Editing Concrete ship (section)

{{Short description|Ship whose hull is primarily made of concrete}}
'''Concrete ships''' are built primarily with [[ferrocement]] ([[reinforced concrete]]) hulls, reinforced with [[steel]] bars.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Concrete Ship {{!}} MARAD |url=https://www.maritime.dot.gov/multimedia/concrete-ship |access-date=2023-06-11 |website=www.maritime.dot.gov}}</ref> 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 (1919)|SS ''Selma'']].<ref name="SSselmaMarker">{{cite web
|title=S.S. Selma Ship Texas Historical Marker
|url=http://www.stoppingpoints.com/texas/sights.cgi?marker=SS+Selma&cnty=galveston
|author=State Historical Commission
}}</ref> [[United States Maritime Administration]] (MARAD) designation for concrete ships-barges was [[Type_B_ship#Concrete_Barge|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 boat]]s.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://shipbuildinghistory.com/shipyards/emergencylarge/wwtwoconcrete.htm |title=WWII Builders of Concrete Ships and Barges |access-date=2019-07-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180924224714/http://shipbuildinghistory.com/shipyards/emergencylarge/wwtwoconcrete.htm |archive-date=2018-09-24 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>[http://www.concreteships.org/history/ A Brief History of Concrete Ships]</ref>