History Main / SealedOrders

Compare EnRouteSumUp, when the briefing is done during the mobilization, not upon arrival.

* ''Film/TheHuntForRedOctober'': For security, the ''Red October''[='s=] mission orders are sealed and locked into a safe until after she leaves port. Once the submarine is underway, Ramius removes the orders and reads them -- and then lies to the rest of the crew about what they say. Later the CIA muddies the waters by leaking a false story to the KGB that Ramius never intended to defect; he was just given forged orders that sent him towards the United States.

* ''Literature/TheHuntForRedOctober'': [[TheCaptain Captain Ramius]] and [[ThePoliticalOfficer Political Officer Putin]] get their sealed orders from a [[TwoKeyedLock dual-keyed safe]] after they sail. [[spoiler:Ramius then [[NeckSnap breaks Putin's neck]], spills tea on the deck near the dead man's feet to make it look like [[DeathByFallingOver he slipped]], and substitutes the actual orders with orders to sail to Cuba via the American coastline.]]

* ''Film/TheHuntForRedOctober'': For security, the ''Red October''[='s=] mission orders are sealed and locked into a safe until after she leaves port. Once the submarine is underway, Ramius removes the orders and reads them -- and then lies to the rest of the crew about what they say.

* ''Literature/AFaceLikeGlass': The Kleptomancer writes down what he plans to do, and then [[MemoryGambit edits his memories]] to forget what they were. This way, Caverna's Chessmasters can't predict his movements because even he doesn't know them until it's time to do it.

* The 2012 play ''Theatre/{{The Letter of Last Resort}}'' by David Greig (aired as a BBC radio drama and played in the Tricycle Theater) follows a Prime Minister late in her first day in office when she must, as per protocol, write a new Letter of Last Resort for the nation's missile submarines. As a NaiveNewcomer, her advisor explains to her what the Letters are supposed to do and she then struggles with what the letter should say; [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt considering what would be supposedly happening]] to the United Kingdom if they are ever opened. She tries several drafts, going from being pretty plain in her supposed final orders up to trying to provide comforting words to the imaginary captain.

* ''VideoGame/TheKobayashiAlternative''. Captain Kirk receives sealed orders to locate Lieutenant Sulu's missing ship and neutralize whatever caused it to disappear.

* The captains of the [[UsefulNotes/BritsWithBattleships Royal Navy's]] four ''Vanguard'' class [[UsefulNotes/UltimateDefenceOfTheRealm ballistic missile submarines]] are each given a sealed handwritten letter by the Prime Minister when he or she enters office before they leave port detailing what they should do in the event of a nuclear attack on the UK which neutralizes the normal chain of command. These letters are destroyed unopened when the PM steps down.

* [[UsefulNotes/UltimateDefenceOfTheRealm British nuclear strategy]] has their orders for a "the Government has been wiped" situation in sealed envelopes that can only be opened if Royal Navy boomers can't detect signs of life from the country. They are called the Letters of Last Resort and can vary from a full retaliatory strike to taking orders from Australia, depending on what the current Prime Minister decided when he or she wrote them. The letters are destroyed unread when the PM changes.

* ''Series/VoyageToTheBottomOfTheSea'': In the aptly named episode "Sealed Orders", the orders are to dispose of a NeutronBomb and aren't informed until the characters near said bomb's location.

* ''ComicBook/AlbedoErmaFelnaEDF'': One [[Recap/AlbedoErmaFelnaEDFVolumeFourNumberOne issue]], it's revealed there's a specific protocol for dealing with ILR prisoners that is only disclosed after an officer has taken such a prisoner and asked MissionControl what to do. The orders are sent to their DataPad and consist, essentially, of executing the prisoners, especially if they are [=ConFed=] Lepins.

* ''Film/RevengeOfTheSid'': The clone troopers of the Republic's Grand Army have implanted numbered sealed orders in their biological programming. They instinctually know what to do when a higher-up activates the command but not a second before. The clones aren't even aware of this.