This is not a Drydock!

[@AJUniverse]

It's called a drydock for the same reason that the save icon is a floppy disk, or we say a cell phone is ringing. It IS a drydock, not because we are naming it for what it does, but because that's what the evolution of our language has named it in reference.

[@ansonellis443]

Thank you

[@avenuePad]

Exactly this. The English language is full of examples like this.

[@Chazmox]

Exactly

[@CaptShriver]

That wasn't called a dry dock where the Galaxy question was. Then what is that called

[@casbot71]

*It's a mistake by the universal translators.* Hopefully, it never does a literal _compound word component_ error with translating. "Dry Dock.... why do you call it a _Thirsty Medical Personnel?"_ "That's what you got? I heard it as a _Recovering-Alcoholic Doctor."_ "I heard _Sardonic Doctor"_ "There's an error....? I'm so relieved. I heard it as the act of _Non-Lubricated Intercourse_ and was very concerned about these Humans"

[@Al1701]

I agree with those who say it's called a dry dock because it's a repair/maintenance facility. It separates it from from a dock where all you can do is transfer personnel and cargo. It's tradition to call them dry docks, so they are called dry docks.

[@GonzGunner]

Exactly. And in Star Trek canon, it is stated that Starfleet draws on the naval traditions of many worlds of the Federation.

[@shanedaley6236]

They could call it a spacedock

[@captiancholera8459]

@@shanedaley6236nah knowing us and language it would still be called a dry dock most likely, it fulfills the same purpose anyways.

[@spaceengineeringempire4086]

And there dofrent from ship yard or construction yards due to the fact they have a more exstend living area for the ships crew to rest and relax. A ship yard in Star Trek is skeleton like station mainly automated and always made near a central station for support and materials.

[@queenannesrevengeII]

I would guess that the yard workers have kept the term in use out of pride, tradition, or both

[@robertknight4672]

Just like the bridge being at the top of the ship being tradition. When ice boxes were replaced by mechanical refrigerators a lot of people still called the new refrigerators ice boxes. And they're also numerous recipes for icebox cake.

[@bloodysimile4893]

Don't fix what not broken.

[@calvinnickel9995]

@robertknight4672 The bridge used to be an actual bridge. An elevated platform above the main deck between the side wheels of an early steamship. Back then there was little to no superstructure other than the forecastle and poop deck. Then they started building higher and higher superstructures necessitating it be incorporated at the front of it.

[@DubiousFIN]

​@@robertknight4672 in finland the fridge is still kinda called ice box Jääkaappi "ice cabinet"

[@jlomesou]

For the same reason Starfleet still uses Naval terminology when operating a ship, they still call a drydock a drydock because the ship is essentially locked into it so it can't move while it's being worked on. If you recall in Star Trek The Motion Picture, they had to deactivate all moorings so they could leave. Moorings in the Star Trek universe, which are low power tractor beams holding the ship in place. So you don't need water to understand the concept of what a dry dock is in space.

[@philly83]

Well, it is out of the water. 😂

[@keirfarnum6811]

Got a point there. 👍🏻

[@jtjames79]

Last I checked, space is very dry.

[@rgbx6923]

Not just that. A dock with a breathable atmosphere would contain more water, than the vacuum of space.

[@seancondon5572]

Fair Assessment.

[@MrSheckstr]

Well a BRIDGE is not a bridge, even though the first bridges WERE bridges

[@joshchase6454]

There are a ton of terms like that, even in modern ships. Starboard was the side that the “steer board” was attached before modern rudders, and “port” was the side of the ship where steering board didn’t interfere with or get damaged by lashing to a pier.

[@MrSheckstr]

@@joshchase6454 just watch master and commander…. Wonder what labbord (spelling means)

[@nevd78]

@@MrSheckstr larboard. "archaic term for port." Opposite of starboard. I think they changed to port for clear distinction between the words when yelling over wind and waves.

[@MrSheckstr]

@@nevd78 “archaic term for port” is insufficient and in accurate…. You can have a modern term for an older one…. But not the other way around….. just as starboard evolved from steering board larboard was based on something… The LAR means something and it cannot mean “port” port was simply its replacement

[@nevd78]

@@MrSheckstr I quoted the Oxford Languages for that one. Here's a little more; "Middle English ladebord (see lade, board), referring to the side on which cargo was put aboard. The change to lar- in the 16th century was due to association with starboard." I'll add the meaning of Lade "put cargo on board (a ship)." my quotes copy/pasted from the source. Happy to help, friend.

