShip'' qualify, as they are no longer operating as part of the Royal Navy or any other competent command authority and ''are'' attacking both military and civilian targets without authorization.
88	* ''Series/ManFromAtlantis'': "Siren". While investigating the mysterious loss of three ships in one part of the ocean, Mark and the crew of the ''Cetacean'' encounter a submarine operated by a modern-day pirate. The pirate has captured a mermaid that can produce a hypnotic siren song, which mesmerizes anyone who hears it, even Mark.
89	* The Octopus from the ''Series/MIHigh'' episode "The Octopus". He uses his submarine ''Naughty Lass'' to hijack ships to steal the components he needs to make a nuclear warhead to melt the polar icecaps.
90	* Divatox from ''Series/PowerRangersTurbo'' is an intergalactic space pirate whose HQ is a fish-shaped submarine known as the Subcraft for the first half of the series. In episode 26, it is docked within the Space Base, and from then on remains integrated into the base as its main command deck.
91	* In the pilot movie for ''Series/SeaQuestDSV'' a heavily modified Delta IV submarine was being operated by pirates, led by former seaQuest captain Marilyn Stark.
92	* A two-part episode of ''Series/TVColosso'' featured a crew of submarine pirates led by Captain [[SdrawkcabName F.J.]], whose name has been commented as being opposed to the Boss of TV Colosso, J.F.
93	[[/folder]]
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95	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
96	* ''TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}}'' supplement ''Cyberpirates''. Some pirate gangs use submarines to attack and loot surface ships.
97	* ''Magazine/SpaceGamer'' magazine #68 AfterTheEnd adventure "Island of Entellope". The Renegades, a group of pirates who have their base on the title island, use a submarine called the Esmerelda. It's powered by batteries and propelled by turbines. It has a quick firing, self-loading ballista and can ram surface targets with an explosive-tipped spar.
98	* ''The Day After Ragnarok'': Set in the aftermath of the Nazi attempt to summon the Midgard Serpent at the end of WorldWarII. With surviving governments exhausted by both the War and the Serpentfall, piracy of all kinds is back. Rogue U-boats and Japanese submarine pirates are major threat to shipping (in addition to the sea monsters that are becoming increasingly common).
99	[[/folder]]
100
101	[[folder:Toys]]
102	* Franchise/{{Lego}} ''Toys/{{Aquazone}}'': The Aquashark and Stingray factions are pirates who exclusively use submarines and operate underwater.
103	[[/folder]]
104
105	[[folder:Video Games]]
106	* In ''VideoGame/AceVenturaTheCDRomGame'', one of the villains involved in animal poaching is a submarine named ''Nautilus''.
107	* The world of ''VideoGame/{{Aquanox}}'' has them. In fact, the main plot of ''Aquanox: Revelation'' is kicked off when your character's [[TheMothership home sub]] is hijacked by pirates while he is away, and he is forced to deal with them from then on ([[spoiler:one of them later turns out to be his uncle]]).
108	%% * The Lillien Knights (a band of modern pirates) in the ''VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters'' universe.
109	* ''VideoGame/StarFox64'' has the Sarumarine on [[LandfillBeyondTheStars Zoness]], an illegally obtained and modified research vessel turned offensive powerhouse. The pilot himself talks in quite the pirate-esque fashion.
110	-->'''Sarumarine Pilot''': Disrespectful little whelps! I'll teach ye some respect!
111	* ''VideoGame/SubCulture'' had everyone in submarines, so naturally pirates used them too.
112	* There's a group of pirates like this in ''VideoGame/{{Xenogears}}''. They start off in a sand submarine, though.
113	* The player crew in ''VideoGame/WeNeedToGoDeeper'' can become submarine pirates by attacking undersea civilizations to raid their shops. Underwater {{Ghost Pirate}}s also appear as enemies.
114	* The Merryweather Heist in ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'' allows you to be one of these, using a minisub to steal a nuclear warhead from a sunken freighter ship. You can also play as one in ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoOnline'' if you acquire the Kosatka nuclear submarine from the Cayo Perico Heist update.
115	[[/folder]]
116
117	[[folder:Web Comics]]
118	* Captain Snow and his crew from ''Webcomic/{{Archipelago}}'', another "submarines only" 'verse.
119	* In ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'' Sanaa Wilhelm [[spoiler: or rather Trygvassen]] was apparently queen of a group of pirates who used a [[Literature/TwentyThousandLeaguesUnderTheSea mechanical narwhal]] before ending up at castle Heterodyne.
120	* In ''Webcomic/IrregularWebcomic'' the pirates somehow end up in 1940 and [[http://www.irregularwebcomic.net/comic.php?current=2735&theme=10&dir=next5 hijack a German U-boat]].
