History Main / RammingAlwaysWorks

* The Kamikaze attacks by the japanese during WorldWarII... which far from "always worked". For instance, it's a lot harder to hit a moving ship with an airplane than one might expect, especially when the pilot is inexperienced and the ship is shooting back. Furthermore, the Americans found ways to defend against them, if the kamikazes were going low, the gunners could shoot at the water below the planes to create splashes powerful enough to potential shake it into crashing. If they went high, the US fighter pilots, who were obviously vastly better trained, armed and experienced at this point of the war, could go after them and shoot them down, while the ship gunners could fire anti-aircraft shells with proximity fuses to take them down. The Japanese even designed several planes specifically for this tactic, in addition to the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohka Ohka]]; basically a human-guided rocket.

* The Kamikaze attacks by the japanese during WorldWarII... which far from "always worked". (It's a lot harder to hit a moving ship with an airplane than one might expect, especially when the pilot is inexperienced and the ship is shooting back.) The Japanese even designed several planes specifically for this tactic, in addition to the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohka Ohka]]; basically a human-guided rocket.

--> '''Emile''': "Commander, you don't have the firepower."

* In the last mission of ''{{Halo}}: Reach'', [[spoiler:Carter, piloting a fatally-damaged Pelican, rams the craft into a Scarab to clear a path for Emile and Noble Six]].
--> '''[[spoiler:Carter]] (radio)''': "Noble Team, we've got a... situation."
--> '''Emile''': "Motherf... we can get past it, sir."
--> '''[[spoiler:Carter]]''': "No you can't. Not without help."
--> '''Emile''': "You don't have the firepower, sir."

--> '''[[spoiler:Carter]] (radio)''': "Noble Team... we have a problem."

--> '''[[spoiler:Carter]]''': "No. You can't. I'll deal with it."

--> '''[[spoiler:Carter]]''': "I have the mass."
--> '''Emile''': "...Roger that. Hit 'em hard, sir."
--> '''[[spoiler:Carter]]''': "You're on your own, Noble. [[spoiler:Carter]] out". *BOOM*

It should be noted that most spaceships realistically (and in-universe) [[strike:weigh]] have a mass of several thousand tons, and are capable of moving very fast. The impact of a freight train going 60 mph is equal to that of a small tactical nuclear weapon (it's just over a much smaller area, and going in one direction), and most ships are far heavier, and can go far faster. A spaceship going at half the speed of light has about as much kinetic energy ''per kilogram'' as is released in a 50-megaton nuclear explosion, in total. (Or to put it another way, an object travelling at 3 km/sec does damage equal to its own weight in TNT; an object travelling at 90% of the speed of light does damage equal to its own weight in ''antimatter''.) And that's not even taking into account the ramming ship potentially going all kamikaze and deliberately detonating its reactors and munitions when it hits.

* While not exactly about spaceship combat, ''Mass Effect'' plays this straight. During the [[spoiler:final attack on the Citadel, the [[EldritchAbomination Reaper]], [[LivingShip Sovereign]] speeds ahead, ramming clean through several Alliance cruisers to reach the Tower before the Citadel arms close]]. [[JustifiedTrope Then again, it's a ship that's bigger, stronger and of vastly superior technology, so it doesn't come as a great surprise.]]

* While not exactly about spaceship combat, ''Mass Effect'' plays this straight. During the [[spoiler:final attack on the Citadel, the Reaper spaceship Sovereign speeds ahead, ramming clean through several Alliance cruisers to reach the Tower before the Citadel arms close]]. [[JustifiedTrope Then again, it's a ship that's bigger, stronger and of vastly superior technology, so it doesn't come as a great surprise.]]

*** The submarine ''USS Seawolf'' collided with a Japanese patrol boat. It returned without its Captain, who was too badly injured to drag down the hatch quickly. His last order to his XO, "Take 'er down!" saved the submarine and won him a posthumous Medal of Honor.

* The ''CSS Virgina'', the Confederacy's ironclad, sank the ''USS Cumberlain'' by ramming her amidships, using a large metal ram affixed to the bow of the ship. The ram got stuck in the ''Cumberlain'', though, and almost took the ''Virginia'' down as well before it broke off and allowed the Confederate ironclad to withdraw.

** Similarly, during the Israeli War of Independence, an Israeli pilot literally cut the communication lines between the Egyptian Army and their command staff in Suez, by flying his P-51 Mustang through the telephone wires and catching them with his propeller.

Compare ColonyDrop, which, depending on what you're dropping, takes this trope to its logical extreme. See also CarFu.

* In ''Biomega'', when his NinjaButterfly informs him that his fighter jet is out of missiles & advises him to retreat, Zoichi responds with: [[BadAss "I still have one projectile left."]]
* ''{{Raideen}} '': '''"God Bird, Change! Chojun Set!"'''
** Subverted in that [[BolivianArmyEnding we aren't told whether the attack was actually successful.]]
*** However, it's an actual attack in SuperRobotWars.

** And then we look at the D20 Star Wars rulebook, which states that it was that pilot's ''destiny'' to destroy the Executor.

