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{{trope}}
[[File:ozzel.jpg|link=The Empire Strikes Back|frame|
{{quote|'''O'Brien''': It's an old naval tradition. Whoever's in command of a ship, regardless of rank, is referred to as "captain."
'''Nog''': You mean if I had to take command, I would be called "captain," too?
'''O'Brien''': Cadet, [[Deadpan Snarker|by the time you took command, there'd be nobody left to call you anything]].
|''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]'', "Behind the Lines"}}
A character, working in the military, is suddenly forced into duties that by all rights ought to belong to someone of much higher rank; everyone who ought to be doing those duties has unexpectedly found themselves [[Everybody's Dead, Dave|dead]], indisposed, or unavailable.
This is most likely to occur in the navy or its [[Space Opera
In [[Real Life]], if there are a number of survivors of the same rank, the most senior of them holds command (unless otherwise designated, ie, the XO is always second-in-command and the OPS officer is always third, regardless of rank). In fiction, the situation is often adequately chaotic that the one that actually gives orders may find himself pressed into command and [[
Often this requires them to press [[Field Promotion|juniors]] and otherwise [[Closest Thing We Got|unsuitable people]] into roles as their subordinates. Occasionally, the promotee subsequently becomes [[Drunk with Power]].
If the dead commander was [[A Father to His Men]], the new one may find his troops are [[Losing the Team Spirit]] over his death
Usually the "promotion" involved is strictly temporary. Either the people who are supposed to do the job will return from whatever made them unavailable in the first place, or a replacement will eventually appear. On the other hand, in a continuing series, a stint of
Compare [[Unexpected Successor]], [[Falling Into the Cockpit]], [[Take Up My Sword]], [[Time to Step Up Commander]].
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Note that if the character does not command, it falls under [[Field Promotion]], since it is handled out by the commander, even if he would not normally be the commander.
{{examples}}▼
▲{{examples}}
== Advertising ==
* In a 1990s radio campaign for a Vancouver RV dealership called Fraser Way, the owner of a competing dealership needed ideas on how to beat Fraser Way's deals, so every employee became the Sales Manager for a few seconds.
▲== Anime & Manga ==
* [[Gundam]]:
** This is the premise of the original ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam]]'': Bright Noa, a mere officer trainee with no battle experience whatsoever, is forced to become [[The Captain]] of the [[Cool Starship]] ''White Base'' when nearly all of his superior officers are killed in the first episode surprise attack by Zeon Federation, and the one survivor (the captain) succumbing to his wounds shortly afterward. This also nicely mirrors the protagonist Amuro Ray [[Falling Into the Cockpit]] of the eponymous battle robot he never seen before.
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** {{spoiler|Julian Mintz, a mere Lieutenant, becomes the military leader of the remaining [[The Federation|Free Planets Alliance]] military}}. It is a multiple subversion actually: Officers higher than him are still around, but they just cannot choose whom among them will {{spoiler|takes Yang's mantle}} (first subversion), so they chooses {{spoiler|Yang's foster child}} to act both as a figurehead (second subversion) and to arbitrate between them when they don't agree with each other, so while he seems to be a powerless puppet, he IS giving orders to people higher than him in the hierarchy and they willingly obey such orders. (But then again, {{spoiler|It's the [[Mildly Military|Yang Team]], and they ALWAYS put [[Badass Crew|competence above hierarchy]]}}.)
* ''[[Bleach]]'':
** In the movie ''The Diamond Dust Rebellion'', Rangiku has to take temporary command of Squad 10 after Captain Hitsugaya turns up missing. She does a damn good job of it, too.
** In canon, Lieutenants Izuru Kira and Shuuhei Hisagi take command of their squads after {{spoiler|their Captains, Gin Ichimaru and Kaname Tousen, turn traitor}}. Momo Hinamori would've done the same due to {{spoiler|her Captain, [[Big Bad|Sousuke Aizen]] also being revealed as a traitor}}, but she was both physically and emotionally unfit for duty at the time.
== Film ==
* Corporal Hicks in ''[[Aliens]]'' becomes able to authorize a nuclear attack thanks to alien-caused attrition in the higher ranks, though the company lieutenant was only wounded, not killed, in an incident precipitated by his own ineptitude. When he's up and around again, he seems to acknowledge his failure of command, allowing Hicks and a ''civilian'' Ripley to continue calling the shots. (Granted, the situation had devolved to the point that any attempt to re-assert command had a good chance of being ignored anyway.)
