Going Down with the Ship: Difference between revisions

In many cases, the captain goes down with the ship because he would [[Dirty Coward|face major disgrace if he didn't]]--for example, if he'd royally screwed up.

 

{{examples}}

 

* {{spoiler|[[Disappeared Dad|Clyde Harlaown]]}} in ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha As]]'', who remained in the [[Cool Starship|Hestia]] when the [[Artifact of Doom|Book of Darkness]] started taking control of the ship's systems so that he can ensure that all of his surviving crew members escape. Once he was sure that everyone else had evacuated, [[Heroic Sacrifice|he asked for the ship accompanying them to open fire on the Hestia]], as the Book of Darkness had already taken over the Hestia's weapon systems by that time and was going to fire first if they don't.

* Brutally averted in [[Mobile Suit Gundam 00]]: {{spoiler|Christina tricks Feldt into joining Sumeragi and Ian Vashti in a support craft moments before the Ptolemaios is destroyed.}}

 

 

== Film ==

* Used as part of the ruse in ''[[The Hunt for Red October]]'': Ramius fakes a reactor meltdown to get the men off his ship, telling them that he will scuttle the ship before the Americans can get it. Ironically, this is the complete opposite of his actual intentions.

* ''[[Titanic]]'' is full of this. Apart from the captain himself there's the band who remain on deck (which actually happened in [[Real Life]]) and anyone who took the orders of "women and children first out" to heart.

** [[A Night to Remember]] showed this as well. Captain Smith himself is last seen walking onto the bridge (presumably deciding to go down with the ship). Both films also showed the band which played as the ship sank, and a few passengers who ''intentionally'' stay aboard for one reason or another. There's even a sub-plot about a young married couple who initially want to stay behind just so they can remain together, but are talked out of it by Thomas Andrews, the architect who ironically went down with the ship himself.

* Used in ''[[Kind Hearts and Coronets]]'': "...all hands were saved, save one. Admiral Lord Horatio D'Ascoyne, obstinate to the last, insisted on going down with his ship."

** The ship sank because [[What an Idiot!|he didn't know starboard from port]].

* In ''[[The Perfect Storm]]'', this happens with {{spoiler|Captain Billy Tyne, when the ''Andrea Gail'' is capsized by a giant wave the crew had tried to drive over. Most of the crew are trapped in the lower deck, and have no choice but to go down with the ship. Tyne and Bobby are able to escape, but only Bobby gets out, while Tyne remains behind and goes down}}. Of course, seeing as {{spoiler|there were no survivors among the crew of the real-life ''Andrea Gail''}} this is all conjecture, drama and fiction.

** To be fair, {{spoiler|the boat was sinking and they were trapped in open water during the worst recorded storm in history. Tyne might not have gone down with the ship out of honour so much as he felt there was no point, as there was no chance of survival either way. This is evidenced by Bobby, who makes it out of the boat, but drowns sometime later}}.

* The ''[[Monty Python's Flying Circus]]'' sketch [http://www.montypython.net/scripts/ww1.php "World War 1"] has a ship captain announcing "women and children first!", then we see that the captain and crew are all dressed as women and children... and other costumes, which forces the captain to change the announcement to "women, children, Red Indians, spacemen, and a sort of idealized version of complete Renaissance Men first!"

* ''[[Battlestar Galactica]]'' invokes this trope a few times in S3. I'm not sure whether this falls squarely under this trope since no immediate crisis is involved -- Adama simply kicks (almost) everybody off the ship when it's not in active duty, but refuses to leave with them. The other IS this trope, though. Lee Adama, Commander of the Pegasus, is the last to leave the ship (and says the customary good-bye) before it takes off on a collision course with the Cylon Baseships. Also in S4 {{spoiler|Adama is the last to leave the Galactica, except for Sam who is now more part of the ship than part of the crew}}.

** Happens to Sisko again with the ''U.S.S. Defiant'' as it's being blasted to scrap. He's the last one on the bridge after calling for the crew to abandon ship, and probably the last one off before the Dominion finish the job.