* A particularly detailed and impressive example occurs in ''Star Trek Nemesis'', where Picard, having used up all the Enterprise's weapons, finally makes makes good on Worf's prior threat to ram an adversary. Ramming the ''Enterprise'' directly into the Reman Warbird ''Scimitar'' is made more impressive by the fact that a previous torpedo attack had breached the armor over the bridge shell, exposing the interior of the ''Enterprise'' bridge to open space (leading to a RedShirt moment). Fairly "realistic" given that [[spoiler:both ships are completely fucked by the impact]]. To take it to another extreme, the ''Scimitar'' then fired reverse afterburners and backed out of the wreckage and was ''still able to attack''!
** In most recent ''Film/StarTrek'' movie, this happens not once but twice, with the ''Kelvin'' and then the ''Jellyfish'' ramming the ''Narada''. It being ''Star Trek'', [[ArmorIsUseless the shields do nothing]] and the ramming attempts are successful, though both attempts fail to destroy the ship directly. It's rather big, after all.

* In ''TheLastStarfighter'', the Kodan Armada's main ship attempts to ram the Gunship during the final battle. This actually makes sense, as all of its weapons and targeting systems had been disabled and the Gunship was floating dead in space without the power to get out of the way.
** And if Grig hadn't managed to restore the Gunstar's power at the last momment, the effect of that command ship hitting them would've been like an SUV running over a soda can. CRUNCH!!!

* Averted in an episode of ''SpaceAboveAndBeyond'', when a pilot attempted to take out [[TheRedBaron Chiggy von Richthofen]] by ramming his customized fighter with his Hammerhead. All it did was get the pilot killed and slowed down TheAce somewhat. It is established earlier that Chiggy's fighter has stronger-than-normal armor.

*** The other point to consider is that the WTC was built to withstand the impact of a Boeing 707, the most common airliner at the time. Max TOW 122,000lbs - while the 767-200ER that struck them weighed over three times that, a max weight of 395,000lbs. It isn't as if anyone could have predicted the 767 (or for that matter, the far more massive A380) in 1974 after all.

** I always found that scene very reminiscent of ''The Call of Cthulhu'' (mentioned below).

* Possibly the Ur-example of this trope is the galley fight sequence of the film ''Ben Hur''.
** At the very least it's probably the TropeMaker for yelling '''"Ramming speed!"''' In this case it's an order to the galley slaves to row very fast for a short burst.

* In ''Pirates Of The Prairie'' the mutinous crew find themselves transported to the titual prairie, and the hous their ex-captain (and a horde of silver) is hiding. The now-Captain declares RAMMING SPEED! Which the crew complies. When the ship rams the house, the now=captain admonishes the crew
'''What did you do that for?''' '''You said 'ramming speed' ''' '''It's a unit of measurement, not an order!'''

** In ''{{The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen}}'', Nemo's vessel has rather more sensible armaments, like big honking artillery pieces. And [[CoolButInefficient mechanical tentacles]].
*** Which lead, FWIW, to the awesome moment when we combine this with the previous trope. And Nemo blasts the jelly out of a couple of tripods.

* In the ''[=~Avatar: The Last Airbender~=]'' episode "The Avatar Returns", Prince Zuko has his ship ram a Water Tribe ''village'' in his search for the Avatar. His (relatively small) ship blows through at least fifty feet of glacial ice to have the front open right in front of the village.
** Which isn't too extraordinary, since this is the primary purpose of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icebreaker icebreakers]].

* This tactic was seriously considered by the Royal Navy during WorldWarOne, because they were desperately short on ways to attack submarines and the depth charge hadn't been invented yet. Submarines on the surface or at periscope depth could be rammed. HMS ''Dreadnought'', the first modern battleship, actually pulled this off -- indeed, it was the only time ''Dreadnought'' ever managed to sink an enemy ship.

*** The submarine USS Seawolf collided with a Japanese patrol boat. It returned without its Captain, who was too badly injured to drag down the hatch quickly. His last order to his XO, "Take 'er down!" saved the submarine and won him a posthumous Medal of Honor.