* Repeatedly happens in the ''[[Starship Troopers (film)|Starship Troopers]]'' movie. It's all but stated that the Mobile Infantry work on a system similar to [[Klingon Promotion]], except you don't kill your superior (
* ''[[Star Wars]]'':
** Toyed with repeatedly in ''[[The Empire Strikes Back]]'' (the [[Trope Namer]]): Darth Vader, as Supreme Commander, holds no formal rank in the Imperial system save as an agent of the Emperor himself (meaning that any order he gives is treated as no different from an order by the Emperor), allowing him to hand out nice little impromptu promotions by [[You Have Failed Me...|Force-choking the incompetent officers]]. In one scene, he chokes Admiral Ozzel for screwing up, and immediately addresses Ozzel's XO Captain Piett as ''Admiral'' Piett, putting him in command right then and there (before Ozzel's body has even hit the floor). In the [[Star Wars Expanded Universe]], the novel ''[[The Thrawn Trilogy|Heir To The Empire]]'' reveals that while it was risky, serving aboard Vader's flagship, the ''Executor'', was also seen as the fast track to promotion for the sufficiently quick-thinking and
** In the first movie, when Luke's commander is killed in the assault on the Death Star, this huge, meaningful music cue plays to signify that Luke is now in command of the mission. (What's left of it; just him and his wingmen.)
** There's another, more subtle instance of this a few minutes earlier. After Darth Vader shoots down two of Gold Squadron's Y-wings during their trench run, the lone
* The 2009 ''[[Star Trek (film)|Star Trek]]'' movie has this happen to ''every single character''. At least five different characters inherit command of at least two different ships during the movie. Russian whiz kid Chekov is the only one of the main characters who ends up in his position without someone else getting sick or flat out killed, and he is briefly given command of the ''Enterprise'' when everyone else is away.
* In ''U-571'', the main character is an American submarine officer whose captain is killed in action. Being second-in-command, he then has to take charge of the crew to complete the mission, evading depth charge attacks, engaging in an underwater battle, and making horrible decisions that cost members of his crew their lives....all while manning a German-built sub whose controls they are utterly unfamiliar with. At one point, a crewman says that the Chief Petty Officer should assume command rather than Lt. Tyler. The Chief shuts him down very quickly.
* In ''[[Zulu]]'', Lieutenant Chard of the Royal Engineers finds himself in command of an obscure supply depot that has lost its major and come under attack by Zulus. Lieutenant Bromhead, despite being an infantryman, must defer to Chard because he received his commission three months later. In reality, Chard had three years' seniority over Bromhead and was explicitly left in command by the Major in charge of the post. Seniority aside, Bromhead was deaf, which was the reason he was posted to Rorke's Drift, where no action was expected.
* In ''[[The Warriors (film)|The Warriors]]'', the gang's leader Cleon is killed in the opening of the film. Second-in-command Swan takes his place, though the bruiser of the group, Ajax, tries to dispute this.
* ''[[The Guns of Navarone]]''. Major Franklin starts off as mission leader thanks to his rank, but Mallory becomes the ''de facto'' leader after Franklin is incapacitated by injury.
* In the opening scenes of ''[[Saving Private Ryan]]'' (on Omaha Beach), Captain Miller receives more or less this exact response from his sergeant after asking who's in command of their area of the beach. He's already in command of most of the men around him, though, he was merely confirming that nobody higher-up was around.
* ''[[Full Metal Jacket]]'' gives us this line: "You're senior NCO, Cowboy. You're in charge. Continue on with the patrol, and call in at the next checkpoint." Cowboy's response to this lies somewhere at the end of the sliding scale of ''[[Oh Crap]]''.
* On several occassions in ''[[Downfall (film)|Downfall]]'', Hitler randomly promotes officers to higher military positions. General Weidling is ordered to defend Berlin when he only came in to attest that he didn't move his command post and therefore shouldn't be executed. Ritter von Greim is an even better example however: he was also already a general, but when he makes it to the bunker he is put in command of the entire German air force (which is all but completely defunct by this point in time), and told that he has to rebuild it from the ground up. When Hitler starts claiming that he'll be able to give Greim a thousand jet aircraft on short notice, it's become obvious that reality and him don't see eye to eye anymore.
** All of these happened in [[Real Life]] - ironically, von Greim's
* In ''[[Terminator]] 3'', {{spoiler|1=John Connor and his future wife Kate reach the West Coast command bunker, but none of the civilian leadership did because of SkyNet's interference. So John seizes control of the confused and scattered resistance by default.}}
== Literature ==
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* [[Elizabeth Moon]] has a good [[Space Is an Ocean]] example, in ''[[Familias Regnant|Winning Colors]]'': Esmay Suiza takes command of a small spaceship, despite being a junior-grade lieutenant who's about twelfth in the chain of command, because everyone ahead of her is either in the pay of the enemy or killed by those who are.
* ''[[Seafort Saga|Midshipman's Hope]]'' by David Feintuch is all about this trope. Deconstructed and subverted as well.
* [[Dan Abnett]]'s ''[[Warhammer
** ''Brutally'' crushed in ''Sabbat Martyr''. in Ensign Valdemeer, an eager young junior officer on a grand Imperial warship. When most of the bridge crew is slain and the captain cut off from his usual empathic command of the ship, he asks for Valdemeer to take the helm. Valdemeer tries to fight back, but the ship is already near-destroyed, and he and the captain are killed without being able to inflict telling damage on their killers.
