Product Description
Concrete Ship Wall Art Prints
Concrete Ship Wall Art Prints
The world's largest concrete ship has been dismantled after spending four decades stranded on the riverbank.
The Gu Tian was abandoned shortly after her maiden voyage in 1974 and has since become a home to squatters and is a local tourist attraction in Fuzhou, capital of southeast China's Fujian Province. Work to destroy the 3,000 ton concrete boat began in November last year and is finally coming to a close this week. A sign by the edge of the road says that it is the remains of the S.S. Atlantus, one of twelve experimental ships built of concrete during the First World War, but "proven impractical because of weight. Concrete ships are ships built of steel and ferro cement (reinforced concrete) instead of more traditional materials, such as steel or wood. The advantage of ferro cement construction is that materials are cheap and readily available, while the disadvantages are that construction labor costs are high, as are operating costs. 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. 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 ferro cement pleasure boats.
