The aircraft carrier USS Essex and the destroyer USS Gearing attempted to intercept the Soviet tanker Bucharest as it over the U.S. quarantine of Cuba.The Soviet ship failed to cooperate, but the U.S. Navy restrained itself from forcibly seizing the ship, deeming it unlikely that the tanker was carrying offensive weapons.
Answer:
What it is is basically when you take the area of every side of a three dimensional shape and then add it all together.
don't know if this is what you were looking for but I hope this helps.