Editing Concrete ship (section)

==== Europe ====
One of the few concrete ships built for but not completed in time to be used in World War I, the SS ''Crete Boom'', lies abandoned in the [[River Moy]], {{coord|54.135515|-9.138452}} just outside the town of [[Ballina, County Mayo|Ballina]], [[County Mayo]], Ireland, and is considered of much interest to the area's many tourists.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.northmayo.ie/visit-the-ss-crete-boom-the-fabled-concrete-ship-in-ballina/ |title=Visit the SS Crete Boom – the fabled concrete ship in Ballina |author=m4Y0N04TH |date=17 June 2019 |access-date=10 February 2023 |work=Mayo North |publisher=Ballina Tourist Office}}</ref> 

A concrete barge, the ''Cretetree'', is beached in the harbour of the [[Scalpay, Outer Hebrides|Isle of Scalpay]] near [[Tarbert, Harris|Tarbert]], Harris, Scotland, {{coord|57.876873|-6.699965}}. It was built by [[Aberdeen Concrete Ships]], and completed in 1919.<ref name="aberdeenships">{{cite web|url=http://www.aberdeenships.com/single.asp?index=100840|title=Aberdeen Ships {{!}}&nbsp;Cretetree|publisher=aberdeenships.com|accessdate=2014-06-01}}</ref>

The [[Purton Hulks]], a collection of vessels intentionally beached at [[Purton, Berkeley|Purton]] during the first half of the twentieth century as a method to prevent coastal erosion, includes eight ferro-concrete barges. {{coord|51.737178|-2.455798}}<ref name="purton">[http://www.friendsofpurton.org.uk "Friends of Purton"]</ref>{{nonspecific|reason=not helpful to cite the entire website|date=February 2023}}

A large collection of abandoned concrete barges are seen at River Thames in [[Rainham, London]].<ref name=Rainham/> {{coord|51.498608|0.18202}}

The wreckage of the {{lang|de|italic=yes|Ulrich Finsterwalder}}, a small [[Nazi Germany|Nazi-era German]] tanker, is visible in [[Dąbie Lake]], near [[Szczecin]], Poland. It was sunk during a [[Soviet Union|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.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Historia betonowych wraków na jeziorze Dąbie i Bałtyku |publisher=Nortus & Potworna spółka |url=http://nortus.pinger.pl/m/1464330|access-date=2020-07-12}}</ref>

<gallery>
File:The_ss_creteboom_side_view.jpg|SS ''Creteboom''
File:Boat_graveyard_-_geograph.org.uk_-_103070.jpg|At [[Purton, Berkeley|Purton]]
File:Ferro-concrete_barges,_Rainham_waterfront_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1022440.jpg|At [[Rainham, London|Rainham]]
File:1109 Urlich Finsterwalde Wreck.jpg|''Ulrich Finsterwalder''
</gallery> 

During the [[Axis occupation of Greece|German occupation of Greece]] (1942–1944) during World War II, the [[German Army (Wehrmacht)|German Army]] built 24 concrete cargo vessels for transporting goods to various [[Greek islands]], including [[Crete]]. These were constructed in the [[Perama]] shipbuilding area of [[Piraeus]]. After the war, many of the vessels were used as piers (e.g., in [[Rafina]], {{coord|38.022056|24.010368}}) and [[breakwater (structure)|breakwater]]s (e.g., in Agios Georgios, [[Methana]], {{coord|37.638340|23.394544}}).

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.{{cn|date=February 2023}}