** In ''Ghostmaker'', when a small group of Ghosts were protecting some wounded Volpone [[Blue Blood|blue bloods]], Culcis, one of the wounded, got up despite his injuries and got some of his fellows to follow him, and volunteered that they could shoot. When he appears again in ''Necropolis'', he has risen in rank, and tells Corbec that the doctor was kind enough to mention his part in the defense, which had gotten his officers' eyes on him.
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*** Milo takes the initiative after a sergeant was killed. Gaunt wrestles with putting him in the position but decides that being the youngster trooper, it would be too much (Rawne considers this a mistake on his part).
*** Later in the battle, Gaunt is temporarily "promoted" to the be supreme commander of all Imperial forces in Vervunhive, despite the fact that he's only a Colonel-Commissar. This is because the other ranking officers are either dead, disgraced, or smart enough to defer to him. However, after the battle, he is restored to his regular rank, though he keeps the city's ceremonial power sword.
** In ''Traitor General'', Uexkull [[Off with His Head|kills]] a local commander for not searching vigorously enough to find infiltrators, and then disables his second in command for not answering promptly enough when he asked. The third-in-command is asked about the infiltrators and leaps to
{{quote|"''Who is," Uexkull asked, his voice like a slither of dry scale, "second in command? Say, for instance, if the garrison commander is suddenly deprived of brain activity?''"}}
* [[Robert A. Heinlein]], being an ex-navy officer, brought this up a number of times in his books.
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** Also, someone mentions an offstage example where a junior officer was in command of a brigade.
** He also wrote a book around this trope, ''[[Starman Jones]].'' The eponymous character signs aboard the passenger liner ''Asgard'' as a steward (and has to forge papers to get that position). He gets a position as apprentice astrogator because of his ability and because the ship is badly short-handed in astrogation. At the end of the book he winds up as captain because the original captain, astrogator and assistant astrogator have all died and only an astrogator can hold command of a spaceship that is underway.
** In Heinlein's ''
** And in ''[[The Moon
* The book ''Spaceship Medic'' by [[Harry Harrison]] deals with this scenario. The eponymous medic ends up in charge after all the rest of the ship's officers are wiped out by a meteorite hitting the bridge (then has some adventures, saves the day, and goes back to being a doctor).
* Happens at least [[Once an Episode|once a book]] in ''[[Honor Harrington]]'': the flagship of a formation is destroyed, or battle damage kills the captain of a spaceship. Sometimes things work out fine; usually they don't. In each example, David Weber spends at least a paragraph explaining why it is that this person is now in command, instead of the higher ranking/more qualified personnel on the next ship over (
** He also uses this with the short story "Ms. Midshipwoman Harrington". The eponymous character gains command due to the battle, controls the situation, and emerges victorious. She is later given a promotion earlier than normal, but only to Ensign instead of several or more ranks.
** Most plot-relevant to the entire series is Honor's assumption of command at First Hancock in ''The Short Victorious War''
* Not just in the Honorverse; examples abound in [[David Weber]]'s other books.
** In the stand-alone novel ''[[In Fury Born]]'' the protagonist Alicia DeVries gets one of these when her unit is shattered during the Shallingsport operation. She begins as a sergeant first class, leading a ''squad'', and less than ten minutes after the battle starts ends up in command of her entire ''company''. Then again, her company in the same span of time goes from a full complement of 275 troops to 63 survivors (they drop into what was supposed to be a clear LZ, in what was supposed to have been a surprise raid... and land right on top of a dug-in enemy battalion with heavy weapons that knows they're coming, and has been waiting for them).
** In his ''[[Empire From the Ashes]]'' trilogy, main character Colin MacIntyre goes from mid-21st century space survey pilot to captain of Dahak, a super-advanced moon-sized [[Cool Starship]] from {{spoiler|a long-dead space-faring empire, to Governor of Earth, to Emperor of the 5th Imperium of Man.}} Talk about a serious promotion!
* In ''[[To Say Nothing of the Dog]]'' by Connie Willis, the overworked Oxford time-travel department ends up being run in large part by T.J., an undergraduate with the wrong major, while everyone else is out on assignment in the past (he's the only black person on the staff, and all the parts of the past they're interested in are too dangerous for him). Mr. Dunworthy, the head of the department, tells T.J. the ([https://web.archive.org/web/20060710185614/http://www.anitarowland.com/dogqueries.html entirely fictitious])<ref>The closest real case to this from the battle would be the Kaga, where the after-action report was written by her aviation control officer (a bomb hit the bridge). He was so far down the chain of command that he apparently didn't realize he was in charge until after the ship sank.</ref> story of Ensign Klepperman, who ended up in command of a ship during the Battle of Midway when the entire bridge crew was killed, sunk two destroyers and a cruiser, and was eventually killed in the line of duty.
