Pembroke built ships while Portsmouth sustained the Channel Fleet

Pembroke's plan is dominated by numerous building slips and relatively little docking space, marking it primarily as a warship construction yard. Its single dock and smaller haul-out arrangements could handle maintenance, but the layout privileged launching new hulls. Portsmouth presents the opposite emphasis, with deep docks, locks, basins, and multiple repair berths beside the fleet base. Those facilities allowed the Channel Fleet's routine maintenance needs to be met close to its operational station. The word dockyard can therefore conceal very different balances among construction, fitting-out, and repair work.