In 1917, during some of the darkest days of World War I, The British Government commissioned the construction of 154 concrete ships - 24 powerful Steam Tugs and 130 barges, each of 1000 tons deadweight.
World War I thankfully ended before the programme was complete, but still, 64 'Crete Ships' were launched by the end of 1920.
The last surviving floating 'Crete Ship', 'Cretegaff', lies in Carlingford Marina, where I live in the Republic of Ireland.
When I first saw her, I had never heard of a concrete ship ! Why build a ship in concrete ? What is she doing here ? How did she get here ? How does she float ?
I became intrigued - I had to find out all about them. Little did I know that she had sisters and cousins - a family of concrete ships. I christened them 'The Crete Fleet' (because their names start with 'Crete' !) and set about researching them all. I also discovered that 9 other concrete ships of different design were also built in the UK in the same period.
This is the story of their Life & Times