* In [[Diane Duane]]'s [[Star Trek]] TOS novel ''Doctor's Orders'', Dr. McCoy is given the con during a First Contact mission as part of a joke by Kirk. Then Kirk disappears into a temporal anomaly, a Klingon warship shows up, and Starfleet regulations won't allow McCoy to hand over command to any line officer until relieved by Kirk or Federation brass. Which means he's stuck in command in the middle of a major crisis with everyone's lives depending on his command training (which he does not have) and military ability. He does well enough that upon learning that that he was the ship's physician, the Klingon captain remarks that he needs to kill ''his'' ship's physician if they were all like like McCoy
* Invoked in [[John Hemry]]'s ''A Just Determination''; a limited duty officer points out to an ensign that the ensign might find himself in command while just an ensign to persuade him that his testimony would be taken seriously at trial.
* Bill Mauldin drew a cartoon during [[World War II]] on this topic: two privates are using crates as desks in a lean-to "orderly room." One is talking on a field phone, saying, "Yes, we've sent our quota to the rest camp.... This '''is''' the company commander speaking!"
* In [[Sandy Mitchell]]'s ''[[Ciaphas Cain]]'' novels, Jenit Sulla is promoted to captain because when another company lost its captain, none of the lieutenants took the initiative to lead them all in his place, whereas Sulla had taken command of her company after Captain Detoi had been wounded in the same action.
* The Lieutenant in [[L. Ron Hubbard]]'s ''[[Final Blackout]]'' is the embodiment of this, stubbornly refusing to relinquish command of what is left of his brigade in [[World War III]] (which is regarded by those who care as a later "phase" of [[World War II]]), and goes on to take over England.
* In ''[[On the Beach]]'', we are told that, following nuclear exchanges in [[World War III]], "command got down to very junior officers indeed". Mentioned in Major Chan Sze Lin as being in command of what was left of the Chinese strategic forces when the Australian Prime Minister contacted him in a last ditch attempt to salvage some of the world.
* ''[[Warhammer
** [[Dan Abnett]]
*** ''Titanicus''. Cally Samstag finds herself in charge of the remnant forces of activated 26th, a third line unit reduced from over 60 members to 18 in one engagement, with every officer dead. Erik Varco represents something of an inversion to the trope: he leads his battered remnant armour squadron because he was already in command when a traitor Warlord Titan annihilated them.
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*** [[Horus Heresy]] novel ''Galaxy In Flames''. Saul Tarvitz assumes command of the {{spoiler|betrayed}} [[Space Marine|space marines]]; [[Graham McNeill]]'s ''Fulgrim'' recounts how Captain Demeter, offered the command when he recovered from his injuries, refused to take it. {{spoiler|Unfortunately, [[The Resenter|Lucius]] [[Green-Eyed Monster|envied]] Tarvitz, and [[Turncoat|betrayed them]] to Horus.}}
* [[The Hero|Tavi]] in Jim Butcher's ''[[Codex Alera]]'' series finds himself in command of the First Aleran Legion when an enemy attack leaves him the sole surviving officer who can command. He goes from being the Third Sub-Tribune to the Tribune Logistica (the lowest possible officer rank, whose duties to that point consisted mostly of latrine-digging (a position he never even earned, being appointed there for intelligence-gathering purposes) to commander of a legion. He does far better than anyone else could ever have hoped to.
* In Dudley Pope's ''[[Ramage]]'', at the very start of the book, the main character finds out that every senior officer has been killed making him the captain of a frigate...
* In Jack Campbell's ''[[The Lost Fleet]]'':
** In an interesting use, John Geary finds himself in command of the Alliance space fleet by virtue of being the most senior captain after the higher
** Colonel Carabali also gets this when the Marine general is killed with the rest of the leadership.
* In F.M. Busby's ''[[Zelde M'Tana]]'', the eponymous character comes on board a starship as part of a slave cargo. Due to a mid-voyage mutiny, a relationship with the new captain, some dramatically convenient casualties, and, to be fair, a whole lot of work on her part, she winds up in command. And then they have to send her away as soon as the XO is well enough to replace her, because while she's done a good job, there would be too much resentment from the ranks to keep her on.
* In the ''[[Wheel of Time]]'': "When we Shienarans ride, every man knows who is next in line if the man in command falls. A chain unbroken right down to the last man left, even if he's nothing but a horseholder. That way, you see, even if he ''is'' the last man, he is not just a straggler running and trying to stay alive. He has the command, and duty calls him to do what must be done."
* In the [[Dragonlance]] Chronicles this happens several times to the young elven princess [[Rebellious Princess|Laurana]]. [[Knight in Shining Armor|Sturm Brightblade]] puts her in command of the Solamnic Knights defending the High Clerist's Tower {{spoiler|right before he goes off to make his [[Heroic Sacrifice]]}}. And after Laurana saves the tower, [[Reasonable Authority Figure|Lord Gunthar Uth Wistan]] gives her command of his entire army. This is especially remarkable since the Solamnic Knights believe women should [[Stay in the Kitchen]], but as most of the Solamnic leaders were killed at the High Clerist's Tower, Gunthar realizes that Laurana is the only person left with the brains, charisma, and guts to successfully lead his troops.
* In ''[[World War Z]]'', Philip Adler is promoted when his commander is [[Zombie Infectee|accidentally shot with a Solanum-infected bullet]]. Adler's first job is to [[Klingon Promotion|kill his commander]] [[Mercy Kill|before he turns]].
