A depot ship is an
auxiliary ship used as a mobile or fixed base for
submarines,
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 as tenders in
American English. Depot ships may be specifically designed for their purpose or be converted from another purpose.
Function
Depot ships provide services unavailable from local
naval 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. Some
United States Navy submarine depot ships operating in the
Pacific during
World War II included sailors with
Construction Battalion ratings to clear recreational sites and assemble buildings ashore,[2] while the
Royal Navy mobile naval bases included specialized
amenities ships to meet recreational needs of
British 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 individual
combat rations and urinate or defecate from the
weather 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 a
head, 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 to
repair 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 HMS Aberdonian (F74) and Vienna (F138) and the French Belfort (U63) were used as depot ships for
Coastal Forces of the Royal Navy. Aberdonian started at
Fort William, Scotland, but spent most of the war at
Dartmouth, Devon, while Vienna was in the Mediterranean. The
Loch-class frigatesLoch Assynt (K438) and Loch Torridon (K654) became coastal forces depot ships HMS Derby Haven and Woodbridge Haven, respectively.[5]
Nettlebeck, Brommy and Van der Groeben were depot ships for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd
R boat flotillas, respectively. The 1st and 3rd flotillas were at
Kiel, and the 2nd was at
Cuxhaven.[13] HMS Ambitious (F169), Celebrity and St. Tudno were depot ships for minesweepers. Ambitious was stationed at Scapa Flow, and St. Tudno was at
the Nore.[5] Japan requisitioned Chohei Maru, Rokusan Maru and Teishu Maru from civilian service as depot ships for minesweepers.[14]
Motor torpedo boat depot ships
Tsingtau and Tanga were depot ships for the 1st and 2nd
E-boat flotillas at Kiel and
Hamburg, respectively.[13]Kamikaze Maru, Nihonkai Maru, Shinsho Maru and Shuri Maru were requisitioned from civilian service as depot ships for Japanese
Motor Torpedo Boats.[14]
Patrol vessel depot ships
HMS Marshal Soult and the French ships
Courbet,
Paris, Coucy and Diligente were used as depot ships for vessels patrolling the
English Channel after the
Second Armistice at Compiègne.[5]HMS Brilliant was based at Lerwick, Shetland Islands, in July 1917 as a depot ship for trawlers and patrol boats. HMS Ambitious was a depot ship at Scapa Flow, Orkney Islands during the First World War.
USS Griffin was stationed in
Newfoundland 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]
USS Holland was depot ship for Squadron 2 with the Asiatic Fleet before moving to
Australia, Saipan and
Guam.[26]
Isar provided command facilities and submarine crew accommodations for the
6th U-boat flotilla.[13]
HMS Wolfe (F37) was depot ship for the 3rd submarine flotilla until transferred to the Eastern Fleet in 1944.[5]
HMS Wuchang (F30) served with the Eastern Fleet.[5]
Otto Wunsche provided command facilities and submarine crew accommodations for U-boat flotillas.[1]
Yasukuni Maru was requisitioned from civilian service as depot ship for Subron 3.[20]
Regulations
Some depot ships support a naval base.
HMAS Platypus was the base ship at
Darwin,
Australia during
World War II.[8] In the
Royal Navy, under section 87 of the
Naval 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 the nominal depot ship for the men allocated to the establishment and thus ensured they were subject to the provisions of the Act.[36]
See also
Stone frigate, a shore establishment listed as a ship for the purposes of naval organization.