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{{trope}}
[[File:military_mashup_machine_1871military mashup machine 1871.jpg|link=Supreme Commander|frame|<small>A Submersible Land Battleship Aircraft Carrier Factory Shield Generator.</small> ]]
 
 
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In the military, innovation has driven military conquest as someone found new ways to do something that was better than what came before. However, in [[Speculative Fiction]], it seems that a lot of people have decided [[Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot|combining previous concepts into one über-machine]] is easier than [[Creative Sterility|coming up with something original]].
 
Enter the [['''Military Mashup Machine]]'''. In reality, some of these would be [[Awesome but Impractical|far more expensive than practical]], with other existing military technologies being much easier to get the same results from, but [[Rule of Cool|if it looks cool]], why not present it as worthwhile?
 
While generally members of [[Speculative Fiction]] or [[Science Fiction]], these can also show up in [[Steampunk]] as well. See [[Airborne Aircraft Carrier]] and [[The Battlestar]] for specific [[Sub-Trope|Sub Tropes]].
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* The titular Land Leviathan from [[Michael Moorcock]]'s 1974 novel "The Land Leviathan".
* The ''original'' land battleship, from the story "The Land Ironclads," by H.G. Wells, is possibly the earliest example, predating actual tanks.
* [[Keith Laumer]]'s ''[[Bolo|Bolos]]s'': automated (and eventually artificially intelligent) land battleships of the Dinochrome Brigade (called "continental siege units" in early stories) which grew to have more firepower than the space battleships that transported them. (Their main guns are generally fusion lances with output measured in ''megatons per second''.) The largest models are capable of defending or conquering an entire planet, solo, and they, rather than their commanders, are the ''de facto'' protagonists of the stories where they appear.
* ''[[Posleen War Series]]'': The Tiger IIIs from ''Watch on the Rhine'' are land battleships. The design of the Tiger III is never specified, but it is also known to be capable of shooting down spacecraft in low orbit as well as taking out swarms of [[Horde of Alien Locusts|Posleen]].
** The SheVa unit "Bun-Bun" has added weapons and equipment to arguably make count as a land battleship, but it still isn't quite on the same level as the Tiger IIIs. Other SheVa units, however, are more akin to just really big mobile artillery pieces.
* [[Robert A. Heinlein]]'s short novel ''[["If This Goes On—"|If This Goes On...]]'' has the major land force of the USA be Land Battleships.
* Scott Westerfeld's [[Leviathan (novel)|Leviathan]] features Land Frigates, which are essentially actually German Battleships with [[Spider Tank|legs]].
* Spoofed in the [[Harry Harrison]] short story ''Navy Day''. The US Army declares their waterbourne rivals obsolete after developing a technology that enables vehicles to drive on the ocean. Naval scientists work frantically while Congress debates whether to abolish the Navy once and for all -- justall—just as they are about to vote in favor the Admiral points to the battleship now 'sailing' down Constitution Avenue.
* Subverted in Harry Turtledove's ''[[Worldwar]]'' series. [[Scary Dogmatic Aliens|The Race]] has "landcruisers" but they're just normal-sized tanks, the lizards hadn't really bothered to come up with many specialized words for their military technology since they'd fought only ''two'' wars in the past 100,000 years before invading earth.
** At the same time, they have the word "cruiser", which is a naval term, despite the Race hailing from a [[Single Biome Planet|desert world]] with no oceans or any other major bodies of water. In fact, it's specifically mentioned that our battleships and aircraft carriers are a mystery to them. They also call their spacecraft "ships", and it's not just [[Translation Convention]] either. A Chinese woman who has studied their language wonders why "planes that never land" are called "ships". The Race obviously can't think of space travel in terms of [[Space Is an Ocean]] because they never had an [[Age Of Sail]].
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=== [[Live Action Television]] ===
* GoGoVoyager from ''[[Go Go Sentai Boukenger]]'' is basically a battleship with wheels (and a terrain-flattening roller), able to go from sea to land and leave a path of devastation. Did we mention [[Combining Mecha|it also seperates into five assault vehicles]] [[Humongous Mecha|AND combines again into a big horkin' robot?]]
* [[Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger|Ultimate Daizyujin]]/[[Mighty Morphin Power Rangers|Ultrazord]]. [[Description Porn]] warning: Start with an oversized robot brachiosaurus on wheels. Split the tail into two [[BFG|BFGs]]s, and put one on each front shoulder. Take a skyscraper-sized robot formed from a robot [[Tyrannosaurus Rex]], a robot mammoth/mastodon, a robot triceratops, a robot smilodon, and a robot pterosaur, and a robot aquatic dragon. Remove the chest armor and tail from the dragon, and retract its missile-launcher hands into the shoulders. Then tilt the feet around, split it at the middle, and put it on the humanoid robot as armor, making sure to tilt the head crest up. Put the brachiosaur's chestplate (which has several firing barrels) on the humanoid robot's chest, and put its front paws on the humanoid robot as gauntlets. Attach the dragon's tail to the and chestplate to the brachiosaurus in the appropriate spots. Then stand the humanoid robot in a bay in the brachiosaurus' back. Voila. The resulting machine can roll along at a good clip, and packs enough firepower to blow up even the devil.
 
