Just over one hundred years ago, the United States entered World War I. Around the same time, President Woodrow Wilson approved the Emergency Fleet plan – a plan that commissioned twenty-four concrete ships to be used for the war.

Wait. Concrete ships? Doesn’t concrete, you know…sink?

It does. Yet, concrete ships were not unheard of before the 1900s. The first known concrete boat was built in the mid-1800s in Southern France and was featured at the World’s Fair several years after its conception. Not long after, Carlo Gabellini built barges and smaller ships out of concrete and England had its own small collection. While fascinating, none were the size of the eighty-four-foot Namsenfjord – the first known concrete ship produced in the United States.

After the production of the Namsenfjord, the U.S. Government realized they could expand their fleet with alternative materials and the twenty-four ships were started. A few months into 1918, the first of the fleet, the SS Faith, was launched. Yet, by the time World War I ended, construction on only half of the ships was started and the tab was at a whopping fifty-million dollars. As the war was over, the government decided the production of the ships was, essentially, useless. Multiple shipbuilding companies came together to complete twelve of the twenty-four ships and they were sold to private companies. Each ship has led an interesting life, with one even turning into a Cuban hotel. Another ship, the SS Palo Alto, can be found at the Seacliff State Beach. While the ship is no longer open to public exploration, you can get close on the pier.

The story doesn’t end here.

Not realizing their first venture was a waste of time and money, the U.S. Government started a similar plan for another twenty-four ships with the advent of World War II to, again, “save money.” Surprisingly, new improvements in cement and concrete yielded a lighter but stronger fleet. This new company launched at least one ship a month, with all twenty-four making it out of the shop. Two of these new ships did actually see combat, unlike the remainder of the fleet and the fleet prior. The SS David O. Saylor and the SS Vitruvius participated in the infamous D-Day invasion. The two ships were purposefully sunk by engineers nearly a thousand yards off the beaches of the hottest combat zones. Their hulls formed a breakwater and allowed potentially thousands of smaller boats to safely make it to the beaches.

Others, like the SS PM Anderson who only completed one trip from Manila to San Francisco before retiring, led uneventful lives. The remainder of the ships has similar, less interesting fates. Nine were also sunk as breakwaters in Virginia to assist a ferry landing in Kiptopeke. Two became wharves in Oregon. Another nine were used as breakwaters in Canada at the Malaspina Strait with the SS Peralta, a 1921 oil tanker.

This information only scratches the surface of the mysterious concrete ships and they are sure to hold other secrets. All you have to do it look. Perhaps your imagination may find a better use for them. Let me know because I, for one, would be excited to read about it.