Adepot ship is anauxiliary ship used as a mobile or fixed base forsubmarines,destroyers,minesweepers,fast attack craft,landing craft, or other small ships with similarly limited space for maintenance equipment and crew dining, berthing and relaxation. Depot ships may be identified astenders inAmerican English. Depot ships may be specifically designed for their purpose or be converted from another purpose.
Submarine depot shipHMAS Platypus with a flotilla of submarines
Depot ships provide services unavailable from localnaval base shore facilities. Industrialized countries may build naval bases with extensive workshops, warehouses, barracks, and medical and recreation facilities. Depot ships operating within such bases may provide little more than command staff offices,[1] while depot ships operating at remote bases may perform unusually diverse support functions. SomeUnited States Navy submarine depot ships operating in thePacific duringWorld War II included sailors withConstruction Battalion ratings to clear recreational sites and assemble buildings ashore,[2] while theRoyal Navy mobile naval bases included specializedamenities ships to meet recreational needs ofBritish Pacific Fleet personnel.[3]
Services provided by a depot ship depend upon whether typical client warship missions are measured in hours, or days, or weeks. A warship crew may be expected to remain at their stations for missions measured in hours, but longer missions may require provisions for dining, sleeping, and personal hygiene. The crew of small warships may carry individualcombat rations and urinate or defecate from theweather deck. Longer missions typically require storage provisions for drinking water and preserved food, and some resting area for the crew, although rest may be limited to a sheltered spot to sit or recline. Cooking may be limited to warming food on an exhaust vent, and buckets may be used for bathing, laundry, and sanitary waste. Habitability standards vary among navies, but client warships large enough to include ahead, bunks, a shower, a kitchen stove, refrigerated food storage, a drinking water distillation unit, and a laundry require little more than medical and repair service from a depot ship. Depot ships are similar torepair ships, but provide a wider range of services to a smaller portion of the fleet. Depot ships undertake repair work for a flotilla of small warships, while repair ships offer more comprehensive repair capability for a larger variety of fleet warships. Depot ships also provide personnel and resupply services for their flotilla. Some depot ships may transport their short-range landing or attack craft from home ports to launch near the scene of battle.[4] The following summary of World War II depot ships indicates the range of locations and warships served:
Requisitioned merchant ships HMSAberdonian (F74) andVienna (F138) and the FrenchBelfort (U63) were used as depot ships forCoastal Forces of the Royal Navy.Aberdonian started atFort William, Scotland, but spent most of the war atDartmouth, Devon, whileVienna was in the Mediterranean. TheLoch-class frigatesLoch Assynt (K438) andLoch Torridon (K654) became coastal forces depot ships HMSDerby Haven andWoodbridge Haven, respectively.[5]
Nettlebeck,Brommy andVan der Groeben were depot ships for the 1st, 2nd and 3rdR boat flotillas, respectively. The 1st and 3rd flotillas were atKiel, and the 2nd was atCuxhaven.[13] HMSAmbitious (F169),Celebrity andSt. Tudno were depot ships for minesweepers.Ambitious was stationed at Scapa Flow, andSt. Tudno was atthe Nore.[5] Japan requisitionedChohei Maru,Rokusan Maru andTeishu Maru from civilian service as depot ships for minesweepers.[14]
Tsingtau andTanga were depot ships for the 1st and 2ndE-boat flotillas at Kiel andHamburg, respectively.[13]Kamikaze Maru,Nihonkai Maru,Shinsho Maru andShuri Maru were requisitioned from civilian service as depot ships for JapaneseMotor Torpedo Boats.[14]
HMS Marshal Soult and the French shipsCourbet,Paris,Coucy andDiligente were used as depot ships for vessels patrolling theEnglish Channel after theSecond Armistice at Compiègne.[5]HMS Brilliant was based at Lerwick, Shetland Islands, in July 1917 as a depot ship for trawlers and patrol boats. HMSAmbitious was a depot ship at Scapa Flow, Orkney Islands during the First World War.
Submarine depot shipHMS Maidstone with submarines alongsideSubmarine tenderUSS Pelias with submarines alongsideWhang Pu is representative of the depot ships requisitioned from civilian service
USS Griffin was stationed inNewfoundland in late 1941 before serving in Brisbane and then in Pearl Harbor and Fremantle as depot ship for Squadron 12.[25]
Heian Maru was requisitioned from civilian service as depot ship for Subron 1.[20]
Hie Maru was requisitioned from civilian service as depot ship for Subron 8.[20]
Some depot ships support a naval base.HMAS Platypus was the base ship atDarwin,Australia duringWorld War II.[8] In theRoyal Navy, under section 87 of theNaval Discipline Act 1866 (29 & 30 Vict. c. 109), the provisions of the act only applied to officers and men of the Royal Navy borne on the books of a warship. When shore establishments began to become more common it was necessary to allocate the title of the establishment to an actual vessel which became thenominal depot ship for the men allocated to the establishment and thus ensured they were subject to the provisions of the Act.[36] Some were also used as floating barracks designatedreceiving ships or receiving hulks.
Auphan, Paul; Mordal, Jacques (1959).The French Navy in World War II. Westport, Ct: Greenwood Press.ISBN0-8371-8660-9.{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
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