My group members and I developed a website for the Virginia State Parks system about Kiptopeke State Park.

Here is a Link to that page. Below you will see the content that we assembled for the web page.

The Kiptopeke Concrete Ships

Journey of the Concrete Ships

    Concrete as a shipbuilding material. During World War II, resources like steel were being used at a fast pace to manufacture items needed to supply the fighting troops. Steel was used for weapons, trucks, jeeps, tanks, warships, and bombs. This extreme demand for steel to fight the war left very little for commercial purposes. The same situation occurred in World War I, and as a result, innovators designed and built the first ships made from concrete.

    Why concrete? Because concrete is inexpensive. The main ingredient in concrete is sand and sand is much less expensive than steel which requires iron. Sand can be found with very little effort on any beach. In most cases a mine is required to obtain iron.

    Isn’t concrete similar to rocks? Wouldn’t the the concrete ship sink like a rock? If that were the case then a steel ship would surely sink. However, ships float because of displacement. As the ship weight pushes down into the water, the water tries to go back to where it was by pushing back (and up) on the ship. As long as the ship weighs less than the weight of the maximum amount of water that it could displace and there are no holes in the surface of the ship which meets the water, then the ship will float.

    The first of the concrete ships in World War I were very heavy and not very strong. Since the first ships were very heavy, they were slow and very inefficient. The concrete during World War I was not flexible, which made the ships weak, more likely to break apart, and sink; they were used primarily inland where calmer waters prevailed. However, during World War II , concrete technology had improved to the point where it became possible to manufacture large, light, and strong oceangoing vessels.

    In 1942 McCloskey and Company of Philadelphia was contracted to build 24 concrete ships. These ships were all built in Tampa, Florida beginning in July of 1943. Each ship took approximately 1 month to build. The ships were all named for the pioneers in the science and development of concrete as a tribute to those pioneers and to their contributions.  

Above: (Before concrete could be poured, rebar had to be placed in the shape of the ship hull to strengthen the concrete.) Concrete ship construction, laying rebar. McCloskey and Co., Tampa, Florida. Courtesy of the United States National Archives and Records Administration.

 

Above: Arthur Newell Talbot underway Courtesy of Dr. Mary Talbot Westergaard Barnes, State College, PA

    

    How did the concrete ships end up at Kiptopeke? There are two parts to the story. Part one of the story begins before the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel was constructed and started allowing vehicular traffic in April of 1964. Before 1964 the only way to cross the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay between the Delmarva Peninsula and Princess Anne County (now known as Virginia Beach) was by an 85 minute ferry ride on the Little Creek – Cape Charles Ferry. In 1949 the terminal was moved from Cape Charles to the new pier at Kiptopeke which shortened the journey to 65 minutes during clear weather.  

    Part two of the story is a result of the aftermath of World War II. The United States government had a surplus of ships without a purpose. As a result, the United States government parked many warships and cargo vessels at various military bases around the country and put many of these ships into mothball for use at a future date in a time of need. Storing decommissioned and mothballed vessels was expensive and the war had cost the United States a great deal of money. When the ferry service began building their new pier at Kiptopeke, they requested that the United States Government provide them with the concrete ships as a cost effective way to shield the pier from the force of the currents in the Chesapeake Bay and the United States Government agreed. At the time, some of the concrete ships were located in Norfolk while others had to be towed from  Beaumont, Texas. The concrete ships were then half sunken in a broad arc out around the new terminal with a middle opening to allow vessels direct access to the pier.

 

Above: Ferry passing between opening in the ships, courtesy of the Cape Charles Historical Society.

 

Above: The beach (and Ferry) before the ships were placed. Courtesy of the Cape Charles Historical Society.

 

    Brief history and location of each ship From north to south, Kiptopeke’s concrete ships are:

• Arthur Newell Talbot – Yard No. 3. The first of three McCloskey ships to be completed simultaneously. Used as a training ship on the west coast.

• Edwin Thacher – Yard No. 14. Used as a store ship in the South Pacific to support operations there against the Japanese.

• Robert Whitman Lesley – Yard No. 13. Served first as an army training ship, then as a store ship in the South Pacific.

• Willis A. Slater – Yard No. 6. Hauled sulfur. Collided with the concrete steamer Vitruvius and was laid up in Bermuda for repairs. Used as a training ship on the west coast.

• Leonard Chase Wason – Yard No. 7. Used in the South Pacific. After the war steamed between Morotai and Manila.

• Richard Kidder Meade – Yard No. 5. Used as an army training ship.

• John Grant – Yard No. 10. Used as a store ship in the South Pacific.

• William Foster Cowham – Yard No. 21. Used as a store ship in the South Pacific.

• Willard A. Pollard – Yard No. 20. Used as a store ship in the South Pacific.

     

 

Photo: Dave Temens, south is to the left and north is to the right in this photo

 

    To identify each ship for yourself, you will need to use a boat. Years of exposure to weather has caused the concrete to flake, obscuring the identifying features. Look for the numbers on the bow or at the stern. It is still possible to make the numbers out on most of the ships. This task may become impossible in the future. If you are unable to take a boat out the the ships, Kenneth Leake has been kind enough to provide us with an extended flying visual tour of the ships.    https://youtu.be/QjssbXnfu58

    Contemporary benefits of the concrete ships to the habitat at Kiptopeke. The ships sit about one hundred yards from shore and serve to protect the beach from erosion and to provide a habitat for many varieties of fish as well as birds. This thriving ecosystem is a fisherman’s paradise. The aquatic species that can be found around the ships include crabs, dolphins, eels, flounder, sea bass, and striped bass. Among the birds that call the concrete ships home are the ospreys that you may see hovering over the water or flying overhead with a fish in their talons.    

     Safety concerns and what to avoid. Because the ships are well over 50 years old, every part of them has begun to decay. Most parts of the ships have been horribly destroyed by time. All of the ships have heavily exposed, rusty rebar sticking out of the concrete on the surface as well as underwater. Climbing onto these concrete giants is a dangerous undertaking and highly discouraged by the Virginia State Park System. One reason is that there is no way to tell what parts are stable and what parts are faulty or ready to collapse. Falling onto any surface of these ships would expose you to rusty sharp metal and the possibility of an infection or a tetanus shot. The extreme, but very real outcome is that you could fall and puncture your body on rebar or seriously cut yourself on a jagged edge at least one hundred yards from medical assistance. You would be exposed to the same physical dangers if you were to dive underneath the ships. Just because falling can’t happen does not mean that you may not swim past something sharp. It is recommended that the best way to observe these ships is from a safe distance.

 

Above: Flowers, M. (2014). Midship of the SS Talbot.

 

Above: Flowers, M. (2014). Mess of rebar and concrete on the SS Talbot.

 

Works Cited:
Bender, R., (2011). The Kiptopeke Breakwater. Retrieved from http://www.concreteships.org/ships/kiptopeke/

 

Swenson, B., (2013, May 6). Kiptopeke’s Concrete Ships; A Long Journey to Obscurity.  [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://www.abandonedcountry.com/2013/05/06/kiptopekes-concrete-ships-a-long-journey-to-obscurity/

 

Swenson, B., (2011, December). Sunken Ships. Virginia Living. Retrieved from http://www.virginialiving.com/exploring/sunken-ships/