thumb Starbase 375 docking bay |
A docking bay was an area where starships could offload or receive personnel or cargo.
Docking bays came in various sizes depending where they were located but all had a few commonalities. All docking bays were located at the outer edge of a space station or starbase were a door protected it from space. Via an airlock the docking bay could be entered.
A docking bay could contain about everything from a shuttlecraft to multiple Galaxy or Excelsior class starships. An example of a docking bay was that of the Federation starbase Earth Spacedock. Spacedock, along with Starbase 74, had one of the largest docking bays in the Federation. ("Star Trek III: The Search for Spock", TNG:"11001001")
Not all docking bays were located within a structure. Deep Space 9 had a total of twelve docking bays from which six were external, called docking pylons. They were used to facilitate large ships which did not fit into the internal docking bays. (DS9: "Visionary")