 Some tankers like the "Wilhelmine Essberger" were even laid up at the Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft shipyard in Kiel immediately after being launched.Gelting Bay is particularly well suited as an anchorage for laid-up ships due to its geographic location and shallow limestone seabed (marked by a lighthouse); it also is a sufficient water depth for ships of 140 to 300 metres in length.Resupply to the ships was easily carried out from the nearby port of Gelting.