The Concrete Ships of WWI and WWII: An Experiment In Maritime Construction
WWI
Atlantus
Cape Fear
Cuyamaca
Dinsmore
Latham
Moffitt
Palo Alto
Peralta
Polias
San Pasqual
Sapona
Selma
WWII
Anderson
Aspdin
Chateliere
Considere
Cowham
Eckel
Grant
Hennibique
Humphrey
Kahn
Lesley
Meade
Merriman
Pasley
Pollard
Saylor
Slater
Smeaton
Talbot
Thatcher
Vicat
Vidal
Vitruvius
Wason
Barges
Quartz
YOGN 82
Breakwaters
Powell River
Kiptopeke
 

The McCloskey Ships of The Second World War

Just as steel had become scarce during the First World War, the Second World War was again consuming the country's steel resources. In 1942, the United States Maritime Commission contracted McCloskey and Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to build a new fleet of 24 concrete ships. Three decades of improvements in concrete technology made this new fleet lighter and stronger than its WWI predecessors.

Photo of the S.S. Arthur Talbot

The ships were constructed in Tampa, Florida starting in July of 1943. The ships were built at an incredible rate, with one being launched a month. The ships were named after pioneers in the science and development of concrete.

Two of the ships were sunk as blockships in the Allied invasion of Normandy. Nine more were sunk as breakwaters for a ferry landing at Kiptopeke, Virginia. Two are wharves in Yaquina Bay in Newport, Oregon and seven are still afloat in a giant breakwater on the Powell River in Canada.

Ships