In modern amphibious warfare usage, a well dock or well deck, officially termed a wet well during U.S. Navy instruction when the well deck is flooded for operations, [1] is a hangar-like deck located at the waterline in the stern of some amphibious warfare ships. By taking on water the ship can lower its stern, flooding the well deck and allowing vessels such as boats and landing craft, amphibious vehicles, and recovered spacecraft crew capsules to dock within the ship.
The structure on the modern naval amphibious ships does not exactly fit the traditional "well deck" definition of a weather, or open deck, that is lower than adjacent decks, surrounded by bulkheads that would, lacking proper drainage, form a catchment for water; however, the structure has its origins in such an exaggerated deep deck on World War II-era tank landing craft (TLC) the British forces were considering. On July 19, 1941, Major R. E. Holloway, Royal Engineers, forwarded a design from a 1924 patent by Otto Popper of the Danube International Commission concerning a barge transporter for Danube barges. That evolved into the British TLC-C that would become the Dock Landing Ship (LSD) that had an open, very deep and special-purpose well deck open to the elements and thus technically a "well deck" in the traditional definition. [2]
The open well deck began to see covering in part with platforms, particularly helicopter landing platforms, and in most modern form is no longer a weather deck, being completely enclosed overhead. The structure is seen in ships with a substantial air assault role such as the USS Tarawa.
The term "well deck" is still used for the newer structure in the U.S. Navy, [1] while other naval usage appears to be more commonly "well dock" [3] [4] that more clearly separates traditional usage from modern naval function.
Some commercial vessels have similar structures for purposes similar to the military versions. The German Baco Liner ships use bow doors. Previous barge carriers were of similar design to the military ships with a large stern well deck. [5] [6] The increased use of containers and container port facilities has decreased the use of this type of commercial vessel, with their main use serving regions with less well developed ports. [6] [7]
During the testing program for NASA's Orion spacecraft, in 2013 and 2014 USS Arlington and USS Anchorage used their well decks to recover Orion capsules after splashdown. Earlier capsules such as Gemini and Apollo had to be lifted aboard their recovery vessels by crane.
USS Portland was assigned as the recovery ship for the Orion capsule of the Artemis 1 uncrewed Moon-orbiting mission, successfully completed on 11 December 2022. The spacecraft's Orion capsule was floated into the flooded well deck at the stern of the vessel off the coast of Baja California. [8]
The United States Navy, United States Coast Guard, and United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) use a hull classification symbol to identify their ships by type and by individual ship within a type. The system is analogous to the pennant number system that the Royal Navy and other European and Commonwealth navies use.
The San Antonio class is a class of amphibious transport docks, also called a "landing platform, dock" (LPD), used by the United States Navy. These warships replace the Austin-class LPDs, as well as the Newport-class tank landing ships, the Anchorage-class dock landing ships, and the Charleston-class amphibious cargo ships that have already been retired.
An amphibious transport dock, also called a landing platform dock (LPD), is an amphibious warfare ship, a warship that embarks, transports, and lands elements of a landing force for expeditionary warfare missions. Several navies currently operate this kind of ship. The ships are generally designed to transport troops into a war zone by sea, primarily using landing craft, although invariably they also have the capability to operate transport helicopters.
USS New Orleans (LPD-18), a San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock, is the fourth commissioned ship of the United States Navy to be named after the city of New Orleans, Louisiana.
Landing craft are small and medium seagoing watercraft, such as boats and barges, used to convey a landing force from the sea to the shore during an amphibious assault. The term excludes landing ships, which are larger. Production of landing craft peaked during World War II, with a significant number of different designs produced in large quantities by the United Kingdom and United States.
A dock landing ship is an amphibious warfare ship with a well dock to transport and launch landing craft and amphibious vehicles. Some ships with well decks, such as the Soviet Ivan Rogov class, also have bow doors to enable them to deliver vehicles directly onto a beach. Modern dock landing ships also operate helicopters.