[@threefistbanddrummer4185]

It's a dry dock get over it

[@Quetzalcoatl_Feathered_Serpent]

Its not a dry dock. Get over it. These are repair/facilities or construction yards but they are not dry docks.

[@raven4k998]

yeah it's a scold folding at best not a dry dock silly kid

[@Quetzalcoatl_Feathered_Serpent]

To add further info. A dry dock would mean placing the ship or object out of the environment it was designed for. In this case the vacuum of space. A enclosed facility that is able to put the ship in a environment outside of vacuum would be recognized as a dry dock. Likely a facility or docking bay that allows for atmosphere or environmentally controlled space.

[@dtuk22]

@@threefistbanddrummer4185 Well said... I am with you. It's a Drydock in the sense the vessel is out of operation to undergo repairs/maintenance 👍

[@alexxbaudwhyn7572]

Yes, term used per naval tradition. Trek drydocks serve a purpose, ie mooring the ship via low power tractors and perhaps provining a low gravity field around the work areas outside tbe ship. If the ship has no operational power ir these systems are being installed or upgraded, you need something for station keeping, external.power when needed, etc Plus, some of those apparently open design drydocks may have forcefield enclosure for atmosphere

[@MMOPC78]

A friend of my says that a drydock in terms of Star Trek is taking the ship out of commission temporarily: hence out of its normal functions in space. Also, there are probably components on starships that cannot have maintenance or repairs done while their "powered up." An example of this is the Enterprise D nacelles. In the episode where Tori almost threw herself into a plasma stream (powered up warp coils) and the computer reported the nacelle would be shutdown if the access doors weren't closed.

[@HIKEANIMATION]

In Star Trek The Motion Picture the the dock with rhe refitted Enterprise is abeled "Drydock NAV 74". You can see this in one scene. I think this is where the term was born in the Star Trek universe.

[@kenefdz]

So the refitted Enterprise in the Motion Picture was NOT in drydock? I thought that the "encompassing lattice frame" structures were called drydocks and the huge, rotating structure that look like spinning tops were called SPACEdock.

[@animalian01]

Because it's tradition and its easy to understand. There are loads of things that have heritage names, the bridge of a ship,isn't a bridge like it originally was, the forecastle isn't a raised, castle like part on the front of a ship anymore. There are plenty of cavalry regiments in the world that no longer use horses.

[@ericzaiz8358]

Terms change In the US Civil War the word Torpedo ment an moor explosive Device. AKA a Mine. Thus the infamous saying, Damn the Torpedoes full steam ahead. Which came ffom a US Admiral ordering well full steam after on of his ships hit a mine during an attack. 5 years later Whitehead made a self propelled mine, which was called the self propelled torpedo and within 20 years? a Mine was a stationary-ish explosive device. and Torpedoes was a self propelled guided weapon.

[@Gegs12]

We call it a dry dock for the same reason we call someone a “loose cannon” because tradition and because language is built up over time, because it presents a useful metric for determine the difference between the dockyards at Earth Spacedock and the maintenance and construction facilities at the Utopia Planitia drydock.

[@akihitokoizumi2474]

It is not called a dry dock because it takes the ship out of a vacuum in the future. It is where you work on a unpowered ship in orbit in a controlled fashion. Better to attach a big section of a ship together where it is by itself than in a space dock and have potentially float away and hit something else

[@sgt_s4und3r54]

It's naval traditionalisms that Roddenberry himself drew on. It makes sense too. Drydock is for repair and maintenance. That's it. Yes a drydock on earth is for working on parts of the ship normally underwater but it's also where you go to do the bulk of refits and overall maintenance. You could call them repair or Maintenance docks but it just doesn't have the same ring to it as a Dry Dock does. I mean many things have been carried over in many traditions even though they don't technically do EXACTLY the same thing but overall give a similar outcome. Keep in mind "masts" today on ships are used as antennae when masts of old held sails and possibly a crows nest and flag. Now they barely even run flags on them and it's used strictly as an antenna. Why not call it an antenna by that measure.