** Subverted hard in The Original Series episode "The Doomsday Machine". Commodore Decker evacuates all of the crew of the ''U.S.S. Constellation'', remaining aboard because the captain is the "last man to leave the ship". The planet killer knocks out the ''Constellation'' transporters, then begins devouring the planet her crew had taken refuge on.

{{quote| '''Decker:''' They called me, they begged me for help! Four hundred of them! I couldn't...I just couldn't...}}

* In ''[[Firefly]]'' when Serenity is crippled Mal sends the rest of the crew off in the shuttles and stays on board. He claims this is because someone might hear their distress signal, but Inara at least assumes that he's doing this. In the end the crew, who had little better chances of survival in the shuttles in any case, come back to join him.

** Shortly before that, in the same episode, the man who ''is'' in command there had just taken off to get to the shuttles himself, but only after [[The Men First|seeing the rest of his crew off]] and imploring Sinclair and Garibaldi to get going rather than {{spoiler|staying behind to try and save Zathras, who had appeared shortly before all of their problems began.}}

* In ''[[Stargate Atlantis]]'', in "The Last Man", an alternate reality Carter rams a Wraith Hiveship with the Phoenix, a much smaller 304 Battlecruiser. The Phoenix not only destroys the Hiveship, but two more are destroyed when they get caught in the blast of the first. It is unknown whether Carter meant to go down with the ship, or whether she intended to beam down to the planet below but couldn't because the transporters were knocked out.

* A variation happens in [[Mikhail Akhmanov]]'s ''[[Arrivals From the Dark|Fighters of Danveyt]]'', when the novel's protagonist finds himself in a no-win situation with a much more powerful enemy ship. He orders the ship's semi-sentient computer to eject the two other crewmembers (who are sealed in personal pods) and sets a collison course for the enemy's [[Antimatter]] gun. The ship decides to alter the plan slightly by ejecting the captain as well a few seconds before the collision. The collision results in the loss of containment for the [[Antimatter]] and the destruction of both ships. The protagonist wakes up a week later having barely survived the blast.

* Averted by [[Dirty Coward|Admiral Trigit]] in ''[[X Wing Series|Wraith Squadron]]''. His fleeing his damaged but still combat-capable Star Destroyer prompts the beginnings of {{spoiler|Gara Petothel's}} [[Heel Face Turn]]. She blows the whistle on him to Wraith Squadron, and Myn Donos shoots him down.

* ''[[Dale Brown]]''s Sky Masters, the Chinese Admiral fails to invade Mindanao, and his ship gets struck by the Americans satellite. With his ship sinking he decides to sink with the ship and shoot himself, because even if he lives, he'll get court martialed, and executed by his superiors.

* Played very straight by Captain Jack Aubrey of the ''[[Master and Commander]]'' saga. In the book "Desolation Island", the HMS Leopard springs a very large leak and is in danger of sinking. Captain Aubrey lets the men bring out the boats and gives his First Lieutenant dispatches for the authorities, while he himself prepares to go down with the ship. The situation eventually improves, thankfully.

* [[My Country, Right or Wrong|Recurring antagonist]] Admiral Amagi is assumed to go down with his ship the last time the player meets him in ''[[Naval Ops|Warship Gunner 2]]''.

* Occurs in ''[[Free Space]]'' when the ''Galatea'' is destroyed by the ''Lucifer''. The ''Galatea'' launches escape pods, which you are charged with defending, but the the mission debriefing states that the Captain stayed behind and went down with his ship.

 

 

== Western Animation ==

* [[Bugs Bunny]] short "[[wikipedia:Mutiny on the Bunny|Mutiny on the Bunny"]]. Yosemite Sam is the captain of a sailing ship. Bugs tricks him into thinking the ship is sinking and Sam jumps into a lifeboat. Bugs reminds him that "The captain goes down with his ship", so Sam resigns and makes Bugs the captain.