The names of commissioned ships of the United States Navy all start with USS, for United States Ship. Non-commissioned, primarily civilian-crewed vessels of the U.S. Navy under the Military Sealift Command have names that begin with USNS, standing for United States Naval Ship. A letter-based hull classification symbol is used to designate a vessel's type. The names of ships are selected by the Secretary of the Navy. The names are those of states, cities, towns, important persons, important locations, famous battles, fish, and ideals. Usually, different types of ships have names originated from different types of sources.
USS Fort Snelling (LSD-30) was a Thomaston-class dock landing ship of the United States Navy. She was named for Fort Snelling at the confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers, for many years the northernmost military post in the land of the Sioux and Chippewa. She was the second ship assigned that name, but the construction of Fort Snelling (LSD-23) was canceled on 17 August 1945.
USS Anchorage (LPD-23) is a San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock and the second ship of the United States Navy to be namesake of the U.S. city of Anchorage, Alaska.
A Landing Craft Utility (LCU) is a type of boat used by amphibious forces to transport equipment and troops to the shore. They are capable of transporting tracked or wheeled vehicles and troops from amphibious assault ships to beachheads or piers.
A joint support ship (JSS) is a multi-role naval vessel capable of launching and supporting joint amphibious and airlift operations. It can also provide command and control, sealift and seabasing, underway replenishment, disaster relief and logistics capabilities for combined land and sea operations.
The Type 071 is a class of Chinese amphibious transport dock ships in service with the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN). The Type 071 provides the PLAN with capabilities and flexibility not found in its previous landing ships.
The San Giorgio class are amphibious transport docks (LPD) built by Fincantieri for the Italian Navy. These ships can carry a battalion of troops, and up to 36 armored vehicles. The stern floodable dock can accommodate three landing craft. The ships are based at the Brindisi naval base on the Adriatic coast.
An amphibious assault ship is a type of amphibious warfare ship employed to land and support ground forces on enemy territory during an amphibious assault. The design evolved from aircraft carriers converted for use as helicopter carriers. Modern designs support amphibious landing craft, with most designs including a well deck. Coming full circle, some amphibious assault ships also support V/STOL fixed-wing aircraft, now having a secondary role as aircraft carriers.
In traditional nautical use, well decks were decks lower than decks fore and aft, usually at the main deck level, so that breaks appear in the main deck profile, as opposed to a flush deck profile. The term goes back to the days of sail. Late-20th-century commercial and military amphibious ships have applied the term to an entirely different type of hangar-like structure, evolving from exaggerated deep "well decks" of World War II amphibious vessels, that can be flooded for lighters or landing craft.
USS Mount Vernon (LSD-39) was an Anchorage-class dock landing ship of the United States Navy. She was the fifth ship of the U.S. Navy to bear the name. She was built in Massachusetts in 1972 and homeported in Southern California for 31 years until being decommissioned on 25 July 2003. Mount Vernon acted as the control ship for the cleanup of the Exxon Valdez oil spill. In 2005, she was intentionally destroyed off the coast of Hawaii as part of a training exercise. USS Mount Vernon also appeared in the Season 7 episode 19 of The Love Boat when they visited Hong Kong.
An amphibious warfare ship is an amphibious vehicle warship employed to land and support ground forces, such as marines, on enemy territory during an amphibious assault.
The Ashland-class dock landing ship were the first class of dock landing ship of the United States Navy. They were built during World War II. A dock landing ship is a form of auxiliary warship designed to support amphibious operations. Eight ships were built for the United States Navy and they remained in US service until the 1960s. Two of the class were sold for export overseas, with one joining the Republic of China Navy and the other the Argentinian Navy. The two transferred ships stayed in service until the 1980s. All eight ships were scrapped.
USS Portland (LPD-27) is a San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship of the United States Navy, named after the U.S. city of Portland, Oregon.
