_and_USS_Frank_Cable_(AS-40)_at_Apra_Harbor%2c_Guam%2c_on_23_May_2002_(6640652).jpg)
Asubmarine tender, in British English asubmarine depot ship, is a type ofdepot ship that supplies and supportssubmarines.[1]
Submarines are small compared to most oceangoing vessels, and generally cannot carry large amounts of food, fuel,torpedoes, and other supplies, or a full array of maintenance equipment and personnel. The tender carries all these, and either meets submarines at sea toreplenish them or provides these services while docked at a port near the submarines' operations zone. In some navies, the tenders were equipped withworkshops for maintenance, and as floating dormitories with reliefcrews.
With the increased size and automation of modern submarines, plus in some navies the introduction ofnuclear power, tenders are no longer as necessary for fuel as they once were.
Canada's first submarine depot ship wasHMCS Shearwater.
The term used in theChilean Navy is "submarine mother ship", as for example the BMS (buque madre de submarinos)Almirante Merino.
China'sType 926 submarine support ship is capable of replenishing submarines and rescuing those in distress.[2]
During the 1930s andWorld War II, theFrench Navy and later theFree French Naval Forces operated the submarine tenderJules Verne.
Unable to operate a significant number of conventional surface tenders duringWorld War II,Germany'sKriegsmarine usedType XIV submarines (nicknamedmilk cows) for replenishment at sea.
Prior to and during World War II, theImperial Japanese Navy operated submarine tenders. It also operatedNisshin, aseaplane tender designed and equipped to transport and support 12midget submarines in addition toseaplanes, and a number of submarines designed to transport, launch, and recover midget submarines.
TheRoyal Netherlands Navy has one submarine support vessel,HNLMS Mercuur (A900), commissioned in 1987, as a replacement ofHNLMS Onverschrokken (M886), then known as HNLMS Mercuur (A 856). Commissioned in 1956, as an ocean going Aggressive-class minesweeper, built in the US, and later used as a submarine tender.
TheRussian Navy decommissioned all itsDon andUgra-class tenders inherited from theSoviet Navy by 2001. The last remaining ship of this class wasINS Amba (A54), initially sold to theIndian Navy in 1968 for use with their fleet ofFoxtrot-classsubmarines. She was reportedlydecommissioned in July 2006.[citation needed]
In theRoyal Navy, the term used for a submarine tender is "submarine depot ship", for exampleHMS Medway andHMS Maidstone.List of Royal Navy submarine depot ships
In theUnited States Navy, submarine tenders are consideredauxiliary ships, with thehull classification symbol "AS". As of 2017[update], the U.S. Navy maintains two submarine tenders,USS Emory S. Land (AS-39) andUSS Frank Cable (AS-40).
Media related toSubmarine tenders at Wikimedia Commons