=== [[Real Life]] ===
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** Though, to a certain extent, anything built by Orks qualifies.
** Not to mention Chaos has daemonically possessed/traitorous versions of all the above, sporting screaming mouths the size of houses and bladed tentacles the size of trains.
* The ''Ogre'', one of several classes of autonomous robotic moving fortresses from the game of the same name (and its successor, ''G.E.V.'') from Steve Jackson Games. The concept is partially derived from [[Keith Laumer]]'s ''[[Bolo|Bolos]]s'', and partially from Steve Jackson's need to reduce the numbers of counters he had to put in each box. In the original game, a combined arms force consisting of powered armor infantry, tanks, artillery, and hovercraft, each of whom, in the game universe, fires ''nuclear weapons'', opposes ''one'' unit -- theunit—the Ogre. In the original scenario, where all the defenders have to do is prevent the Ogre from reaching a specific point on the gameboard, the Ogre usually wins.
* [[Dystopian Wars]] has Land Battleships large enough to mount [[Up to Eleven|Saint Paul's Cathedral]] on their backs, while also carrying various weapons that make them more than able to live up to their moniker.
 
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* ''[[G.I. Joe]]'' has had a number of these in toy form, although they rarely appeared in the cartoons. One of them, the General ([[wikipedia:General (G.I. Joe)|The Other Wiki link]]) did recieve the focus of an entire episode. Driven by the Russian guy no less. Go peristrokia.
* The Nazi wheel tank from the ''[[Justice League (animation)|Justice League]]'' episode "The Savage Time". These were taken from the old ''[[Blackhawk]]'' comics during that time.
* [[Losing Your Head|Skullus]], one of the [[Evil Sorcerer|Evil Sorcerers]]s from ''[[Thundarr the Barbarian]]'', possesses [http://images.wikia.com/thundarr/images/b/bb/Skulluslandmachine.png a huge war machine] which runs the gamut from land battleship to [[Base on Wheels]]...er, treads.
 
== Submersible Carrier ==
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** Don't forget that the Japanese also used them, although [[wikipedia:Type 2 Ka-Mi|theirs]] [[wikipedia:Type 3 Ka-Chi|floated]] rather than driving submerged.
** The first amphibious tank actually produced in series: Soviet [http://www.militaryfactory.com/armor/detail.asp?armor_id=565 T-37A].
*** The [[wikipedia:PT-76|PT-76]] is probably the most successful of modern amphibious tanks. Arguably, its biggest success is in being cheap, lightweight, and armored enough to serve as an universal chassis for the whole lot of other Soviet vehicles, from self-propelled artillery to SAM launchers, adding more to its [[Military Mashup Machine]] status.
*** So... In Soviet Russia, water is full of Tank? [http://www.perekop.ru/history/nord-crimea-1941-172sd/attachment/perekop-1941-t37-tanks/ Sometimes] it [http://www.panoramio.com/photo/7070048 is].
 
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=== [[Literature]] ===
** The KingFisher in the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' novel ''The Indestructible Man'', a [[Captain Ersatz]] of everything Gerry Anderson ever did.
* [[Edgar Rice Burroughs]]' ''Beyond Thirty'' (alternate title ''The Lost Continent''): the protagonist is the captain of a Pan-American Navy "aero-sub" -- a—a submarine capable of [[Anti Gravity]] flight. Sadly, he doesn't have his vessel throughout most of the story, having been thrown overboard by a mutineer in the first chapter.
 