* [[Star Wars Expanded Universe]]:
** In ''[[The Thrawn Trilogy]]'', Pellaeon is revealed to not have been a full captain at Endor, receiving a [[You Are in Command Now]] promotion when his captain was killed... and that he, as the survivor with the highest rank, was the one who [[Know When to Fold'Em|sounded the retreat]]. Due to various [[
** At the end of the trilogy, when Thrawn dies, Pellaeon takes command of the fleet, and several books set later have him reporting to or working with various high-ranking Imperial [[Villain of the Week|villains of the book]]; he always survives their inevitable deaths, and since he's actually very competent he becomes Supreme Commander of the Imperial Fleet by the ''[[Hand of Thrawn]]'' duology. That's somewhere between Thrawn's and Vader's level of authority. That's right, Pellaeon becomes the most powerful man in the Empire, or [[Vestigial Empire|what's left of it]], by being unspectacularly good at his job and surviving ''everyone'' who outranked him.
* In ''[[
* In ''[[Valiant]]'', Michael Jan Friedman has a certain Second Officer Jean-Luc Picard (who would have held the rank of Lt. Commander at the time) on board the Stargazer. Captain Daithan Ruhalter and First Officer Stephen Leach are killed and critically injured, respectively, suddenly forcing Picard into the position of temporary CO. He doesn't exactly have an easy time of it, but since future canon has him as the Captain of the Stargazer, he eventually gets a two-grade jump to Captain.
* In [[Poul Anderson]]'s ''After Doomsday'', Lieutenant Howard after the captain and first officer are killed. He's so ineffectual that Donnan, by acting as [[The Leader]], takes over.
* In [[Michael Flynn]]'s ''[[Spiral Arm|The January Dancer]]'', Hugh finds himself The O'Carroll, and leading the loyalist side, because he happened to be out of town during the coup.
== Live-Action TV ==
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*** "Course: Oblivion" has the crew being afflicted by a strange disease one by one, which causes this trope when the higher-ups get affected. {{spoiler|They were a duplicate crew from a previous episode. Then they blow up.}}
** At least four ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'' episodes:
*** "[[Star Trek: The Next Generation/Recap/S5/E05 Disaster|Disaster]]" puts Troi in command, as the most senior officer left on the bridge during the eponymous disaster (despite the fact that she has no command training, which gets addressed in a later episode).
*** "[[Star Trek: The Next Generation/Recap/S6/E24 S7/E1 Descent|Descent]]" leaves Dr. Crusher in command of a skeleton crew while everyone senior to her had off-ship duties. Unlike Troi, however, Crusher had taken and passed the Bridge Officers' Test, and actually enjoys command, as she would later get command of the medical ship USS ''Pasteur'' (in an [[Alternate Timeline]]).
*** "[[Star Trek: The Next Generation/Recap/S1/E20 The Arsenal of Freedom|The Arsenal of Freedom]]" has Geordi in command, and puts him in conflict with the more senior Chief Engineer Logan. When Logan tries to pull rank, Geordi states that he is in command until he is relieved by either Captain Picard or Commander Riker. This is [[Truth in Television]], as Geordi would be considered the Officer of the Deck as delegated by (and thus may only be relived by) the captain or XO.
*** "[[Star Trek: The Next Generation/Recap/S4/E05 Remember Me|Remember Me]]" has Dr. Crusher quickly ascend the ranks as everyone else on the ship ceased to have ever existed in the local universe.
** In the "[[Deep Space Nine]]" episode "Valiant", during a training mission, all the training officers leading a group of cadets are killed. The cadets assume command of the ship and the mission.
** The ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series]]'' episode "Catspaw" left Assistant Chief Engineer DeSalle in charge of the ''Enterprise'' while all the higher-ranking main characters explored the surface. Over the course of the series, DeSalle appeared in a grand total of 3 episodes. Robert Bloch's original script had everyone senior to Uhura off the ship, and left her in command, but [[Executive Meddling]] wouldn't allow for a black woman being put in command of the ''Enterprise''.
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** Except for seasons 1 and 3, Jack is never actually working for CTU. Nevertheless, by the half-way point of the first episode, the situation is already dire enough that Jack is put in charge.
** In season 2, Tony Almeida takes over after George Mason steps down.
** In season 4:
*** Charles Logan takes over as President of the United States following a semi-successful assassination attempt on the standing president.
*** Tony is catapulted from unemployed ex-con drinking beer out of a Cubs mug to ''acting director of CTU'' within a span of about four hours.
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** In the episode where the brothers are sent back in time to the Wild West, Dean and the innkeeper find the sheriff's smoldering corpse in one of the rooms. Dean asks who the new sheriff is, and the innkeeper pulls the badge off the corpse and pins it to Dean.
* In ''[[The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles]]'', Indy and Remy go from private to captain and lieutenant in the Belgian army while serving in [[World War I]], mostly by this method.
