Michael O'Connor is a United States Navy engineer aboard the Nathan James.
Events of The Last Ship[]
Season 1[]
O'Connor is first seen at a prayer vigil held for the Nathan James crew's loved ones, praying for his father Paul and his brothers Nate and Ronnie as he doesn't know where they are. O'Connor goes on saying what keeps him going is the idea that they can help them and thinks it was God's plan the Nathan James was out there. When the Nathan James arrives at Gitmo, O'Connor is assigned to Tiger Team under Lt Comm. Garnett's command to replenish their fuel supply. O'Connor later helps set a perimeter when hostile forces are discovered on the base and later spots terrorists targeting them and warns the others just before they are hit with a RPG, critically injuring Lt Comm. Garnett. (“Welcome to Gitmo”)
O'Connor is in the engine room with Lt (jg). Chung and Senior Chief Lynn as the go over problems with the engines. When Chung hears something wrong with the engines, O'Connor doesn't hear anything and Chung tells him that they aren't "purring". When the problems occur with the generators, O'Connor tells Chung they can't run the second engine at these temperatures or they will overheat and Chung orders him to pull the filters and see what is going on but a fire breaks out before O'Connor can do it. O'Connor helps start the engine for an hour and stops to prevent the engine from overheating. After a few weeks without water, O'Connor starts to think they won't make it but later joins most of the crew in relaxing when they find an island and replenish their water supply. (“We'll Get There”)
O'Connor helps set the crates to carry Dr. Scott's monkeys to test her prototype vaccines. When Comm. Chandler walks by with Garnett, O'Connor asks if the crates are good enough and Chandler replies that they are and says O'Connor did a good job. (“El Toro (Episode)”)
O'Connor hears Comm. Chandler's announcement explaining what happened in Nicaragua and telling the crew they are going home. While O'Connor is patrolling the deck, Cossetti comes to relieve O'Connor and both talk about the state of the world when they notice Dr. Scott dumping medical bags off the side of the ship. O'Connor later mentions this to Maya Gibson and wonders where Dr. Scott and Comm. Chandler are going in such a hurry. When Maya responds that she doesn't know, O'Connor says nobody knows and that is the problem.
O'Connor later asks to leaves the Nathan James alongside fifteen other enlisted men and joins Cossetti in trying to convince Miller to leave too. O'Connor is present when Chandler summons the crew onto the deck where he explains he kept them in the dark, why he did it and later lets them listen to Dr. Scott when she reveals her vaccine is failing but she isn't giving up. Chandler gives a speech where he promises to share all their information from now on and offers to let the enlisted men who want to leave go with food, water, and medical supplies. O'Connor and the group decide to stay on the ship and reenlist into the US Navy. (“Lockdown”)
O'Connor stands on the deck and sees Lt. Green carrying Cossetti's body after he was KIA in an operation to rescue Comm. Chandler, Tex, and Quincy's family. (“Two Sailors Walk Into a Bar”)
O'Connor waits in line to volunteer for Dr. Scott's human trial to test her vaccine but is ultimately spared from participating. When the patients start to get sick, O'Connor visits Miller and tries to talk to him alongside Lt. Burk but Miller doesn't respond. (“Trials”)
After Dr. Scott's trial is over and the cure to the virus has been developed, O'Connor is given an injection of the cure. O'Connor later listens as Comm. Slattery and Master Chief Jeter tell the crew their plan to mass produce the cure at Fort Dietrich and may get a cell signal so they can contact their families. The Nathan James docks at the Baltimore Harbor, O'Connor heads to the flight deck on Comm. Slattery's orders alongside the rest of the crew and passengers, unaware he is being coerced into giving that order by Lt. Pete Norris. O'Connor then sees a fleet of Maryland State Troopers arrive by speedboats and helicopters in preparation to take control of the ship. (“No Place Like Home”)
Season 2[]
As O'Connor is forcefully escorted into the helo bay he tells Miller and Cruz to rally with him at the DC locker when they can and runs to the side of the Nathan James and jumps overboard. O'Connor sneaks back onto the ship by climbing up the anchor chain and right above the nose of the ship. O'Connor then sets the ship's engines cooling systems offline to force the Maryland States Troopers to move the crew in exchange for cooling the system back down, enabling Cruz and Miller to escape. After regrouping with Miller and Cruz, they make a plan to head to the armory to grab weapons and take back their ship. (“Unreal City”)
When they reach the armory they find it is guarded but hide as the guards leave and the take advantage of the situation and head inside, where O'Connor grabs magazines and handguns and heads out with the others. While heading to the mess hall to free the others they notice the lights going on and off and O'Connor realizes someone is watching them. They coordinate a three-way assault on the mess hall by killing the lights and using night-vision googles, managing to kill all the guards.