[@roberthilton5328]

The facility you started the video with reminds me of the auxiliary floating drydocks in WW2, and the one used on USS Texas for her recent overhaul. You're right it doesn't remove the vessel from the normal environment like a floating or onshore drydock. Mentioning the workbees and other service craft, what's more needed is something to hold the vessel in space and thus allow its engines and other power systems to be shut down. I'd guess that the structure has some articulation for different size ships to safely focus tractor beams for holding the ships and any emitters needed for 'cleaning'.

[@Guyvwer0jaeger]

This is the funniest thing about Star Fleet. It’s a paramilitary organization dedicated to space exploration that has weapons in case diplomacy fails. Even though they may not consider themselves a military organization they still use old terminology from Naval traditions.

[@Allegheny500]

In that regard Star Fleet more closely resembles the Coast Guard than the Navy.

[@shagrat47]

Well, the East India Corporation was a merchant organization, yet their ships were at times armed like warships, for "self defense"... just saying.😂

[@balrighty3523]

A drydock is where you don't have water. And you don't have water in space. So they're still drydocks.

[@nancypratt8437]

You'll find out later that space is a form of... water.

[@avenuePad]

Im going to keep calling it a drydock because I'm not that pedantic. It's obviously a carryover from naval terminology because these drydocks in space serve the same purpose of getting the ship in place to do repairs and such. Yes, there's no water, but that's obviously not thr point.

[@nekophht]

I mean, spacedock would probably be a more accurate name, but we have a great big massive station known as that. I would just take it as a carry over from wet navies. Perhaps a ship is "dry" in a dock (or perhaps in general) when certain onboard conditions were met (essentially replicating the onboard conditions for engines, etc of a wet ship in drydock). Or perhaps its used to differentiate docks primarily used for (or capable of) building ("slips") from ones used for repair/refit?

[@thestanleys3657]

They just use familiar terms to describe somewhat similar things

[@astralpx]

Love the music selection!

[@TubeTAG]

My headcanon is a “dry dock” in space allows the ship to be used without any “fuel” on board. Effectively, the ship is “dry”. Air, power and any other necessities for the ship to be worked on is provided by the dock. This would allow you to completely refit a warp core while other parts of the ship were being worked on, for example.

[@ZontarDow]

Something like Starbase 1 actually makes sense as a drydock since the external shielding that covers all areas around where the ships are docked mean you only need EVA suits to be able to keep an atmosphere of pressure on someone without needing more to deal with debris and radiation, and allows for temporary pressurized compartments to be easily made around the exterior of ships for work that's easier done without suits.

[@yourstruly4817]

Why do you call it a starship? It doesn't move over water

[@nancypratt8437]

Go home..sheeesh!

[@yourstruly4817]

@@nancypratt8437 I'm home

[@dawfydd]

Its still dry bro lol, but like many other words get expanded uses etc I suspect clamping it in place helps when you service areas between the saucer and secondary hull, so people don't get crushed.

[@TheCrazyMoparDude68]

The meaning of many words have evolved as technology has evolved. For instance, the term dash board for cars comes from the actual piece of wood that was at the front of a horse buggy/wagon. It was there to prevent the person(s) in the buggy/wagon from getting mud and dirt thrown on them when the horse(s) would run or “dash”. When the first automobiles were built, they were basically a horse buggy with an engine and the dash board was kept. Over time, the dash board would start to house other things like gauges and controls. But it was no longer there to protect the driver from getting mud or dirt on them. So calling a facility in the future, that does the job that modern day dry docks do, makes sense.

[@joshpetersen5968]

It could just be a case of bureaucratic inertia and verbal shorthand. Ships do occasionally need more maintenance than can be supplied while underway or in a lesser facility. So they build these type of stations to assist with refits and maintenance(services supplied by wet navy drydocks). So as a kind of verbal shorthand they just kept calling these stations as "Drydocks" even though they don't have all the characteristics of a wet navy drydock, since they were used for many of the same reasons as the wet navy versions. (Though thinking about it who's to say with 24th century forcefield tech that they can't establish an atmosphere around the ship if needed.) Edit: Also with Earth Space Dock or another enclosed facility, you would run into a problem of limited docking space, since there are only so many docking points possible inside the stations. The independent "Drydocks" could increase refit and maintenance capacity without straining the resources of a Spacedock style station.