* Hawkeye has to take command of the eponymous unit in ''[[
* In [[Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series)|the re-imagined series of ''
** Bill Adama, old warhorse ship's captain about to be put out to pasture, finds himself in command of the entire Colonial military, what's left of it. All sorts of people who previously filled fairly minor roles are suddenly thrust into positions of great authority... in many cases, they're doing the same jobs they did before, but those jobs are now of critical importance because there's nobody else doing them. For that matter, the eponymous Battlestar is itself promoted from "antique vessel about to be mothballed" to "flagship of the Colonial battle fleet." (Also ''only'' ship of the Colonial battle fleet, but that's par for the course with this trope.)
** After the deaths of Admiral Cain and Colonel Fisk, there's no-one to take command of the battlestar ''Pegasus'', so Admiral Adama appoints Barry Garner, an engineer, as its commanding officer. This doesn't work out very well, as Garner treats the crew more like parts of a machine than as human beings and jumps straight into a Cylon trap.
** This again happens when Garner leaves the CIC during an intense battle to fix the FTL drives, telling Lee that "you have the conn". Lee gets promoted to full commander at the end of the episode.
** In the finale, Lt. Hoshi is later promoted to Admiral in the wake of a mutiny led by the man who otherwise would have got the job had he not snapped, and everyone else that would have stood between him and the position had also been killed off by that point. Not a bad finish for the guy who entered the series as the [[Ascended Extra|guy standing in the corner looking utterly mortified]] while [[General Ripper|Admiral Cain]] orders an attack on ''Galactica''.
*** Hoshi is only really in command of the civilian ships and whatever military units are left when the Galactica goes off on its final mission. There are still plenty of more senior officers but they are all going on the mission. His new rank will not become effective until they are all killed (very likely at that point). At this point the military rank structure is shot anyway and being competent and loyal gets you the job.
** Laura Roslin falls under the civilian version of this trope, [[Unexpected Successor]]. Please don't list her here.
* On ''[[3rd Rock from the Sun]]'', Sally was next in command after Dick. In one episode, both Dick and Sally were incapacitated and Tommy assumed the role of High Commander (with only Harry left to command).
* ''[[Stargate Atlantis]]'' has had several promotions by death of senior officers, including Major Sheppard becoming the military commander of the expedition, and Dr. Keller becoming the chief medical officer.
** It's not stated in the series itself, but Shepard would have needed several of these in his backstory or he would have been too young for his ''starting'' rank.
* In the prelude of ''[[Firefly]]'', Malcolm Reynolds, a sergeant, ends up in command of all the ground forces in the Battle of Serenity Valley. When one of his men says they need an officer's authorization to get air support, he tears a patch off a dead lieutenant and hands it to the trooper, congratulating him on his promotion.
* By the beginning of season five, in the episode "Holoship", [[Red Dwarf]]'s Rimmer states that he has been in command of Red Dwarf since Lister was revived.
== Video Games ==
* If you choose the Lawful story arc in ''[[Neverwinter Nights 2]]'', your character goes from new recruit city watchman, to lieutenant, to squire, to Captain of Crossroad Keep, to ''Knight''-Captain of Crossroad Keep in under a week, due to the death by burnt-down-headquarters of the former holder of the first post and the suddenly increased importance of the fortress in the second post. It also helps that by that point you practically single-handedly rein in crime in the city and win Neverwinter a war.
* ''[[Gears of War]]'' has the soldier Marcus, convicted of abandoning this post and branded a traitor, getting a field promotion when the commanding officer dies. This is a case of practicality: Marcus is chosen because, despite his treason, he is still hands down the best, most qualified soldier in the squad, despite being absolutely hated by the Gear commander. Dominic, Baird and Cole all follow Marcus not because he's in charge, but because he ''knows what he's doing''. Baird initially puts up some resistance, but even he comes to see the wisdom of having Marcus in command.
* [[The Obi-Wan|Greil]] of ''[[Fire Emblem]]: Path of Radiance'' begins putting his son Ike in command of their mercenary force during missions as soon as Daein invades Crimea near the beginning of the game. The implication is that Greil anticipated his own death in the war that was sure to come, and wants his son to be prepared to take command for real in that event ([[The Plot Reaper|he's completely right]] in this). A dialogue between Titania and other members of the Greil mercenaries tells us later that Greil always wanted his son to become the leader of his mercenary unit: had the war not happened, Ike would have become their leader eventually, just later.
* ''[[Ace Combat]]'':
** Temporarily averted ''and'' subverted in ''Ace Combat 5''. The player character is originally just whatever the fighter pilot equivalent of a grunt is, but then {{spoiler|Captain Bartlett gets shot down.}} The next mission, Nagase is assigned command of the squadron, as she's currently the most experienced in the squad. She turns the command down, giving it to the player. The mission ''after that,'' a [[Replacement Goldfish|new squad commander]] is sent by the [[Eagle Land|Osean Air Force]]. {{spoiler|Too bad he gets shot down as he's trying to land.}} Player character Blaze eventually becomes ''such'' a respected flight lead that a man with ''years'' more experience is ''happy'' to follow his lead.
