History Main / ArmoredCoffins

* The Handley Page Victor strategic bomber had the crew hatch [[{{Didnt Think This Through}} immediately ahead]] of the jet turbine. Attempting to bail out would result in [[TurbineBlender crew salsa]].

* In the early days of submarines, there was little hope for crew survival if a sub sank too deep or was unable to surface and rescue couldn't arrive in time. Developments like rebreathers and escape suits have increased the chances of survival, but chances still aren't high, considering the unpredictable and inhospitable nature of the sea.

* The Patriot walkers from ''VideoGame/Helldivers II''. When their [[GlassCannon not-great]] health pool is depleted, they explode, with fatal results to the Helldiver piloting the machine. Given how little [[PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny Super Earth]] [[WeHaveReserves values its soldiers]], they probably didn't deem any kind of ejection features worth the expense.

** Shermans earned a number of derogatory nicknames (most notably "The Tommycooker", [[GallowsHumor after a WWI portable field stove]]) for their propensity to catch fire, leaving the crew with only seconds to get out of the tank after a penetrating hit. This was due to both the fact that early versions of the M4 didn't have water jackets for the ammo storage and fuel tanks, and that British crews using lend-leased tanks tended to use them like their own "cruiser" tanks: they haphazardly stuffed tons of extra ammo AND fuel into their tanks wherever it would fit. They increased this way both the range and ammunition capacity, but also increased the odds of it getting set off when taking a hit. To make matters worse, the first version of the M4 that was sent to North Africa had armor that was held in place by rivets. When hit by enemy fire, these rivets tended to break off and ricochet around the interior of the tank at high velocity, creating deadly shrapnel. Both problems were quickly fixed- the ammo was given wet storage and the riveted armor was replaced by welded armor, at which point the Sherman gained a reputation as being one of the safest tanks being used by any army: its roomy interior made it easy to move around in and every member of the crew had their own dedicated escape hatch, so in the event of an emergency it was very easy to evacuate.
** The Soviet equivalent of the M4, the T-34, was notoriously cramped and unergonomic, and difficult to escape. It is estimated some 85% of the Sherman tankers whose tank was hit were able to escape, whilst only 18% of T-34 tankers could. [[DidNotThinkThisThrough Having the entry hatch on glacis]] (in the middle of the inclined frontal armour) certainly did not increase the odds of survival.

** The predecessor to the M4, the M3 Lee, was another unpopular design. It was a rush job to get a tank that was armed with a 75 mm gun onto the battlefield because the main American anti-tank gun at the time was the 37mm, which was obsolete before America had even entered the war. As they couldn't yet build a turret big enough to hold a 75 mm gun, they instead mounted it in a casemate on the Lee's hull, then put a turret with a 37mm gun on top of that. The result was a tank that was dramatically oversized, making it extremely easy to spot (and snipe) at a distance. And despite being a lot bigger than the M4, it wasn't as well armored. The Soviets in particular loathed it, nicknaming it "a grave for seven brothers."[[note]]Referencing its unusually large crew size, and also the fact that tank crews in general had quite low life expectancy due to being thrown into such heavy fighting.[[/note]] The only area it was relatively popular was in the Pacific theater, where it turned out to be quite effective due to Japan's lack of tanks or anti-tank guns (which meant that the M4s could be conserved for use in Africa and Europe).

* On the topic of Soviet tanks, their habit of using "Carousel" autoloaders, where the tank's ammunition is stored in a [[https://qph.fs.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-2022fa4c6e6fa0271e8f8d00009892be flat ring around and under the turret]] which leads to their unfortuante tendency to dramatically blow their own turret off in the extremely common event of ammo cooking off. This is in contrast to tanks like the M1 Abrams which store it in a rear section of the turret with a closed blast door and blowout panels designed to vent the exploding ammo up and out of the tank safely.
** That's not to say western designs are wholly immune to the problems of ammunition going boom too early themselves, especially the Leopard 2, which stores roughly two thirds of it's shells in a rack mounted directly beside the driver and without any blowout panels in the front of the tank. The Leopard 2 was designed with the intention of fighting in hull-down defensive positions where only the turret would be exposed, then if necessary using its high speed to retreat to another such position. Making it quite vulnerable if forced into a battlefield where it can't do that.