O'Connor helps arm the rest of the sailors with the supplies in his bag and moves out with the others. O'Connor goes with Miller and Cruz to the deck and kill the guards with the other sailors but take cover when a helicopter opens fire on them. O'Connor tells them to cover him and rushes to a machine gun and manages to blow the helicopter up. O'Connor returns inside the ship and helps bind the hands of the remaining state troopers on the ship. O'Connor helps clean up the ship and later pay his final respects to the eight sailors KIA during the Baltimore attack. (“Fight the Ship”)
O'Connor is working on the Nathan James and smiles seeing the planes take off with the cure and staff to reproduce it. O'Connor is later assigned to work with Cruz in sweeping the area for survivors and bringing them back to a military base. O'Connor later accompanies Kara and Danny to a bowling alley with cases of the cure where they find a safe zone filled with survivors, including Kara's mom Debbie. After O'Connor restores the bowling alley's power, the survivors have fun and at Debbie's promoting applaud O'Connor before they leave to head back to the Nathan James. (“It's Not a Rumor”)
While the Nathan James is at EMCON one, O'Connor is seen waiting in the mess hall while they search for a hostile submarine. (“Achilles”)
O'Connor is seen guarding Niels Sørenson after he regains consciousness alongside Miller and continues to guard him as he is put to work in Dr. Scott's lab looking for a way to make a powder version of the cure. When O'Connor sees Niels collapses O'Connor rushes in with Miller concerned about Dr. Scott's' safety. (“Uneasy Lies the Head”)
During the investigation, O'Connor gives a statement to Lt Comm. Garnett indicating Niels was getting better before his latest IV bag was changed. O'Connor is sitting with Miller in the mess hall and both are confused when the other sailors start giving them some of their food and congratulating them on their "part" killing Niels and reports this to the senior leadership. O'Connor later ask permission from Comm. Chandler for the OOD to ring the bell to signal it is 12:00 and Chandler grants him permission to do so. (“Friendly Fire”)
When several people are injured in an explosion on an oil rig, O'Connor brings them blankets and is shocked at the carnage it caused. O'Connor joins the crew in grieving the death of their friends while listening to Master Chief Jeter's eulogy for the fallen. (“Valkyrie”)
O'Connor helps rig a depth finder to work as an improvised sonar system when the regular sonar is busted to find the Immunes' submarine the Achilles. When they activate it, O'Connor tells Jeter and Garnett that it is piping hot and will get hotter once it goes active, so they send a team to get ice from the mess hall and bring it to the depth finder. When they activate the system for real, O'Connor struggles to keep the depth finder from overheating, which it eventually does right before they are hit by a torpedo. O'Connor gets out with Jeter and Garnett before the crew seals the area to keep the ship afloat. (“Cry Havoc”)
O'Connor attends a meeting with the crew as Val explains how to use an Eagle app, Slattery gives a briefing on Immune leader Kevin MacDowell, and Dr. Scott demonstrates how to administer the contagious cure. When they arrive in St. Louis, O'Connor helps spread the contagious cure. O'Connor celebrates in the Old Courthouse with everyone and when they start making toasts to the fallen, he proposes a toast to Andy Chung. (“A More Perfect Union”)
Season 3[]
In between Season 2 and Season 3, O'Connor is promoted to Petty Officer Second Class and then to Petty Officer First Class.
After the Nathan James is attacked, Shackleton is destroyed, Hayward is damaged by a Chinese missile battery, O'Connor is seen helping carry one of the wounded Hayward sailors. Miller sees O'Connor and they embrace and Miller asks how he is alive and O'Connor explains that he was transferred to the Hayward a week ago after having served aboard the Shackleton after the country was restored. Miller shows Jeter O'Connor is alive and Jeter tells them there will be time for reunions later and they need to help the wounded right now and O'Connor goes to help more survivors. (“Paradise”)
O'Connor stands with Miller looking at all the injured and sarcastically welcomes him back to the Nathan James. After Chandler is arrested and Slattery is relieved of command supposedly on President Oliver's orders, O'Connor talks with Miller and Ray Diaz about the situation in the mess hall and how it doesn't make sense. When O'Connor mentions Chandler should get a free pass for life, Miller starts getting angry saying Chandler doesn't need a pass for anything. When Miller and O'Connor's argument turns into a fight it starts a brawl with the crews from the Nathan James and Hayward. It is revealed the fight was staged and Miller throws O'Connor at the Master-At-Arms and steals his keys while subtly handing them to Capt. Slattery so they can take back command. (“Scuttle”)
When Chandler decides to leave the Nathan James and the US Navy as punishment for murdering Allison Shaw, O'Connor watches him leave alongside Miller and Diaz. (“Don't Look Back”)
Season 4[]
In between Season 3 and Season 4, O'Connor is promoted to Chief Petty Officer.