** Subverted in ''Ace Combat 6'': One of the antagonists, Victor Vocheck, took part in the initial invasion and takeover of the player's capital city, {{spoiler|but gets hit and crippled for the rest of the war.}} Some of his subordinates assume command of his squadron until they got shot down by the player character. The situation becomes so bad, that the squadron had to consolidate with another squadron who is put under the command of Vocheck's protege, {{spoiler|[[Colonel Badass|Lt. Commander Ilya Pasternak]].}}
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* In the 2008 ''Turok'' video game, thanks to rapid character attrition, the [[Redshirt Army]] is soon reduced to several grunts and a sergeant. Said sergeant promptly takes command, which turns out pretty badly for everyone else, as he's slowly going bonkers due to a head injury.
* In squad-focused games like ''[[Battlefield (series)|Battlefield 2]]'', fickle internet connections can cause the most senior squad member (by global score/rank) to assume leadership should the original leader be dropped from the game. Sometimes results in a [[Hot Potato]] among the remaining squad, who likely joined so they wouldn't have to command.
* Happens a few times in ''[[Command
* In ''[[Final Fantasy VIII]]'', Squall Leonhart finds himself summarily shoved into command of the entirety of Balamb Garden, though in this case it's because of a combination of Garden's role changing from "military academy" to "active fighting force" and a case of [[You Can't Fight Fate]]: {{spoiler|Headmaster Cid is acting on advance knowledge of the [[Stable Time Loop]] that includes Squall's defeat of Ultimecia}}. Considering that Squall is an emotionally stunted seventeen-year-old and wants to be in charge about as much as he wants a hole drilled in his head, it goes pretty well.
* In ''[[Wing Commander (video game)|Wing Commander]] IV'', Colonel Blair finds himself in this position aboard the ''Intrepid'' when Captain Eisen leaves for Earth to reveal {{spoiler|Tolwyn's}} plan, even though he's Space Force and not Navy. Somewhat subverted in the [[Novelization]], in that he was assigned a Lieutenant from the Navy who was too junior to promote to Captain (rank, not position) to give the actual commands for carrying out Blair's orders. In the real world, aircraft carrier captains must themselves be part of the aviation community (i.e. have been a naval aviator themselves).
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* In ''[[Shin Megami Tensei]]: [[Strange Journey]]'', ''you'' are summarily promoted to mission commander when {{spoiler|Commander Gore is killed in action. His last act is to entrust completion of the mission to you and,}} from that point on, all crewmen will follow your lead. Even Arthur, your ship's artificial intelligence, will only issue missions to you and advise you as best as he can based on his role as mission analyst, but doesn't actually have any authority over you. It gets to the point when {{spoiler|Gore is resuscitated, and he briefly returns to your ship, but he only challenges your decisions (on an unofficial level) if you, personally, prove to be a threat to humanity}}.
== Web Comics ==
* In ''[[Outsider]]'', Ensign Alexander Jardin finds himself in [http://well-of-souls.com/outsider/outsider061.html command of his ship] due to being the [[Sole Survivor]].
{{quote|'''Tempo''': ... further, in consideration of your status as commander of a foreign vessel, I recognise you as military attaché for your mission, with the right to be addressed as captain.
'''Jardin''' ''(thinking)'': I hadn't until then realised, as last survivor, I '''was''' technically Bellarmine's commander. }}
* Gil causes this trope in an attacking army in [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20071207 this] ''[[Girl Genius]]''.
* From ''[[The Order of the Stick]]'': "[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0538.html Have a nice day, and thanks for the promotion.]"
** Tsukiko wishes for this to happen to her, as she believes that she'll get to spend lots of alone time with Xykon. She fails to realize that Xykon doesn't love anyone but himself.
* In ''[[Impure Blood]]'', [http://www.impurebloodwebcomic.com/Pages/Issue4PAGES/ib073.html the council has no superiors, so Dara seizes command because the situation's about to become military].▼
** While it doesn't actually happen, Xykon states that he'll put Jirix in command if Redcloak disobeys him and regenerates his eye following O'Chul gouging it out.
▲* In ''[[Impure Blood]]'', [https://web.archive.org/web/20130608165730/http://www.impurebloodwebcomic.com/Pages/Issue4PAGES/ib073.html the council has no superiors, so Dara seizes command because the situation's about to become military].
== Western Animation ==
* On an episode of ''[[The Simpsons]]'', Homer ends up in command of a nuclear sub after the Captain tells him that he is in command until he gets back. The Captain is then accidentally launched out of a torpedo tube. By Homer.
* Parodied in ''[[Futurama]]'', when this exchange took place:
{{quote|'''[[Fake Ultimate Hero|Zapp]]:''' ''(After steering the ship towards a black hole)'' Nothing remains now but for the captain to go down with the ship.
'''[[Hypercompetent Sidekick|Kif]]:''' Why, that's surprisingly noble of you sir.
'''Zapp:''' No, it's noble of you Kif! As of now, you're in command. ''(Rips insignia off his arm and sticks it on Kif)'' Congratulations Captain.