=== [[Live Action TV]] ===
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* The [[Dark Empire|World Devastators]] from the [[Star Wars Expanded Universe]] not only did this, but ate the planets they were attacking to get the raw materials. If given enough time, a fleet of World Devastators could consume the entirety of a planet and convert it into new war machines. Including ''more World Devastators''.
** Not just factories then, but also refineries. You also ought to include EVS Construction Droids, which are walking rather than flying factories.
*** EVS droids aren't really military, though. Well, there was that one time [[X Wing Series|Rogue Squadron]] hijacked one and went on a [[Kaiju]]-style rampage to evacuate a section of an enemy city before it could be [[Kill Sat|Kill Satted]]ted, but that definitely wasn't the intended purpose.
* The General Systems Vehicles of [[Iain M Banks|Iain M. Banks's]] [[The Culture|Culture]] novels qualify as, among other things, mobile factories. These ships are large enough to be home to billions of people and can crank out other massive ships, as described in '''Excession''.
 
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=== [[Literature]] ===
* Averted occasionally in the [[Star Wars Expanded Universe]], though such over-specialized ships usually don't do well - for example, the escort carrier, which can carry as many fighters as a Star Destroyer in a much smaller and less-expensive ship, is pitifully under-gunned. One could send an escort ship with it... or just send a ship that both carries fighters and can adequately defend itself. This has been a design philosophy that has been common throughout the galaxy for thousands of years, from the ships in the Old Republic to the modern Star Destroyers.
** While single-purpose cruisers and carriers are rare, different cultures do make different design emphasis. A Star Destroyer (and most Imperial vessels) is first and foremost a battleship whose fighters are primarily a defensive screen -- thescreen—the main offensive component of the group is the big guns on the big ship. In contrast, Rebellion and New Republic fleet groups favor heavier fighters with less powerful capital ships, or sometimes no capital ship at all.
** This is largely due to the fact that the Empire favors [[We Have Reserves|easily replaceable]] TIE Fighters that do not have hyperdrive or life support systems. Most Rebel/New Republic ships ''do'' have those things. Rebel tactics are also meant to be small hit and run operations where the presence of a capitol ship is not always necessary, while the Imperials mainly use Star Destroyers for force projection.
* Large capital ships in ''[[Perry Rhodan]]'' are usually this, carrying not just fighters, but larger secondary craft (often smaller warships in their own right) as well. A particularly striking and unique example would be the (Terran-built) SOL, which is basically three such ships (two spherical 'ultra-battleships' and a cylindrical central section connecting the two barbell-style) usually linked together but capable of [[Detachment Combat|separating from each other]] if needed. That's right -- aright—a [[The Battlestar|battle star]] ''made of'' [[The Battlestar|battle stars]]!
 
=== [[Live Action TV]] ===
* As mentioned, ''[[Babylon 5]]'' capital ships often carry fighter complements, as does the titular station.
* There were about three ships in ''[[Star Trek]]'' that fall under this sub-trope that we've seen--oneseen—one of which was fictitious (even within the context of the series itself). They were the historically inaccurate recreation of ''[[Star Trek: Voyager|Voyager]]'' in the episode ''Living Witness'', the ''Scimitar'' in ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation|Star Trek: Nemesis]]'', and the Akira class. Other ships don't really count for this, as they primarily carry shuttle craft, which are neither good at nor designed for combat, nor is the compliment in any way considered "considerable" (usually half a dozen at most on the largest ships). The shuttles function more like rowboats for wooden sailing ships, small transports for when it wouldn't make sense to land the ship.
* In ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'' the Go'a'uld standard heavy Ha'tak class exemplifies this. The humans get in on the action with the ''Prometheus'', a small flying space carrier with eight fighters and a notable array of its own weapons, designed to be capable of challenging Goa'uld motherships. The larger ''Daedalus'' class ramps it all up further, particularly when the ''Odyssey'' gets state-of-the-art Asgard beam weapons, fully qualifying it as a battle-carrier.
** The Wraith also get in on the action with their ridiculously-massive Hive ships that spew hundreds of Dart fighters while firing powerful batteries of energy blasts.
** Even the Ancient city-ships like Atlantis could be this way, given that they have dozens of puddle jumpers. However, puddle jumpers are more akin to ''[[Star Trek]]'' shuttles than fighters, although in the right hands they can do plenty of damage. They're also very rarely used in big battles. In fact, the only two times they were used en masse (i.e. more than one) was during the siege of Atlantis (against a single Dart) and to play a game of ''Asteroids''.
* ''[[Battlestar Galactica]]''. Though the ''Galactica'' and other Battlestar-class ships seem to operate primarily as fighter carriers, the ''Galactica'' has demonstrated repeatedly that it is more than capable of taking on a Cylon Basestar in close combat.
** And, of course, there's the ''Pegasus'', shown to be positively ''bristling'' with [[BFG|BFGs]]s.
* The Alliance cruisers in ''[[Firefly]]'' appear to be multipurpose combinations of warships and fighter carriers, equipped with "gunships" that are used to engage targets, as well as some type of large laser/torpedo weapons system.
 