[@joeavent5554]

Stardock? Spacedock? Staryard vs shipyard?

[@gtc9966]

Voyagers Nightingale episode was good. Landing the ship to do much needed maintenance, great image.

[@Owen-mt4si]

Well maybe it is of sorts, where workers have to use space suits for safety but a projected force field is used so they can repaint sections of hull that were damaged. Shuttle bays have non door doors, so it could be a very zen dry dock

[@Mark_LaCroix]

If the purpose of a "drydock" is to gain better access to all parts of the ship's exterior, then this fits the definition. The flexible arms that surround the ship make it an easier task than it would be an another starbase or whatever, so it makes perfect sense that Starfleet would adapt this term since it accomplishes a comparable goal.

[@tisFrancesfault]

I would say to differentiate from being docked. Removeved fuel and warheads, and undergoing deep inspection and repair. And frankly not in a state of actionable operation. Where as a standard do ked ship, even under repaid is still deployable.

[@Karagianis]

For the same reason we still call it a chandelier even though it's not got candles in it any more. When the change to electric lighting first began people did TRY and change the name to Electralier but the name didn't catch on. In both cases People keep using the old name because it resembles one and performs a similar purpose.

[@richardched6085]

That Axanar era Connie is beautiful

[@venomgeekmedia9886]

Jovia class. Yeah she's a looker

[@lookwhatididtomyid]

There are forcefields within shuttlebays that can contain an atmosphere, perhaps a "drydock" can do that on a much larger, more open scale if that is important for some reason.

[@reclaimatorerebus6531]

If it were me, I would define a drydock for ships as an environment in which the area around the ship could be pressurized. I can actually see a few potential advantages for this. Probably the biggest is that you don't have to depressurize the ship if you need to crack open the hull for something. It also allows any workers how aren't using something like a worker be to be in much lighter working gear. Even in the case of something like a worker be, you could use something like ducted fans rather than reaction thrusters to move around as you work, which provides several benefits. If the ship is kept in vacuum, and really in open space in the example shown, I think the only way you might be able to call this a drydock is if part of it's function is pulling the warp core to allow access to parts of the ship you couldn't usually get to.

[@mjc4942]

I'm sure it wasn't part of the story, but they could be using shields to pressurize . They did that in Strange new worlds to sign the scorch.

[@TheGreatSpaceApe]

I think its to take it out of commission instead of the travesal medium. Removing ship from water to repair it equals building a cage around a starship to take it apart.

[@millenniumf1138]

The reason you'd want to put a ship in drydock - as in a fully oxygenated environment that you could work in without a spacesuit - when you have machines like Workbees is because there's just no substitute for using your hands to work on something. Even gloves can severely reduce your dexterity, and when you multiply the lack of dexterity a hundredfold by putting the manipulator on a robotic arm on the outside of a small spacecraft, it can make working on something that much more challenging.

[@relativeparadox9567]

You've obviously put in a lot of genuine effort and careful consideration in pinpointing a serious issue we should all be putting more energy into.

[@Dan__S]

Maybe there's a shield that wraps around the facility that holds an atmosphere.

[@lasarith2]

Yeah I don’t see you winning this discussion.

[@mikesarno7973]

I'm sure someone calls this a "drydock" but I have no specific recollection of anyone using that term. It's a "spacedock." However, I don't have a problem with the use of the term "drydock" for the same reason that I don't have a problem with Star Trek's record "tapes" and phaser "rifles." This is just how language works.

[@MrStabby19812]

I could see the use in being able to work unrestricted by spacesuits etc on areas of the hull containing sensors etc

[@robdyck1187]

A drydock in space must ensure parts to be assembled are held together, and loose parts or tools do not go flying into space. Presumably the Star Trek drydock has tractor beams to ensure large assemblies are held together, and small parts or tools are caught if they get away and drift off into space.

