How floating repair facilities extend a fleet

The interwar Royal Navy identified islands and ports that lacked impressive fixed infrastructure but could become useful wartime bases. A maintenance ship could arrive alongside destroyer or submarine depot vessels and establish workshops for perhaps 60 to 70 percent of the support functions ships required. A portable floating dock could add the dry-docking capability that the repair ships themselves lacked. The modular package could be expanded rapidly during war rather than waiting for a complete permanent dockyard. This network let warships operate farther from home bases and turned otherwise marginal locations into practical fleet-support sites.