* In ''VideoGame/ArmoredCore'', adding to TheSpartanWay training given to Ravens/LYNX, all [=ACs/NEXTs=] do not have any sort of ejection pods. In ''VideoGame/ArmoredCoreV'', this is averted, since you bail out if you mech goes out of commission (in multiplayer, at least).

* Older ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'' series have this, without any real way of escaping from an exploding mobile suit, at least during the One Year War to the end of Operation Stardust. From that point onward, mobile suits have an ejection pod that allows the pilot to to escape from non critical torso hits.

** Also averted in the second season of ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam00'' - some of the Innovade mobile suits have the cockpit attached to the back which can be ejected and flown away.
*** Played straight with the Tieren that earned the InUniverseNickname "the coffin for the living".

* Averted in ''Anime/{{Patlabor}}'', where, being in a RealRobot setting, people build in ejection seats. In the second movie, however, one of them jams in a warzone, leaving the pilot to die.

* [[AMechaByAnyOtherName ATs]] in ''Anime/ArmoredTrooperVotoms'' are nicknamed 'steel coffins' ''in-universe'' for enough reasons that any sane safety board really wouldn't let them anywhere near a battlefield.
* The Lancelot in ''Anime/CodeGeass'' doesn't have an ejection system, because Lloyd was too busy installing everything else he could think of into it. Suzaku thus ''has'' to rely on its supreme technological advantage, because he's not walking away from a fight otherwise. Ironic considering that Knightmare Frames were developed from {{Escape Pod}}s with legs and every other one has an ejection system.
** It fits him well in the second season as all the other Knights of the Round also lack ejection systems in their Knightmares. Knights of the Round are expected to either return with their machine intact, or die in it. The Lancelot itself ''is'' finally equipped with an escape device when C.C. takes it over, as she certainly isn't willing to risk herself (although being an immortal she'd survive anyway, albeit painfully). The Lancelot Albion, as a Knights of the Round unit, also seemingly lacks one [[spoiler:except it does have one, so Suzaku can fake his death as per Zero Requiem, timing his ejection as the machine explodes just right so nobody sees it and assumes him killed.]]
** Speaking of C.C., Lelouch's Gawain from the first season is another rare example of a Knightmare without an ejection system. In the final battle of the season, C.C. went solo against Jeremiah's Siegfried and dragged the latter down to the bottom of the ocean. When the second season rolled around, WordOfGod said that C.C. escaped by [[GoodThingYouCanHeal opening the cockpit and floating to the surface as the water pressure killed her multiple times]], and they couldn't actually show this on TV because it was far too gruesome.
* Averted in ''Anime/StarshipGirlYamamotoYohko'' all the ships the character use have a built in teleporter which teleports the pilot out of the ship when it's about to be destroyed.
* The [[AMechByAnyOtherName Para-Mails]] from ''Anime/CrossAnge'' might as well be called '''Un'''armored Coffins, as not only do they lack ejection seats, but in [[TransformingMecha flight mode]], the cockpit is ''completely open air''. The trope is explicitly discussed as the reason pilots are given permission to [[AceCustom customize]] their gear as much as they want -- they are expected to die in it, sooner or later.
* The [=M1A4=] Juggernaut from ''Literature/EightySixEightySix'' rightfully earns its "aluminum coffin" nickname. Its paper thin armor doesn't even protect against machine gun fire. It is also woefully outgunned by the opponents it usually faces, with its main armament barely even scratching some of the heavier Legion units. Its one saving grace is that the lack of armor makes it surprisingly agile. However, the majority of pilots don't survive long enough to learn how to properly utilize this. Unfortunately, the Republic of San Magnolia sees nothing wrong with the Juggernaut, [[UriahGambit because they never intended for any of the pilots to survive the war]].
* Zigzagged in ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'': The cockpits of the Eva's are physically pretty well-protected and can survive the rest of the mech's destruction. The danger instead comes from the requisite [[BrainComputerInterface plugsuit's]] {{Synchronization}} hurting the pilot with damage to the Eva. In a strange inversion, the support team disconnecting and thus disabling an Eva ''negates'' this danger, which Misato orders for Unit 02 an instant before it's decapitated.

