Well dock

This article is about a modern military use of the term "well deck". For well decks in traditional naval architecture, see Well deck.
An LCU approaches the well deck of USS Essex.

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.

  1. ^ U.S. Navy (29 June 1999). "WET WELL OPERATIONS MANUAL" (PDF). COMNAVSURFLANT/COMNAVSURFPAC INSTRUCTION 3340.3C. U.S. Navy. Retrieved 5 March 2012.[permanent dead link‍]