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* Successful real life example with the Russian MI-24 Hind helicopter, which was designed to combine the roles of a transport and attack helicopter. However, serving as a transport made it bigger and less maneuverable than a pure attack helicopter. Though in terms of pure straight-line speed it's still the fastest attack helicopter to ever go beyond the prototype stage.
* [http://www.diseno-art.com/encyclopedia/strange_vehicles/x-wing.html RSRA X-Wing]. (No, not [[Star Wars|that X-Wing]].) It's a plane! It's a helicopter! It's a plane ''and'' a helicopter!
* See [http://www.amazon.com/My-Tank-Fight-Zack-Parsons/dp/0806527587/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1205083504&sr=8-1 My Tank is Fight!] for a look at flying tank ideas, among other [[Military Mashup Machine]] concepts from [[Real Life]].
* Several countries [[wikipedia:Winged tank|experimented]] with flying tanks in ''[[World War II]]'', some included in the book above.
** If any practical real-world aircraft could get away with calling itself a flying tank, the [[Real Life/Cool Plane|A-10]] is it. Also, one even successfully shot down an Iraqi fighter with its [[Gatling Good|Avenger rotary cannon]] during the [[Gulf War]], even though not designed for air-to-air combat.
* Wouldn't be a complete article without mentioning [[wikipedia:Lockheed AC-130|the AC-130]]. With the weapons load including a ''105mm howitzer'' it's is informally classified as a flying artillery platform. I mean just look at that thing.
* The AC-130 is cool, but similar attempt was done on at least two [http://www.stormbirds.net/variants262a1aU4.htm ME262], the Me262 A-1a/U4 variant, with 50mm Anti-tank cannon fitted on its nose. Consider WWII have light tanks with smaller cannons.
* The Boulton Paul Defiant: a WWII RAF fighter/interceptor with a machine gun turret behind the cockpit and no forward armament.<ref> the turret guns ''could'' be triggered by the pilot, with the intention of allowing forward fire as in a standard fighter, but the cockpit was in the way, which forced the guns to elevate by 19 degrees when pointed forward. It would have been difficult to design a gunsight that would handle this, so the pilot ended up without one</ref>. The weight of the turret and gunner seriously impacted on the aircraft’s performance compared to other fighters, and it was still vulnerable to attack from beneath or dead ahead. Initially, the Defiant brought down quite a few rather surprised Luftwaffe pilots, <ref>many of whom confused it with the similarly-shaped Hawker Hurricane</ref> but once they knew what they were dealing with, they made mincemeat of it. <ref> The turret fighter concept had worked rather well back in the WWI era, with a number of successful models, particularly the RAF’s Bristol F.2 Fighter, which the Defiant was intended to emulate. However, that was the era of biplanes, open cockpits, top speeds a quarter of those in the WWII era, and rather more forgiving aerodynamics. Which, for instance, allowed the Bristol F.2 to be equipped with both a turret ''and'' a forward machine gun. By the time the practical limitations of the turret fighter in the WWII closed-cockpit arena had become apparent, a number of turreted versions of successful fighters (such as the Mosquito) were in the process of being designed or commissioned. None made it into service.</ref>
* It's a corvette! It's a heli carrier! It's a Landing ship! No it's a [[wikipedia:USS Freedom (LCS-1)|Littoral combat ship!]]
 
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