[[folder:Films - Animation]]
* The titular mechs from ''WesternAnimation/{{Ark}}'' are ancient vessels powered by life-force of TheChosenOne, meant to protect and evacuate entire populations when the Planet Alcyeon faces destruction, at the cost of the pilot's life. In the film's backstory, the High Priestess Amiel sacrifices herself to pilot the first Ark to save her people, and at the film's climax [[spoiler: Amarinth, the heroine who turns out to be Amiel's long-lost daughter from centuries ago, decide to sacrifice her life to pilot the Ark and save the planet's citizens]].

* In the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse, the Iron Man suits are utterly dependent on their arc-reactor and have no inherent fail-safes. In ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'', [[spoiler: War Machine's arc reactor is damaged at several thousand feet up, leaving him locked in a lifeless and blind suit as it screams towards the ground at terminal velocity.]]

* ''Tabletopgame/BattleTech'' is a notable aversion, as most pilots will survive the destruction of their 'Mech even if they have to ride it down when it goes over, and all 'Mechs are equipped with sophisticated [[EjectionSeat automatic ejection systems]] in the event of ammunition explosion or reactor containment loss. Similarly, since their armor is ablative, most suits of power armor can be reduced to failing wrecks that daylight can be seen through, but you still have to take one more shot to kill the person wearing it. Aerospace fighters have reliable ejection systems as well, though recovery has to be on hand if the pilot bails out in space. Naturally, mechwarriors that are careful to avoid direct damage to their mech's cockpits can walk away from most engagements.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Rifts}}'' does the exact opposite when it comes to PoweredArmor: any weapon powerful enough to penetrate it is more than powerful enough to reduce the wearer to pinkish mist after doing so.
** It should also be noted that while most mechs and vehicles lacked an ejection system, they usually had their pilot's compartments armored, so the crew could still survive their machine's destruction.
* Implied in ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'', where an ejection seat is actually an upgrade for an Imperial or Tau airplane, which suggests their basic planes aren't equipped with them. Chaos plays this straight since most of their aircraft are piloted by Servitors hard-wired into the cockpit, but we have no confirmation either way when it comes to the Eldar.

** Ork Deff Dreads are the orky equivalent of the aforementioned Dreadnoughts, with mostly the same idea behind them. The main difference between the two is that orkz will fight each other for the chance to be installed into one, since it'll let them be huge and powerful. They usually realize, after everything is said and done, that the main drawback of being permanently wired into an enclosed metal can is being permanently wired into a enclosed metal can. This usually makes them go on a rampage until they simmer down to a normal orky mood (read; psychotically homicidal by human standards).

--> '''Ork Mek identifying the cause of the kan not moving:''' Musta nailed in the little feller upside down.
* The 4th Edition of TabletopGame/{{GURPS}}: Spaceships had a severe "[[RocketTagGameplay eggshells armed with hammers]]" issues. In fact it was basically impossible to design a ship that couldn't instantly obliterate another ship of the same size even if the other ship were made almost entirely of armor. The damage calculation rules were revised so that it was at least ''possible'' to balance ships against each other, however the underlying assumptions of the book (in particular how kinetic energy translates to damage) still make combat insanely lethal.
* In ''Gaslands,'' racing teams sponsored by The Warden are considered this. {{Boxed Crook}}s from the Sao Paulo People's Penitentiary are welded into cheap, flimsy cars which the player is incentivized to [[StuffBlowingUp blow up]] for extra points.

