SS Selma

Steel shortages during World War I led the U.S. to build experimental concrete ships, and the largest was the SS Selma, built in Mobile, Alabama, and named to honor Selma, Alabama, for its successful wartime liberty loan drive. The ship was launched on June 28, 1919, the same day Germany signed the Treaty of Versailles, officially ending World War I. Because of the war's end, the 7,500-ton ship never entered the conflict and instead served as an oil tanker in the Gulf of Mexico. In Tampico, Mexico, on May 31, 1920, it struck a jetty, tearing a hole in its hull about 60 feet long. Repairs in Galveston failed, efforts to sell it were unsuccessful, and U.S. officials decided to intentionally scuttle it. A channel 1,500 feet long and 25 feet deep was dug to a point just off Pelican Island's eastern shoreline, where on March 9, 1922, the ship was laid to rest. Since then, it has been the subject of failed plans to convert it into a fishing pier, pleasure resort, and oyster farm, while remaining important to scientists studying its concrete construction. Partially submerged in Galveston Bay, it became a State Archeological Landmark in 1993, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1994, and was designated the Official Flagship of the Texas Army.

Galveston, Texas · United States