AH-WR-1080

S.S. Arthur Newell Talbot

Concrete Cargo Ship · United States · Lost Scuttled in 1948 to form a breakwater · The Potomac & the Virginia Chesapeake

Named for a pioneering concrete engineer, this WWII cargo ship now forms part of the unusual concrete-ship breakwater off Virginia's Kiptopeke State Park.

Become Captain of Record See Shipwreck on Map

Artistic recreation based on recorded historical documents. See the documented evidence.

Documented Likeness. Drawn from surviving builder's plans or clear photographs of this vessel. See the documented evidence.

The Vessel and Her Loss

Built in 1944 by McCloskey and Company of Tampa, Florida, as part of a wartime fleet of reinforced-concrete cargo ships, Arthur Newell Talbot served as a transport and training vessel in the Pacific during World War II. After the war, she was among nine surplus concrete ships towed to the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay and scuttled in 1948 to form a breakwater protecting the Little Creek-Cape Charles ferry terminal. The ferry service ended after the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel opened in 1964, but the breakwater remains, now within Kiptopeke State Park.

Vessel

Built: 1944
Builder: McCloskey and Company
Yard: Tampa, Florida
Material: Composite
Length: 366 ft
Beam: Not established
Tonnage: Not established
Propulsion: Steam
Owners: U.S. Maritime Commission

Loss

Date: Scuttled in 1948 to form a breakwater
Cause: Intentional sinking
Location: Kiptopeke, Northampton County, Virginia, at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay
Water: Chesapeake Bay
Voyage: Not established
Cargo: Not established
Aboard: Not established
Lives lost: 0
Master: Not established

The Wreck Today

Depth: Not established
Condition: Partially submerged, resting in a fixed line as part of the Kiptopeke breakwater; hull deteriorating but visible above the waterline
Orientation: Not established
Discovered: Not established
Protection: Within Kiptopeke State Park, Virginia