O'Connor is on the Nathan James commenting to Bacon that the apple he is holding could be one of the last apples left. Bacon tells O'Connor the Red Rust hasn't hit apples yet and mentions six months ago they said the same thing about corn. When they are attacked by Omar's men at their base in Rota, Spain, O'Connor cuts the fuel lines to protect the Nathan James from exploding on Capt. Slattery's orders. (“In Medias Res”)
O'Connor supervises running the Nathan James' engines, in particular the generators. When the Nathan James loses propulsion just as fall under attack from a missile battery, O'Connor explains to Capt. Slattery that all four engines have lost power and are attempting to emergency restart generators one through three which ultimately fails. When Capt. Meylan arrives to help, O'Connor explains two generators failed to restart and are trying to restart the third one manually but when he does, O'Connor realizes there is an air leak. O'Connor finds it and has EN1 Ruiz shut down the valves to replace the pipe.
When he does O'Connor has Ruiz turn the valves back on but concludes they can't restart the engines in time to avoid an attack and need to find another way to create high pressure air. After Meylan orders them to use the helicopter's generator to restart the engine, O'Connor helps carry it down to the engine room. When they don't find anything small enough to link the helicopter's generator to the engines, O'Connor orders them to use duct tape saying they only need it to last for five seconds and it works. (“The Pillars of Hercules”)
O'Connor runs into Fletcher while walking through the hallway and exchanges greeting with him. When the Nathan James heads into a storm to outrun a fleet of Greek Destroyers, O'Connor helps Ruiz reset generator three and reports to the bridge all three generators are ready. Ruiz says they are taking in too much water because of an open blow-in door in engine one, O'Connor orders her to reset the doors but when she says they aren't working because of clogged filters, O'Connor chooses to head out into the storm to fix it personally.
O'Connor finishes fixing the engine when he sees a refugee on the deck and tries to get him back inside due to the dangerous storm. Unfortunately O'Connor doesn't know the "refugee" is really an MI-6 Captain sent to steal the Elaeis Virilis seeds named Harry Sinclair who then stabs O'Connor in the neck with a scalpel. O'Connor punches Sinclair twice in the face and tries to push him off but Sinclair overpowers him before Chandler arrives and shoots him in the back, forcing Sinclair to flee. Chandler rushes to O'Connor's side but he dies shortly after Chandler gets there. (“Tempest”)
Season 5[]
O'Connor is one of the characters with whom Tom had served (most of them deceased) who appears in his hallucination as he is drowning. Ultimately, Tom decides to keep fighting, swim to the surface, and live. (“Commitment”)
Legacy[]
As an original crew member aboard the Nathan James, his work helped keep the ship running while Dr. Scott looked for a cure to the Red Flu. When the Nathan James is taken over by Amy Granderson's army of Maryland State Troopers, O'Connor formulated a plan to retake the ship and personally executed the first part of it himself. After regrouping with Miller and Cruz, O'Connor helped raid the armory and liberate the rest of the sailors being held captive in the mess hall. O'Connor also blew up a helicopter the state troopers were using, which was the final step needed to taking control of their ship back. O'Connor's actions that day resulted in the Nathan James being recaptured and helped ensure Amy's fall from power and eventual death.
During the Immune Wars, O'Connor helped ensure the Nathan James could see the Achilles on their improvised radar system to fight it and helped spread the contagious version of the cure, saving many lives in the process. After the Hayward crew had taken over the Nathan James on false orders from President Oliver, O'Connor helped steal the keys to the armory, enabling Chandler to retake control of the ship and stop Chinese President Peng Wu's reign of terror. When Omar's men ambush the Nathan James near Gibraltar, O'Connor helps restart the engine after an IED knocks out their power. O'Connor is remembered as a hero with Slattery mentioning he saved the crew of the Nathan James more than once. Years after his death, an Arleigh Burke Destroyer is named after him, showing he is considered one of America's greatest heroes killed in action.
Awards and Decorations[]
The following are the medals and service awards seen worn on O'Connor's uniform in the show.
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