[@MrBoomersfriend]

Another reason is that the ship becomes totally reliant on the dark for power and oxygen, etc., while the systems are upgrading or fixed definitely it definitely is a repair dock with an homage to the past and it makes sense

[@kellyj5610]

Tradition. A dock is where you moor for a short period to conduct minor maintenance, resupply, etc. You can typically get underway from a dock on short notice should an emergency arise. A DryDock is where your ship goes for an extended period of time for extended maintenance and for they period of time your ability to get underway on your own power is restricted or even eliminated. Note that they still call them "ships" even though a ship is defined as a vessel that transports people or goods by the sea.

[@samueleveleigh2767]

It's because the platform DOES offer an increased ability to conduct repairs and retrofitting while also locking the ship down somewhat

[@INVGProductions]

The station is big enough to project an shield bubble to create an atmosphere around any ship smaller than that chonkin galaxy class.

[@zomfragger]

The term drydock for startrek might be space stations that are specifically designed to perform maintenance and repair that otherwise couldn't be done in a standard station. You wouldn't want a ship leaking plasma entering earth space dock for repairs knowing full well that plasma could harm sensitive equipment or personnel in an atmospheric environment.

[@amethyst7084]

Always wondered why Star Trek featured these one-ship-only repair stations, whereas a starbase (like the one orbiting Earth in Star Treks III and IV) seemed to make more sense, as they accommodate more starships.

[@thomasschulz2167]

I don't think these 'dry docks' have been really explored or fleshed out in cannon. However we do know that stations with sufficient power can host atmosphere rated force shields. So these "dry docks" could potentially be able to produce a bubble of atmosphere around a ship when hands on work on the hull is needed.

[@The_Viscount]

While I understand your point, I'd like to counter with the following: language evolves over time. Toilet used to be a euphemism for the device we think of today. Torpedo originally referred to naval mines, not self propelled weapons. Missile once referred to any flung projectile. Adopting the term dry dock as a way to describe heavy starship construction and repair facilities makes sense as something similar. Same with some science fictions using AA (anti aircraft) for close range anti fighter and missile weapons or CAG (commander of the air group) for starfighter commanders. Battlestar Galactica uses "planes" and "birds" when describing their space fighters. As long as the term communicates the desired information, it serves its purpose: conveying information. In that sense, people coin new words or adapt old ones to new purposes.

[@kaiwang7630]

Maybe those arm pylons are actually emitters that surrounds the ship with a force field bubble

[@justinc.2656]

Dry dock doesn’t just mean out of water it means out of service. When you need to do major overhaul that will make it where the ship is not space worthy, for example, replacing engine components, are repairing structure

[@jimliu2560]

Because Utopia Planitia is where the enterprises were made….and they call it a dry-dock….so they must be right….!

[@thechillhacker]

Maybe because "orbital spaceframe construction and maintenance scaffolding and support superstructure" doesn't roll off the tongue very nicely...

[@Matthewwithers33]

If they did oxygenate the area it would make for easier repairs to the outside if ships for the engineers

[@1TakoyakiStore]

As it's in the vacuum of space, it's always dry.

[@jbz4788]

For the question of why enclose the ship in a station and fill it with air: I’d imagine that regardless of advanced technology repairs and refits would be far easier to do without having to be in a spacesuit or work bee. Plus then there’s the argument that accidents happen and obviously in a vacuum that is far more dangerous

[@davidmaddox4664]

To be accurate, what you show there is McKinley Station, a minor repair/refit facility for Starfleet’s larger vessels. It orbits the moon. Unfortunately, it was called Drydock in other episodes and the footage was re-used due to budget constraints. “We” are not calling that a drydock.

[@willadeefriesland5107]

'Drydocked' is a perfectly acceptable VERB. When a starship is 'encased' in that loose, cage-like structure, that is a spacedock. It is still exposed to space. If a containment field is used for holding something other than a vacuum around it, that's a different matter...

[@FriendlyNeighborhoodNitpicker]

Ironically, if the dry dock holds an atmosphere around the ship for workers, then it is actually wetter than it is when the ship is in space. They should call it a damp dock.

[@iamodmk]

I like AJ universe’ answer- I was just gonna say “I don’t need to stop calling it anything from someone who has no authority to tell me so” When I see it on screen, I’ll do it. That’s the only way one can insure the people who hold the IP are being the authority on these matters. But thank you for your opinion.