* In ''VideoGame/ArmoredCore'', adding to TheSpartanWay training given to Ravens/LYNX, all [=ACs/NEXTs=] do not have any sort of ejection pods. In ''Armored Core 5'' this is averted since you bail out if you mech goes out of commission (in multiplayer, at least).
* In ''VideoGame/FrontMission'', the Vampires -- a black ops branch of the [[spoiler:B-Organization]] - have their wanzers set up for complete destruction to cover any trace of their relations to their employer.
* ''Franchise/StarWars''[='=] [[MookMobile TIE Fighters]] might or might not be examples. Imperial pilots (unlike their Rebel counterparts) wear spacesuits, so very simple ejection seats would let them survive their fighters being destroyed, but does the Empire provide them? Either way of thinking, "expensive pilots, cheap fighters" or "disposable fighters for disposable pilots," would be in-character for the Empire.
** Some of the older videogames make it clear that ejection seats are normally provided. Since most fights happen within Imperial space and with superior resources, pilots are supposed to eject if necessary, to be picked up after the fight is over.
** The various ExpandedUniverse sources show that it varies whether TIE Fighters have ejection seats. Originally, they all lacked them, as the designers went to extremes to reduce weight for increased speed and agility. Eventually it became common to add ejection seats, as this didn't actually add much weight, the relatively spacious spherical cockpit gave plenty of room to do so, and just a slight improvement to the engines would offset the added weight.

* In ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime3Corruption'', Space Pirate boarding pods are referred to as "Space Coffins"; they only let you out if successful. Scanning one gets you some more detail. The boarding pods are really just large metal containers with explosives at one end, designed to go off when the pods hits the targeted ship. However, there are also many times were the explosives go off too late, too early, or not at all.
* The [[DropPod assault pods]] from ''Videogame/QuakeII''. How they are used? Take a few hundred of them, put a marine in each, seal the can, and let them swarm the enemy's base or planet, hoping that at least a few will survive the anti-aircraft fire. The whole thing is aptly named "Operation Overlord" at the end of the Strogg War.
* Averted in ''VideoGame/SteelBattalion'', where you can manually eject (via a big, red, molly-guarded button). If you don't, then you technically "died", eliminating any and all progress you made prior to the point of your destruction.

* Averted in the ''Videogame/MechWarrior'' series, the mech simulator set in the ''Tabletopgame/BattleTech'' universe. All mechs have built-in ejection seats, which the player can activate in some games though in all but the ''Mercenaries'' titles it is functionally a suicide button. Played with in ''Living Legends''; while ejection is normally enabled on all vehicles, the [[BloodSport Solaris Arena]] deathmatch mode disables the ejection seat on all mechs, forcing pilots to see combat through to the bitter end. The only way to get out of a mech in Solaris Arena is to power down and climb out.
* Zig-zagged in ''VideoGame/{{Titanfall}}'': Pilots die instantly if still in a Titan when it's fully disabled because DefeatEqualsExplosion, but this happens after spending some time in a "doomed" state where the pilot can use their EjectionSeat. A pilot can put off ejection to try to do more damage, but besides the obvious risk of still being inside the Titan when it blows up (which further damage accelerates) they're then vulnerable to a [[CoupDeGrace Termination]] melee attack from enemy Titans that will destroy the Pilot and Titan simultaneously. When a Titan is not in a doomed state, [[InVehicleInvulnerability doing any damage to the Pilot is impossible]]. Of the equippable Titan abilities, one that you start with is Auto-Eject, which forces you to eject a few seconds into a doomed state, but makes you immune to Termination and cloaks you after ejection so you don't get shot out of the air. Then the only thing that can kill a Pilot while still in their Titan is instant death by [[ActionBomb Nuclear Ejection]] or [[TooDumbToLive standing under]] [[DeathFromAbove an enemy Titanfall]].
* All aircraft in the ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquer'' series lack ejection mechanisms, with the only exceptions being some USA craft in ''[[VideoGame/CommandandConquerGenerals Generals]]''. Even those don't always work.
* Mentioned in ''Videogame/WarThunder'''s "The Battle is ON!" trailer, though [[GameplayAndStorySegregation in-game you can always bail out of aircraft]]. The trailer shows the defiant last moments of a B-17 tailgunner [[TakingYouWithMe has he blasts the wings off of a German fighter as his bomber plows into the ground]].
-->"From the second it [bomber] takes off you're inside, it's a cage, you see... And then the flak comes in, thick and heavy. You won't get out, not when it dives at 300 knots."
* Averted in ''Videogame/EliteDangerous''. Player ships have escape pods, complete with the ship's computer repeating EjectEjectEject when about to explode, which hyper jump you back to the last station you docked at where you can claim your insurance. Also averted in the earlier games, which would spawn an EscapePod upon the destruction of a ship, which one could scoop up to return to authorities, ransom to relatives, or sell into slavery.

