Abandon ship

If the commanding officer or a delegated person in command considers a vessel lost, they may give the order to abandon ship - an imperative to leave the vessel immediately, usually in the face of some imminent overwhelming danger. It is usually the last resort after all other mitigating actions have failed or become impossible, and destruction or loss of the ship is imminent; and customarily followed by a command to "man the lifepods" or escape pods.

All shuttle crews then ready their craft and prepare for immediate departure. All personnel report to a designated mustering station in the event of the abandon ship order being given, with the key supplies on their evacuation roster. Escape pods or lifeboats are enabled, and launched either by the bridge or by their occupants. If a habitable planet is in range, escape pod guidance systems often target it automatically.

An FTL buoy can be launched, containing a subspace transceiver and a copy of the ship's logs. The operations manager or executive officer oversees the evacuation of the ship while the rest of the bridge crew works to contain the emergency that caused this drastic measure.