Depot ship

Industrialized countries may build naval bases with extensive workshops, warehouses, barracks, and medical and recreation facilities.

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.

The crew of small warships may carry individual combat rations and urinate or defecate from the weather deck.

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.

Some depot ships may transport their short-range landing or attack craft from home ports to launch near the scene of battle.

Aberdonian started at Fort William, Scotland, but spent most of the war at Dartmouth, Devon, while Vienna was in the Mediterranean.

[5] HMS Brilliant was based at Lerwick, Shetland Islands, in July 1917 as a depot ship for trawlers and patrol boats.