* Played straight, subverted, and averted at the same time in ''Videogame/{{Warhawk}}''. It is averted by the presence of an ejection system on the titular aircraft, which the player can trigger at any time by pressing X, Square, Circle, and Triangle at the same time. The trope is subverted by the fact that, should the Warhawk's shields fall and the fuselage takes sufficient damage, the aircraft is quickly teleported out of the area by the carrier vessel (this is also believed to occur with both the pilots and the ditched craft after ejecting). Played straight/subverted should a player fail a mission a third time. The third time ensures that, whether the craft is shot down (played straight) or the player hits the eject (subverted), [[GoryDiscretionShot the pilots are doomed to a permanent game over.]]
* Averted in ''VideoGame/MechQuest'' when a mech is destroyed the pilot ejects from the mech, via ejection seat.
* Averted in ''Blockstorm'', where mechs have an ejection system. However, it's a manual system (to allow you to get out of the mech whenever you want) and takes a while to activate, so there's a good chance you'll blow up with your mech anyway, or be an easy shot for the guys who destroyed your mech while you're in mid-air above it.

* In ''VideoGame/Vixen357'' every unit is manned by pilot. If it destroyed, pilot die too.
* The ''[[VideoGame/{{Starsiege}} Siege]]'' series of games (''Earthsiege, Earthsiege 2, Starsiege,'' as well as ''Metaltech: Battledrome'' and ''VideoGame/CyberStorm'' offshoots) feature HumongousMecha known as [=HERCULANs=] or [=HERCs=] for short. There are both human and robot pilots, thanks to the local RobotWar, but while miniature DeflectorShields exist, neither side features any safety systems in case of machine destruction--if a HERC goes down, its pilot dies with it, every time. This is particularly odd for human [=HERCs=] because they all uniformly have fairly large top or front mounted cockpits with open space above them, which would certainly ''permit'' ejection seats to be installed with a minimum of fuss, but they are curiously absent.
* ''VideoGame/IntoTheBreach'': Without the Medical Supplies passive or the Invulnerable skill, a pilot whose mech goes down is dead. If you have a spare pilot due to a fortunate space pod or completing all objectives on an island, they can take over in the next battle; otherwise, the mech will be run by an AI that doesn't gain experience. [[spoiler:Averted with the Secret Squad, which consists of cyborg Vek and doesn't have pilots; instead, the mechs lose experience when killed.]]
* ''VideoGame/ColdWaters'': If your submarine's hull integrity is reduced to zero, or flooding progresses to the point where the boat is no longer able to gain positive buoyancy and rise even after conducting an emergency blow of the ballast tanks, you can attempt to abandon ship. However, if the submarine is below 400 feet, your attempt will always fail and your sub will be listed as "lost with all hands", ending the campaign. Diving sufficiently below test depth and causing the boat to implode will also lead to this fate, and that may even happen at a shallower depth if you have hull damage. Downplayed however in that if you manage to abandon ship at a shallow enough depth, there's a good chance you will survive. In that case you will either be picked up by NATO units and continue the campaign with a new sub, or, if there's a lot of hostile units still afloat in the area, [[NonStandardGameOver be captured by the Soviets and imprisoned in a gulag for the rest of the war]].
* ''VideoGame/{{Warframe}}'' introduced the Railjack mission type, where players fly their own custom gunboats around in space to fight enemies. Any enemy ship destroyed in space, be it one-man star fighters or Railjack-equivalent crewships, is lost completely with all hands. Neither Corpus nor Grineer seem to feature any thought for crew safety--the Corpus out of [[DeathByMaterialism a desire to make as much profit as possible and even cutting important corners to do so]] and the Grineer out of [[WeHaveReserves a general disregard for the well-being of any specific soldier, as they have millions to call upon]].