[@brentbartley6838]

It's called naval tradition. That's why at least in certain Star Trek movies they still use a Bosun's pipe (or Boatswain's if you prefer). Technically you could just call it a maintenance dock but tradition is a pretty big deal in maritime services and Star Trek at least tranfers alot of those to a space setting.

[@Auraborias]

One thing in Sci-Fi and Star Trek I’d like to see is other alien languages having an impact on English, like maybe more ice metaphors because of the Andorians. I would like to see some starbases ships and other things named after an English translation of an alien word. For example instead of “marines” something like “Icebreakers” can refer to elite army units.

[@Cailus3542]

There are benefits to working in shirtsleeves conditions. Vacuum requires PPE and extensive health and safety, while a pressurised zero-G environment makes work much more efficient.

[@Yikes_its_Psychs]

I’ve only ever heard to it referred to as “space dock” or when there are multiple “ship yard”. And TBF even if it has been, I would never refer to it as such, because (like you said) it makes no sense to call them “dry docks” when in this instance a “dry dock” would be like the place we see the Enterprise being built in Star Trek 2009.

[@blacktronpavel]

It’s just common terminology. The starship is out of space-faring so to speak, but it’s not a true dry dock. Spacedock does have actual dry docks sealed from space radiation.

[@gregorydahl]

Warp drive uses the connectivity of water gravity fields extending accross space to form the warp travel conduit field . A drydock shields the warp core from water field force contact . Allowing safe warp free docking to dispense with the highly technical and technology stretching workbee danger zones endangering workers accessing the boarding hatches and antenna for maintenance.

[@Palmerrip]

Everyone is right, It is a traditional naval term, yes. HOWEVER, there have been publications for many years now. It's not the same as taking a void ship and putting it in a void stardock, nor oxygenating a environment. In the ST3 novel when they described the Excelsior it is said that the ship is so pristine that it hasn't had a micro meteorite hit it. Space is filled with dangerous stellar phenomenon; meteorites, coronal mass ejections, radiation burst, etc. I think it is stated in tech manuals that drydocks protect the ships and workers from this with shields and other barriers. Plus it seems to trek writers 'drydock' is the structure building a ship - ie, Utopia Planitia. After that the ships go to another structure that is called something else: the Barrier Array, stardock, spacedock, yarddock, whatever.

[@venomgeekmedia9886]

But you build ships on slipways. Not in drydocks.

[@randybentley2633]

My question regarding McKinley Station is why don't they equip it with everything necessary to make it a mobile repair and refit station? Heck, it could probably do all of that to itself if an engineer were either bored or inspired.

[@flinx58]

with forcefields as they are in Star Trek, its ENTIRELY possible that they could or do remove the vacuum around a ship or areas around a ship to perform said maint. So it could still actually fit. It certainly fits the intent, no?

[@MostlyPennyCat]

OK, it's now called a space crab

[@TheMsLourdes]

Technically, we don't. We call it a spacedock. But even in space, those areas can lock off sections of the exterior and oxygenate for easier access. Which is why these surround the ships, because you could fully oxygenate and pressurize those volumes with the use of forcefields. You almost never would though, just sections that require it. mainly those spacedocks though are for materials and supplies and recycling, fueling, etc.

[@Dumb-Comment]

Dry dock is inside the starbase where there's an atmosphere

[@Cretaal]

I always called that a ribcage dock or quickyard. Mostly I assumed they were all run by computer with no human intervention. I guess "cageyard" serves well, too.

[@superdave6889]

personally, i would call it a repair yard, or a maintenance yard, or a shipyard. however, the term "drydock" has become a catch-all term for the layman for all of these things.

[@Dracounguis]

Were you in a mood or just didn't have something to make a video about? 😆

[@guyguybohurst3304]

It should call it a Phased inspection and repair dock.

[@leaaronsanchez]

If it has a force field that fully encloses a ship away from the document of space for repairs and module/saucer reconfiguration then it is.

[@jacoblyman9441]

Head-canon time: NDT inspections. Put it in atmospheric environments so workers can perform visual tests and other tests that can't be done remotely.

[@queenannesrevengeII]

@@jacoblyman9441 gotta sign that scorch!

