Naval Historywith Dr. Alex

Q&A · 5:37:49-5:38:34

Floating dry docks as deployable naval infrastructure

A floating dock lets a navy repair ships where permanent facilities are absent, too small, or already overloaded.

Fleet MaintenanceFloating Dry DocksNaval BasesNaval LogisticsRoyal NavyUS Navy
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Question

Why did major navies use auxiliary floating dry docks, and did the Royal Navy have them in the Second World War?

Short answer

Yes; floating docks supplied repair capacity wherever fixed docks were missing, undersized, or insufficient in number.

Notes

Both the Royal Navy and US Navy used auxiliary floating dry docks in the Second World War. A navy could bring one to a new base with no fixed dock. It could also increase capacity where only one or two docks existed. A larger floating dock answered the separate problem of local facilities too small for the hull requiring repair. The purpose was to put usable maintenance infrastructure where the fleet needed it.