* All the planes in ''VideoGame/AceCombat3Electrosphere'' are piloted via the [[LampshadeHanging rather on-the-nose]] COFFIN ([[FunWithAcronyms COnnection For Flight INterface]]) system, a [[BrainComputerInterface neural interface]] that allows the pilot to steer by thought and to withstand greater G-forces by lying prone rather than upright. The downside? You guessed it: the pilot can only be ejected safely when the plane is stationary in a hangar; otherwise, they're too deeply enmeshed in the plane's systems to pull out in an emergency.

* All the planes in ''VideoGame/AceCombat3Electrosphere'' are piloted via the [[LampshadeHanging rather on-the-nose]] COFFIN ([[FunWithAcronyms COnnection For Flight INterface]]) system, a [[BrainComputerInterface neural interface]] that allows the pilot to steer by thought and to withstand greater G-forces by lying prone rather than upright. The downside? You guessed it: no ejection system whatsoever...except it's *its own ejector.*

* The [=LaGG=]-3, a Red Air Force fighter which the Soviet airmen [[GallowsHumor said stood for]] ''[=LAkirovannyi=] Garantirovannyi Grob'' (Lacquered Guaranteed Coffin). It was of plywood construction and had substandard flying properties, largely from its heavy airframe and anemic engine (a common problem for most Soviet fighters of WWII). Later, when a new, more powerful engine and other improvements were installed late in the war, it evolved into the seminal (and astonishingly deadly) La-5 and then La-7, an aircraft of choice for the best Allied ace, Ivan Kozhedub.

** German U-Boats were dubbed "iron coffins" by some. If a sub was sunk, there was no chance of survival for the crew, and they would be entombed in the hull at the bottom of the sea, hence the name. Even if the crewmen somehow managed to get out of the U-Boat before it was completely submerged, if any of the electric cell banks necessary for underwater operation were breached the battery acid inside would render the nearby water toxic enough that anyone would be as a corpse by the time they could be plucked out of the waves.
*** Late in the war, when Germany could no longer field an effective submarine fleet, the Navy created the ''Neger'', a torpedo-carrying one-man submersible. It was a good idea on paper, the small size and low profile of the craft made them perfect for sneak attacks. Unfortunately, the Neger leaked like a sieve, was difficult to steer, aiming the torpedo was almost impossible, and the boat had a nasty tendency to get stuck to a fired torpedo such that both the craft and the torpedo ends up plowing into the target. The Neger was so unsuccessful as a weapon that the Allies never realized it existed.[[note]]'Neger', by the way, means 'negro'. It was a pun on designer's name, 'Mohr', meaning "blackmoor".[[/note]]

* Being a Ball Turret Gunner meant this trope applied. Most of the crew of the B-17 got parachutes. The ball turret gunner didn't, as there was not enough room in the turret to wear one. Statistically speaking, the ball turret gunner was just as likely to die as any other member of the crew (having the same amount of armor protection, which is to say none at all), but being suspended in a cramped glass ball beneath the plane left one feeling particularly vulnerable. Additionally, if the motors that controlled the turret were damaged during combat, this could prevent the gunner from being able to exit the turret as it could only be opened when properly aligned with its access hatch. And if the plane's landing gear were also damaged, that would mean the plane was forced to perform a belly landing that would assuredly kill the gunner.[[note]]While the steel-framed ball turret wouldn't necessarily be crushed in a landing since it was actually sturdier than the bomber's fuselage (at least assuming the frame didn't get damaged already in combat), the ball getting broken free of its mounting point and violently shoved upward into the plane wouldn't do the gunner any good either.[[/note]] There is more than one instance where this did indeed happen. This was the main reason why Creator/HarryHarrison, having served (and survived) a full tour of duty in this very position, came to hate all things military with a passion. Which is where all the snark and ridicule in his writing comes from.
* The Avro Lancaster heavy bomber would fit this trope as well as it was notoriously difficult to escape. Compared to Handley Page Halifax and Short Stirling, Lancaster crews suffered greatest relative losses of all RAF heavies.