[@SimonTheExile]

I have the opposite opinion - everything in space is dry - everything within an atmosphere is wet

[@MrAranton]

Maybe they are dry docks because they project forcefields that allow people to work on the outside of the hull without a space suit.

[@lostpony4885]

Theres a lot of nautical terms in Trek including a dock where you work on ships as opposed to where you just park them and "dry" is still the most efficient way, so there.

[@justinfantastic4882]

Control Center is the Bridge, Captains shuttle is the "Captains Yacht"... just tradition... drydock is drydcok

[@AluVixapede]

The pragmatic answer is probably, that it's an anachronistic term, representative of what it is while holding true to maritime tradition. (and for the audience) --- I DO wonder though... When a ship is powered down for deep repairs (eg: not on mission, but not in for an overhaul/refit), is it actually 100% powered down??? Meaning: Could structural integrity fields always be running on low-power, even when almost all other systems are off? What about the deflector screen. Obviously it's not powered up for sub-light or warp, but like.. Is it always running just to keep micrometeorites and space dust from eroding the hull? ... Maybe what separates a space dock, from a """dry""" dock, is that it's a safe place to 100% power off the ship completely. Further: That makes me wonder what the mothball fleets are like. I wonder what Starfleet does to keep it's old ships preserved. Surely they must have very low-powered deflector shields at least just to keep the hulls from being peppered with random bits of junk.

[@DavidPirouet]

Normal Space Dock are just for docking the ship maintains its capability to function when you take a starship into dry dock apart from the excellent points that other people have made of being able to project Shields or from tradition, the ship is incapable of getting underway under its own power, it may leave or enter with it, the purpose of it is to do carry out work that she wouldn't be able to do if the ships systems were performing their normal functions!

[@jenniferstewarts4851]

A drydock is not just 1 thing, a Drydock is number of parts, buildings, systems, and such used to build and repair ships. ALL OF WHICH as a whole are considered part of the Drydock. For example the part you think of that drains the water out, has something called a Ships Cradle in the bottom, a set of slicks and brackets that the ship sits on to support its weight so work can be done on it. what you are Displaying here is... a Ships Cradle, part of a Dry-dock Facility. There are likely more facilities around it, with the entire "section" or set of facilities being listed as a drydock. So this + its fabricators + power support systems + relcimation systems. Might be Earth Drydock Section D Slip 14. Section D might contain 20 slips. Habitats, rec facilities, transport and shuttle docking, transporter, 1000's of workers overseeing repairs and construction of all the ships in their section... and that would be consider "1 drydock"

[@marcnoonan2187]

Naval Tradition. Dry Docking is maintenance. And putting a starship in a space type of Dry Dock for maintenance or construction they just use the term Dry Dock.

[@douglasvanderpool9605]

I’ve only ever heard it said as a “space dock.”

[@georgeghleung]

I know many people will say "Drydock" is only a carry over term, but after seeing how ISS (fully exposed to space) suffer various mini meteors, I will agree that a Star Trek Drydock will be something like Earth Spacedock, in that it is fully enclosed. There may not be water, but I don't think doing repairs while bombarded by radiations, meterors, and god knows whatever exotic stuff in Trek is conductive.

[@patrickradcliffe3837]

I don't remember anyone referring to it as drydock. I've heard them referred to as spacedock.

[@quantisedspace7047]

It's called a dry dock because it's taken out of the medium of vacuum, and put into a place where there is a non-vacuum, i.e an atmosphere.

[@chaikaomoua1169]

I nominate that we start calling it a space dock.

[@bloodysimile4893]

Don't fix what not broken venom. A dry dock can be refer that ship is out of service and isn't going back into service any time soon for detail work and clean, vs a bunch of reversed ship in a shipyard for future used. Like when Enterprise D was getting clean. It was dock in a dry dock completely empty for the scan to sweep radiation off the ship. Since the seerp is lethal, everyone had to leave and starship was power down and lock.

[@MrSheckstr]

Technically this appears ro be what is called a Mobile Drydock (refer to USS Cole incident) as it appears ro be self propelled and has a bridge dome

[@siatelecomsltdLondon]

Maybe because Starfleet just want to keep with tradition. What first started in the sea, has now evolved into space travel.