Beaching (or landing) is the process in which a ship or boat is laid ashore, or
grounded deliberately in shallow water. This is more usual with small
flat-bottomed boats. Larger ships may be beached deliberately; for instance, in an emergency, a damaged ship might be beached to prevent it from sinking in deep water. Some vessels are designed to be loaded and unloaded by beaching; vessels of this type used by the military to disembark troops under fire are called
landing craft
Landing craft are small and medium seagoing watercraft, such as boats and barges, used to convey a landing force (infantry and vehicles) from the sea to the shore during an amphibious assault. The term excludes landing ships, which are larger. ...
.
During the
age of sail
The Age of Sail is a period in European history that lasted at the latest from the mid-16th (or mid-15th) to the mid-19th centuries, in which the dominance of sailing ships in global trade and warfare culminated, particularly marked by the int ...
, vessels were sometimes beached to allow them to be rolled over for the hull to be maintained, a process called ''
careening''.
Ships scheduled for
break-up are sometimes intentionally beached to make the procedure easier.
See also
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Landing craft
Landing craft are small and medium seagoing watercraft, such as boats and barges, used to convey a landing force (infantry and vehicles) from the sea to the shore during an amphibious assault. The term excludes landing ships, which are larger. ...
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Shipwrecking
Shipwrecking is any event causing a ship to wreck, such as a ship collision, collision causing the ship to sink; the stranding of a ship on rocks, land or shoal; poor maintenance, resulting in a lack of seaworthiness; or the destruction of a sh ...
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Cetacean stranding
Cetacean stranding, commonly known as beaching, is a phenomenon in which whales and dolphins strand themselves on land, usually on a beach. Beached whales often die due to dehydration, collapsing under their own weight, or drowning when high tide ...
References
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Nautical terminology
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