''Exits room and is soon seen outside [[Dirty Coward|fleeing in an escape pod]].'' }}
* Black Mask in ''[[The Batman]]'' tends to [[You Have Failed Me...|kill off his second in command]] about [[Bad Boss|once per episode]], and point to a random underling proclaiming:
{{quote|'''Black Mask:''' You. You're my new Number One.}}
* The [[Big Bad]] in ''[[Sym-Bionic Titan]]'' does this after killing the alien when he has a [[You Have Failed Me...]] moment.
* In the ''[[Star Trek: The Animated Series]]'' episode "The Lorelei Signal", all the male members of the crew are incapacitated. Uhura takes command of the ship and leads a landing party to rescue the male senior officers with Nurse Chapel as Chief Medical Officer and second-in-command. Uhura is never actually ''given'' command, and her commandeering the ship is technically mutinous (and she justifies this in the ship's log), but her superiors commend her actions once she rescues them. She also gets left in command in "Bem" when Kirk, Spock, Scotty and Sulu are all part of a landing party.
== Real Life ==
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* At Pearl Harbor:
** The USS ''Aylwin'' (DD-355) had four officers on board when the first Japanese aircraft appeared, all ensigns. Ensign Stanley B. Caplan, the senior one, had been at sea for only eight months and was in command of it for thirty-six hours (ironically enough, as he was obeying orders from the destroyer squadron commander to put out to sea, several men onboard saw their senior officers on a motor launch, but they could not stop to take them onboard until after the attack was over).
** The same thing happened to USS ''Blue''; again only 4 ensigns were on board (must have been the standard officer duty section) and they got underway and operated for 30 hours with an ensign in command, attacking two submarines and shooting down 5 Japanese airplanes.
* During the Japanese occupation of the Philippines, American soldiers who escaped capture took command of local guerrilla groups and promoted themselves to the rank appropriate for the size of their band. For the most part, the US military honored these self-made ranks after the war.
* In the [[Age of Sail]] this trope could often apply to members of the British Royal Marines. Lieutenants often ended up commanding landing forces whose size would call for people several ranks above them despite the presence of naval officers of suitable rank joining their force. They were trained for it, unlike the naval officers, and a lieutenant was the highest-ranked marine officer you'd normally find in the fleet.
* The Ten Thousand: in 401 BC a force of Greek mercenaries is hired by Cyrus the Younger to supplement his Persian troops to fight against his brother Artaxerxes II for the throne of the Persian empire. They meet at the battle of Cunaxa. While the Greek force suffers no significant casualties during the battle, their employer, Cyrus, is killed during the battle.They are then left stranded in the middle of the Persian empire. They are asked by the Persians to lay down their weapons but they refuse. The leaders of the Greek are invited to a feast to negotiate a solution but are instead executed. The Greek elect new leaders, among them Xenophon who chronicle their fighting retreat through Persia which lasted around 2 years.
* In the Soviet Red Army, especially during [[World War
* On the first day of the ANZAC invasion at [[World War
** Peter Lalor, an [[Land Down Under|Australian]] soldier is said to have seen that there were no officers for his battalion, the 12th, gave the [[Rousing Speech|rousing order of "Come on, the 12th"]] and charged at the Baby 700 Hill. [[Famous Last Words|He died]].
* During the [[American Revolution]] and the [[War of 1812]], the British wore, like everyone else, [[Bling of War]], especially their officers (even though the Americans were no different in this regard). The Americans, used to hunting, could aim (even with muskets, even though they had to get very close to do so), and would chose the most visible targets. As a consequence, after the Battle of Bunker Hill and the Battle of New Orleans, certain British regiments were under the command of the senior ''private''.
* In the last days of [[World War II]], Hitler's most powerful underlings who were not in Berlin, Hermann Göring and Heinrich Himmler, attempted to take control of the crumbling Third Reich and negotiate peace with the Allies respectively. Outraged at the supposed betrayal of his own designated successor (Göring) and his most loyal follower (Himmler), Hitler banished both of them from the Nazi Party and prepared for his suicide. In his last will and testament, he named Karl Dönitz, the commander-in-chief of the Kriegsmarine, as President and Joseph Goebbels as Chancellor. Shortly after Hitler's suicide, Goebbels killed himself as well, leaving the leadership of Nazi Germany (or what remained of it) in the hands of an Admiral who almost single-handedly crippled his own submarine campaign. The reasoning behind selecting Dönitz was because, in Hitler's mind, the Kriegsmarine had failed him the least.
** An even more [[egregious]] example: The new Reichfuehrer-SS was [[Complete Monster|Karl Hanke]], Gauleiter of Silesia. A fine choice, where it not for the fact that he was trapped in Wroclaw, nearly 200 miles into Soviet territory, surrounded by the Soviet 6th Army.
* During the Battle of Inkerman in the [[Crimean War]], the poor visibility, difficult terrain, over-extension of forces, and officer casualties led to some groups of men in the British military being commanded by ''Privates''.
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[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Authority Tropes]]
[[Category:Narrative Devices]]
[[Category:Military and Warfare Tropes]]
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