Between 1945 and 1947, the United States Navy set out to plan for the defense of the U.S.' newly-acquired sphere of influence in the Pacific. Under the severe restrictions of postwar budget cuts and demobilization, the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations determined to prioritize the maintenance of a mobile fleet over static bases. Part of the support train for this mobile fleet would be Floating Drydocks. This article illustrates how those vessels were situated in the plans put forth by the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations in the tumultuous years of 1946 and 1947.
Hal Friedman (Wed,) studied this question.