121	* Killer Whale from ''Webcomic/PufferAndClarissa'' pilots a massive submarine. He wanders the ocean, attacking smaller ships and stealing their supplies.
122	[[/folder]]
123
124	[[folder:Western Animation]]
125	* ''WesternAnimation/Birdman1967'' episode "Serpents of the Deep". Dr. Shark operates from a submarine that has a weapon that can cut through objects. He uses it to steal a bathyscape so he can mine gold from the ocean floor.
126	* Captain Hammerhead and the crew of the Dark Orca in ''WesternAnimation/TheDeep2015'', who act as [[EvilCounterpart a dark version of the heroic Nekton family]].
127	* The ''WesternAnimation/JonnyQuest'' episode "Pirates from Below". They approach Dr. Quest's private island in a submarine and steal his submersible vehicle, the Underwater Prober. Later on when the Quest team escapes in the Prober the pirates attack in torpedo-firing one man subs.
128	* ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'': The plot of ''Porky the Gob'' involves a hunt for a pirate sub, staffed by some outlandish characters, one of which has an outlandish uniform and an even more outlandish mustachio. Porky, left alone to guard his ship, manages to fend off an attack by the sub, capture it, and claim the reward.
129	* Pirate Island, the base of pirate Sam Scurvy in the ''WesternAnimation/DoctorDolittle'' animated series, was actually a disguised submarine that used to follow Dolittle's ship.
130	* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1987'' had a pirate captain using a submarine with DeflectorShields, thwarted with Mona Lisa's help.
131	* In a novel twist on this trope, ''WesternAnimation/TransformersRobotsInDisguise'' features Hammerstrike, a pirate who turns into a submarine.
132	* A VillainOfTheWeek of ''WesternAnimation/YogisGang'' tried to steal the ark so he could discard his damaged submarine.
133	[[/folder]]
134
135	[[folder:Real Life]]
136	* While not strictly piracy related, private submarines used for maritime crime [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narco-submarine became notoriously famous as of late]], their chief function being smuggling. The U.S. Coast Guard has seized a few submarines with drug shipments aboard and several more under construction. The vessels themselves are custom-built to various standards of quality, from ramshackle fiberglass boats barely able to submerge to thirty meters long steel hulled true submarines with respectable seaworthiness.
137	** There was also a plot by several drug lords to buy a [[UsefulNotes/RussiansWithRustingRockets former Russian]] submarine. Fortunately this was intercepted by US Customs agents. Interestingly, while one would think this would be a supervillain-sized benefit, it would in fact be the opposite. The US military's sonar defense network is ''designed'' to pick up and track huge, Soviet-era submarines, so using one to smuggle drugs would have failed almost immediately. The smaller, custom-built ones are effective because they float under the sonar, as it were.
138	* During the interwar period, there were some experiments with large submarines that could theoretically surface and force a ship to surrender and fork over extremely valuable cargo before sinking or possibly even capturing them. This would also avoid the whole "leaving people to drown" bit of submarine warfare that people find so objectionable. However, the various naval treaties eventually limited sub displacement putting an end to this line of thinking (along with concerns that an armed merchant ship could potentially sink such a sub with a lucky hit).
139	** It's worth mentioning that the cruiser submarine that caused the ban was the French ''Surcouf''. Her internal storage and passenger bays were described for "prize collecting" personal and cargo and she even had a small boat explicitly intended for boarding. And she was named for a privateer. Subtle. The ''Surcouf'' also carried its own observation plane, potentially allowing for some crossover with SkyPirates.
140	* During the UsefulNotes/SpanishCivilWar, [[UsefulNotes/BenitoMussolini Italian]] submarines operating in support of UsefulNotes/FranciscoFranco's Nationalist faction were at one point [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyon_Conference referred to as "pirates" for political reasons]]. Those political reasons being that saying that ''someone'' was carrying out submarine pirate attacks could be used as a reason for the European nations to come together to form cooperative anti-sub patrols (including, ironically, the Italians), while just publicly declaring that the Italian navy was attacking merchant shipping would be to accuse them of an [[ThisMeansWar act of war]] and nobody in Europe was ready for [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII that war yet]].
141	* Military submarines, starting with those in the [[UsefulNotes/BritsWithBattleships Royal Navy]] in World War 1, started flying the JollyRoger after a British admiral complained that they were "underhanded, unfair, and damned un-English" and that personnel should be hanged as [[AppropriatedAppellation pirates]]. It became a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Use_of_the_Jolly_Roger_by_submarines tradition]] among the Americans and Commonwealth navies to fly the pirate flag after a successful mission and [[https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/weapons/news/a28209/navy-spy-sub-jolly-roger-uss-jimmy-carter/ continues to this day]].
142	[[/folder]]

Context Main / SubmarinePirates