Knowra Dry dock Dry dock A structure or facility that lets a vessel be taken out of the water for construction, inspection, or repair. It is drained or otherwise arranged to expose the vessel’s hull.
Graving dock : A permanent dry dock excavated into land and closed by a gate or caisson. Its basin is flooded for entry, then drained to expose the vessel.
Shipbuilding : The design, construction, and assembly of ships and other large vessels. A dry dock provides a controlled site for assembling large vessels.
Ptolemaic Egypt : The Hellenistic kingdom ruled by the Ptolemaic dynasty in Egypt from 305 to 30 BCE. A dry-dock method is described in an account of shipbuilding under Ptolemy IV.
Ship hull : The watertight body of a vessel, excluding its machinery and superstructure. The hull is the structure exposed and supported when a vessel is docked.
Shipyard : A site where ships are built, repaired, or maintained. A shipyard may contain dry docks, but the term names the broader facility.
Floating dry dock : A buoyant structure that submerges to admit a vessel and rises to lift it clear of the water. It lifts vessels without requiring a permanent excavated basin.
Ship repair : The inspection, maintenance, and restoration of ships and their equipment. Removing a vessel from water exposes its hull for repair.
Athenaeus of Naucratis : A Greek author of the late second and early third centuries CE, known for the Deipnosophistae. His account preserves an early description of a ship built in a drained dock.
Naval architecture : The engineering discipline concerned with designing and constructing ships and other marine vessels. Hull shape and strength determine how a vessel can be supported ashore.
Wet dock : An enclosed harbor basin that retains water to protect moored vessels from tides or currents. A wet dock keeps vessels afloat rather than exposing their hulls.
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