A Ship cradle is a support, made of wood or metal, to hold a ship

Ship

Since the end of the age of sail a ship has been any large buoyant marine vessel. Ships are generally distinguished from boats based on size and cargo or passenger capacity. Ships are used on lakes, seas, and rivers for a variety of activities, such as the transport of people or goods, fishing,...

 or boat

Boat

A boat is a watercraft of any size designed to float or plane, to provide passage across water. Usually this water will be inland or in protected coastal areas. However, boats such as the whaleboat were designed to be operated from a ship in an offshore environment. In naval terms, a boat is a...

 upright on land so that the vessel can be built or repaired. The vessel is chocked up by wooden chocks and fixed on the cradle. The ship cradle is built near the seashore, river side or water side or in a dry dock

Dry dock

A drydock is a narrow basin or vessel that can be flooded to allow a load to be floated in, then drained to allow that load to come to rest on a dry platform...

.

Overview

Sometimes the whole support is called a "cradle", sometimes each section of this support is called a cradle. The cradle can be standing on the dock floor or it can be equipped with wheels so that the ship standing upon it can be transported from the dry docking installation to a parking area. For smaller boat

Boat

A boat is a watercraft of any size designed to float or plane, to provide passage across water. Usually this water will be inland or in protected coastal areas. However, boats such as the whaleboat were designed to be operated from a ship in an offshore environment. In naval terms, a boat is a...

s, the cradle is equipped with rubber-tyred

Tire

A tire or tyre is a ring-shaped covering that fits around a wheel rim to protect it and enable better vehicle performance by providing a flexible cushion that absorbs shock while keeping the wheel in close contact with the ground...

 wheels, for larger and more heavy ships, the cradle is equipped with steel rail

Rail tracks

The track on a railway or railroad, also known as the permanent way, is the structure consisting of the rails, fasteners, sleepers and ballast , plus the underlying subgrade...

wheels.

Movement

Most cradles with steel wheels can only be transported in the longitudinal direction of the cradle. The empty cradle that is shown here is equipped with wheels that can be rotated in the transverse direction, so that the ship can be transported also over rails in the transverse direction.

The fishing boat in the picture can also be transported in the longitudinal as well as the transverse direction. In this case a transverse carriage is used between the cradle and the rails on the shipyard.