Concrete ships are built primarily with ferrocement (reinforced concrete) hulls, reinforced with steel bars.[1] This contrasts against more traditional materials, such as pure steel or wood. The advantage of ferrocement construction is that materials are cheap and readily available, while the disadvantages are that construction labor costs are high, as are operating costs. (Ferrocement ships require thick hulls, which results in either a larger cross-sectional area that hurts hydrodynamics, or leaves less space for cargo.) During the late 19th century, there were concrete river barges in Europe, and during both World War I and World War II, steel shortages led the US military to order the construction of small fleets of ocean-going concrete ships, the largest of which was the SS Selma.[2]United States Maritime Administration (MARAD) designation for concrete ships-barges was Type B ship. Few concrete ships were completed in time to see wartime service during World War I, but during 1944 and 1945, concrete ships and barges were used to support U.S. and British invasions in Europe and the Pacific. Since the late 1930s, there have also been ferrocement pleasure boats.[3][4]
History
Blueprints for a concrete boatConcrete boat constructed by Walter Dowsey hauled out in ChicagoThe Namsenfjord
Beginning in the 1860s, ferrocement barges were built in Europe for use on canals, and around 1896, an Italian engineer, Carlo Gabellini, began building small ships out of ferrocement. The most famous of his ships was the Liguria.[5]
Between 1908 and 1914, larger ferrocement barges began to be made in Germany, United Kingdom,[6] the Netherlands, Norway and United States.[7] The remains of a British ship of this type, the auxiliary coaster Violette (built 1919), can be seen at Hoo, Kent, England.[8]
On August 2, 1917, Nicolay Fougner of Norway launched the first self-propelled ferrocement ship intended for ocean travel. This was an 84-foot (26 m) vessel of 400 tons named Namsenfjord. With the success of this ship, additional ferrocement vessels were ordered, and in October 1917, the U.S. government invited Fougner to head a study into the feasibility of building ferrocement ships in the United States.[9][10] The Fougner Concrete Shipbuilding Company, Flushing Bay, New York, reported calculated cost was of $290 per deadweight ton for the Cape Fear (List of shipwrecks in 1920 "10.21 30 October") and the Sapona which they presumably built.[5]
About the same time, the California businessman W. Leslie Comyn took the initiative to build ferrocement ships on his own. He formed the San Francisco Ship Building Company (in Oakland, California), and hired Alan Macdonald and Victor Poss to design the first American ferrocement ship, a 6,125-ton steamer named the SS Faith. Faith was launched March 18, 1918. She cost $750,000 to build. She was used to carry bulk cargo for trade until 1921, when she was sold and scrapped as a breakwater in Cuba.[5]
The American concrete oil tanker Palo Alto, originally meant for merchant service in the first World War, but completed in 1919. (Naval History and Heritage Command - Photo NH 799)
On April 12, 1918, President Woodrow Wilson approved the Emergency Fleet Corporation program which oversaw the construction of 24 ferrocement ships for the war. However, when the war ended in November 1918, only 12 ferrocement ships were under construction and none of them had been completed. These 12 ships were eventually completed, but soon sold to private companies who used them for light-trading, storage, and scrap.[5]
Other countries that looked into ferrocement ship construction during this period included Canada, Denmark, Italy, Spain, Sweden[7] and the United Kingdom.[11]
Between the world wars, there was little commercial or military interest in concrete ship construction. The reason was that other shipbuilding methods were cheaper and less labor-intensive, and other kinds of ships were cheaper to operate. However, in 1942, after the U.S. entered World War II, the U.S. military found that its contractors had steel shortages. Consequently, the U.S. government contracted McCloskey & Company[12] of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to build 24 self-propelled concrete ships. Construction started in July 1943. The shipyard was at Hookers Point in Tampa, Florida, and at its peak, it employed 6,000 workers.[13] The U.S. government also contracted with two companies in California for the construction of concrete barge ships.[13] Barge ships were large vessels that lacked engines to propel them. Instead, they were towed by tugs.
In Europe, ferrocement barges (FCBs) played a crucial role in World War II operations, particularly in the D-Day Normandy landings, where they were used as part of the Mulberry harbour defenses, for fuel and munitions transportation, as blockships,[14] and as floating pontoons. In 1940, 200 were commissioned to serve as petrol-carrying barges. The barges weighed 160 tons and were constructed on the London dockside before being craned into the water by a giant crane.[15]
Some barges were fitted with engines and used as mobile canteens and troop carriers. Some of these vessels survive as abandoned wrecks or sea defenses (against storm surges) in the Thames Estuary including near Rainham Marshes.[15]) Two remain in civil use as moorings at Westminster.
One notable wartime FCB, previously beached at Canvey Island, was partially removed in 2003 by the local sailing club, whose land it was on, for fear it was a "danger to children". Local historians disagreed with the club and were displeased with their actions.[16]
In 1944 a concrete firm in California proposed a submarine shaped freighter which they claimed could achieve speeds of 75 knots. The war ended any more research into the project. In retrospect many believe the claims were greatly overstated.[17]
Largest unit of the Army's fleet is a BRL, (Barge, Refrigerated, Large) which is going to the South Pacific to serve fresh frozen foods – even ice cream – to troops weary of dry rations. The vessel can keep 64 carloads of frozen meats and 500 tons of fresh produce indefinitely at 12°F. Equipment on board includes an ice machine of five-ton daily capacity and a freezer that turns out more than a gallon of ice cream a minute. Three of the floating warehouses, designed for tropical warfare, have been built of concrete at National City, Calif., and cost $1,120,000 each. In the crew of the 265-ft. barges are 23 Army men.
Modern hobbyists also build ferrocement boats (ferroboats),[21] as their construction methods do not require special tools, and the materials are comparatively cheap. Since the 1960s, the American Society of Civil Engineers has sponsored the National Concrete Canoe Competition.[22]
In Europe, especially the Netherlands, concrete is still used to build some of the barges on which houseboats are built.[23]
Remaining wartime ships
Surviving wartime concrete ships are no longer in use as ships. Several continue in use in various forms, mostly as museums or breakwaters.
The wreckage of the Urlich Finsterwalder, a small Nazi-era German tanker, is visible in Dąbie Lake, near Szczecin, Poland. It was sunk during a Soviet air raid on 20 March 1945. In the late 1950s Polish authorities decided to lift it and tow it to another location to be converted into swimming pools, but during that operation it began sinking again, so it was abandoned in shallow water, where it has remained since.[34]
Due to the need to deliver necessary raw materials (such as oil, weapons, ammunition, food and drugs) through mined river currents, Adolf Hitler ordered the production of 50 concrete ships for different purposes. Most were concrete barges made for oil transportation from Romania, and needed raw materials that were driven to the Baltic front. A smaller number of ships was intended for transporting food (specializing in cold storages). The most valuable ships were the specialized ship-hospitals, which evacuated seriously wounded and "important" soldiers to German hospitals along rivers.[citation needed]
^National Register of Historic Vessels, Name: Violette, Certificate Number 716."Violette (716)". Archived from the original on 2008-04-20. Retrieved 2008-04-21.
^Fougner, Nicolay Knudtzon. Seagoing and Other Concrete Ships. H. Frowde and Hodder & Stoughton, 1922.
^Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Division for Economics and History. Preliminary Economic Studies of the War. London: Oxford University Press, 1919.
^Carter, Worrall Reed. Beans, Bullets, and Black Oil: The Story of Fleet Logistics Afloat in the Pacific during World War II. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1953.[2]
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