"Gene Kearns" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 01 Aug 2005 14:21:47 -0400, HarryKrause
wrote:



On a sailboat, your stability comes from the weight in your keel working
against the lateral push from your sails. Perhaps a "built-down" ferro
sailboat hull might have significant stability, but I'd rather enjoy the
ride on a properly keeled glass sailboat of the same size class.

But those liberty ships were pretty neat, too. I remember coming into
Wilmington, NC as a kid and seeing Liberty Ships moored in the Cape
Fear River as far as the eye could see....

Neat stories about their construction, too, from my dad. He worked at
Newport News building them, until he was conscripted in WWII.

Liberty ships were steel, as well as the Victory ships. My dad spent the
war building them in Richmond, CA and my mom spent the time as a nurse at
the shipyard hospital. The hospital became the first Kaiser hospital. I
remember the small stamped models that we had at home. Probably worth a lot
of money now. First boat I got to pilot.

On Tue, 02 Aug 2005 05:16:54 +0000, Bill McKee wrote:


Liberty ships were steel, as well as the Victory ships. My dad spent the
war building them in Richmond, CA and my mom spent the time as a nurse at
the shipyard hospital. The hospital became the first Kaiser hospital. I
remember the small stamped models that we had at home. Probably worth a
lot of money now. First boat I got to pilot.

Liberty ships were steel, but, interestingly, we did make some
ferro-cement ships in both world wars. One of the down sides of
ferro-cement is that they don't take an impact very well. I'd hate to
think what a torpedo would do to one.

http://www.concreteships.org/ships/ww1/

http://www.concreteships.org/ships/ww2/