* The Confederate submarine ''H.L. Hunley''[[note]]Not "CSS ''Hunley''" as it's often called, because the submarine was never officially commissioned by the Confederate States Navy.[[/note]] performed the first successful underwater attack in naval warfare history that sank the USS ''Housatonic''. Unfortunately, the ''H.L. Hunley'' was itself lost after the attack due to the spar torpedo getting stuck in the hull of the sinking ''Housatonic'' which dragged the submarine down with it. Many years later, a diving expedition discovered and raised the ''H.L. Hunley'' from the water with the skeletons of the crew still at their stations ([[HoistByHisOwnPetard having all been killed instantaneously by the shockwave of their own exploding torpedo]]). Nor was this the only time ''H.L. Hunley'' brought her crew to their deaths; the submarine also sank twice during testing before being sent into combat, being salvaged afterward and reused. The first time 3 of the 8 crew were able to escape to safety but the second time all 8 (including its inventor and namesake, Horace L. Hunley) were killed. Thus, ''H.L. Hunley'' ultimately killed 21 Confederate sailors, while only 5 Union sailors died in the sinking of ''Housatonic'', making the submarine 4 times deadlier to her own side than to her enemy.
** Following the success of the ''H.L. Hunley'' was the David-class Torpedo Boats which were derisively called "David Cigars" due to their hull shape. Only a few were produced and they had no other weapon besides a single spar torpedo, making them vulnerable to the same problem that sunk the ''H.L. Hunley''.

* ''Franchise/StarWars''[='=] [[MookMobile TIE Fighters]] might or might not be examples. Imperial pilots (unlike their Rebel counterparts) wear spacesuits, so very simple ejection seats would let them survive their fighters being destroyed; but does the Empire provide them? Either way of thinking, "expensive pilots, cheap fighters" or "disposable fighters for disposable pilots", would be in-character for the Empire.

** The various ExpandedUniverse sources show that it varies whether TIE Fighters have ejection seats. Originally they all lacked them, as the designers went to extremes to reduce weight for increased speed and agility. Eventually it became common to add ejection seats, as this didn't actually add much weight, the relatively spacious spherical cockpit gave plenty of room to do so, and just a slight improvement to the engines would offset the added weight.
* All the planes in ''VideoGame/AceCombat3Electrosphere'' are piloted via the [[LampshadeHanging rather on-the-nose]] COFFIN ([[FunWithAcronyms COnnection For Flight INterface]]) system, a [[BrainComputerInterface neural interface]] that allows the pilot to steer by thought and to withstand greater G-forces by lying prone rather than upright. The downside? You guessed it: no ejection system whatsoever.

* The Confederate submarine ''H.L. Hunley''[[note]]Not "CSS ''Hunley''" as it's often called, because the submarine was never officially commissioned by the Confederate States Navy.[[/note]] performed the first successful underwater attack in naval warfare history that sank the USS ''Housatonic''. Unfortunately, the ''H.L. Hunley'' was itself lost after the attack due to the spar torpedo getting stuck in the hull of the sinking ''Housatonic'' which dragged the submarine down with it. Many years later, a diving expedition discovered and raised the ''H.L. Hunley'' from the water with the skeletons of the crew still at their stations. Nor was this the only time ''H.L. Hunley'' brought her crew to their deaths; the submarine also sank twice during testing before being sent into combat, being salvaged afterward and reused. The first time 3 of the 8 crew were able to escape to safety but the second time all 8 (including its inventor and namesake, Horace L. Hunley) were killed. Thus, ''H.L. Hunley'' ultimately killed 21 Confederate sailors, while only 5 Union sailors died in the sinking of ''Housatonic'', making the submarine 4 times deadlier to her own side than to her enemy.

* In ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}'', Space Pirate boarding pods are referred to as "Space Coffins"; they only let you out if successful. Scanning one gets you some more detail. The boarding pods are really just large metal containers with explosives at one end, designed to go off when the pods hits the targeted ship. However, there are also many times were the explosives go off too late, too early, or not at all.