*** Funny you mention that. [[{{CommandoDude}} ThisTroper's]] father's Frigate hit and broke off a Soviet submarine's periscope in the Red Sea a little before Operation Desert Storm. They were playing 'chicken'
** And surface ramming didn't entirely disappear. Look up HMS ''Glowworm'' and its attack on the ''Admiral Hipper'' in 1940.
** PT 109, commanded by JFK, was cut in two by the HIJMS Amagiri, pretty much by accident.
* The troop transport ''HMT Olympic'' rammed and sank the U-103, the only recorded instance of a merchant vessel sinking a warship in WWI. It's even more impressive considering its sister ship when in its ocean liner line was the ''Titanic''!
** Not really all that impressive since if the Titanic had just rammed the iceberg it would not have sank (The Titanic hit the iceberg it at pretty much the worst possible angle... only a little more turn and she'd have missed it so it tore a big nasty gash, also if they hadn't reversed the engine's she'd have made the turn... Titanic's design made reversing the engines reduce turning ability, this didn't happen with earlier ships)
** And another WorldWarTwo example: the British raid on St. Nazaire in 1942 involved ramming the old destroyer HMS ''Campbeltown'', loaded with explosives, into the drydock, the only one available to the Germans (outside of Germany) large enough to hold their largest remaining warships. The raid was so successful the drydock wasn't back in operation until 1947.
*** This isn't really that good an example; the actual ramming accomplished little more than to wedge the ''Campbeltown'' in the lock gate. Come the next morning and several German senior officers were poking round the ship trying to figure out what the Brits had hoped to accomplish when the time pencils burned down and four tons of Amatol did what ramming couldn't.
**** THAT'S where he got it from! In the ''Sten'' series (Military Science Fiction), author Chris Bunch have a repeat of this tactic in the second book-- mind you, it's a ship crashing into a space dock on an orbital approach, but the big badaboom is the same. (Bunch loves to steal from WWII for this series. At one point the protagonists are captured during a war and sent to a prison named "Koldyeze.")
* Conventional naval wisdom from the launch of the first ironclad in 1859 until the advent of the self-propelled torpedo and advances in shipboard gun manufacture in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries held that major naval battles would consist of warships attempting to ram one another, since the crude cannons of the mid-19th century had proven to be no match for an ironclad's armour. Since this was the period when Britania really did rule the waves, there were few major naval engagements to prove otherwise. The theory led to many ships being equipped with ram bows, which, while quite [[AwesomeButImpractical pretty and sleek]], mostly ended up [[SubvertedTrope accidentally sinking friendly vessels]]. The most famous incident, the sinking of HMS Victoria, gave us the memorable scene in ''{{Kind Hearts and Coronets}}'' where the admiral played by Alec Guiness goes down with his ship.

** Ramming was also a common tactic during the American Civil War. Many ironclads, including CSS ''Virginia'' (aka the ''Merrimack'') were expected to ram ships as their primary means of attack, and even a few ironclads were completely unarmed, making this their only possible offensive tactic.

*** The torpedo ram (with a "spar torpedo") was a common tactic during the Civil War -- The CSS Hunley sank the USS Housatonic with one. And Lt. Alonzo Cushing of the US Navy sank the CSS Albemarle with one. This tactic was even more dangerous than it sounds -- the contact exploder did not yet exist, and spar torpedoes had to be set off post-ram with an attached lanyard, exposing the person who pulled it (and in the case of the Hunley, having to leave the hatches open for seawater to get in).
* During WWII, the ocean liner ''Queen Mary'' was converted for use as a troop transport, sailing solo across the Atlantic and picking up a Naval escort only when she came within bomber range of occupied Europe. Off the coast of Ireland on October 2, 1942, the ''Queen Mary'' accidentally rammed one of the escort vessels, the cruiser HMS ''Curacoa'', amidships. The ''Curacoa'' was literally cut in half and rapidly sank, killing 338 men from a crew of 439. The ''Queen Mary'' suffered no casualties and damage minor enough she was able to continue safely to her destination, drop off her load of Allied soldiers, and return to America for repairs.
* Entirely accidental, unlike many of the above examples, but the the battleship USS ''Wisconsin'' (BB-64) collided with the destroyer escort USS ''Eaton'' (DDE-510) due to negligence on the part of the captain of the ''Eaton'', both ships suffering severe damage. The damaged bow of the ''Wisconsin'' was replaced with the bow from the unfinished USS ''Kentucky'' (BB-66).

* Relatively recent example: in 1988, Russian frigate Bezzavetniy rammed USS Yorktown (approximately three times heavier ship) to push it out of Soviet territorial waters. Neither ship was seriously damaged, but the latter withdrew.

* HMAS Melbourne sank two friendly destroyers - HMAS Voyager and USS Frank E Evans - in two separate accidental collisions.

!! Land vehicles

[[folder: RealLife]]
* In demolition derbies, the trick is to ram ''in reverse'', protecting your own car's radiator and engine.
* The police [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PIT_maneuver PIT maneuver]].
[[/folder]]

* One of the SchizoTech vessels built by the Nantucketers in the ''Island in the Sea of Time'' trilogy by SMStirling is a steam ram, which is used to great effect against primitive wooden warships such as triremes.

* In ''TheLastStarfighter'', the Kodan Armada's main ship attempts to ram the Gunship during the final battle. This actually makes sense, as all of it's weapons and targeting systems had been disabled and the Gunship was floating dead in space without the power to get out of the way.

* The ''CSS Virgina'', the Confederacy's ironclad, sank the ''USS Cumberlain'' by ramming her amidships, using a large metal ram affixed to the bow of the ship. The ram got stuck in the ''Cumberlain'', though, and almost took the ''Virginia'' down as well before it broke off and allowed the Confederate ironclad to withdraw. Which was extremely lucky for the ''USS Monitor'', the Union's ironclad, because if the ''Virginia'' had kept the ram she would have had a weapon that most likely would have doomed the ''Monitor''.