* The [=M1A4=] Juggernaut from ''LightNovel/EightySixEightySix'' rightfully earns its "aluminum coffin" nickname. Its paper thin armor doesn't even protect against machine gun fire. It is also woefully outgunned by the opponents it usually faces, with its main armament barely even scratching some of the heavier Legion units. Its one saving grace is that the lack of armor makes it surprisingly agile. However, the majority of pilots don't survive long enough to learn how to properly utilize this. Unfortunately, the Republic of San Magnolia sees nothing wrong with the Juggernaut, [[UriahGambit because they never intended for any of the pilots to survive the war]].

** The predecessor to the M4, the M3 Lee, was another unpopular design. It was a rush job to get a tank that was armed with a 75 mm gun onto the battlefield because the main American anti-tank gun at the time was the 37mm, which was obsolete before America had even entered the war. As they couldn't yet build a turret big enough to hold a 75 mm gun, they instead mounted it in a casemate on the Lee's hull, then put a turret with a 37mm gun on top of that. The result was a tank that was dramatically oversized, making it extremely easy to spot (and snipe) at a distance. And despite being a lot bigger than the M4, it wasn't as well armored. The Soviets in particular loathed it, nicknaming it "a grave for seven brothers." The only area it was relatively popular was in the Pacific theater, where it turned out to be quite effective due to Japan's lack of tanks or anti-tank guns (which meant that the M4s could be conserved for use in Africa and Europe).

** That's not to say western designs are wholly immune to the problems of ammunition going boom too early themselves, especially the Leopard 2, which stores roughly two thirds of it's shells in a rack mounted directly beside the driver and without any blowout panels in the front of the tank.

* While the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter had an ejection seat, the ejection seats were often too weak to lift the pilot clear of the ''gigantic'' tail fin. Early versions of the plane had an ejection seat that ejected ''downwards'', but that would create obvious [[ComingInHot problems when landing]]. Given that the Starfighter also had a well-earned reputation for being difficult to fly (in West Germany, for example, they had sarcastic names like ''Erdnagel'' ("tent peg"), ''Sargfighter'' ("coffin fighter"), ''Witwenmacher'' (widowmaker) or ''Selbstmordrohr'' ("suicide tube") and as it was said that the best way to acquire one was to buy a random plot of land and wait for one to fall from the sky), this was a major problem.

* Being a Ball Turret Gunner meant this trope applied. Most of the crew of the B-17 got parachutes. The ball turret gunner didn't, as there was not enough room in the turret to wear one. Statistically speaking, the ball turret gunner was just as likely to die as any other member of the crew (having the same amount of armor protection, which is to say none at all), but being suspended in a cramped glass ball beneath the plane left one feeling particularly vulnerable. Additionally, if the motors that controlled the turret were damaged during combat, this could prevent the gunner from being able to exit the turret as it could only be opened when properly aligned with its access hatch. And if the plane's landing gear were also damaged, that would mean the plane was forced to perform a belly landing that would assuredly kill the gunner. There is more than one instance where this did indeed happen. This was the main reason why Creator/HarryHarrison, having served (and survived) a full tour of duty in this very position, came to hate all things military with a passion. Which is where all the snark and ridicule in his writing comes from.

* The Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley performed the first successful underwater attack in naval warfare history that sank the USS Housatonic. Unfortunately, the H.L. Hunley was itself lost after the attack due to the spar torpedo getting stuck in the hull of the sinking Housatonic which dragged the submarine down with it. Many years later, a diving expedition discovered and raised the H.L. Hunley from the water with the skeletons of the crew still at their stations.
** Following the success of the H.L. Hunley was the David-class Torpedo Boats which were derisively called "David Cigars" due to their hull shape. Only a few were produced and they had no other weapon besides a single spar torpedo, making them vulnerable to the same problem that sunk the H.L. Hunley.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Metroid}}'', Space Pirate boarding pods are referred to as "Space Coffins"; they only let you out if successful. Scanning one gets you some more detail. The boarding pods are really just large metal containers with explosives at one end, designed to go off when the pods hits the targeted ship. However, there are also many times were the explosives go off too late, too early, or not at all.