As the US prepared to enter the war in 1917, president Woodrow Wilson commissioned the Emergency Fleet Corporation to produce ships to ferry and supply troops in Europe. Due to concerns about steel shortages and repeated attacks from German U-boats, the corporation decided to use steel-reinforced concrete as material.
One of those ships, the 420-foot long SS Palo Alto, was commissioned after the war ended. By 1929, it was finally moved from a shipyard in Oakland to a beach further south, where it was moored to a pier. A gambling operation was set up onboard with a casino, dance floor and a heated pool.
The Great Depression essentially scuttled the casino and the company abandoned the ship. Recurring storms caused further damage but the vessel remained moored to the pier and became a tourist attraction and fishing spot, as well as a roost for migrating seabirds and sea mammals.
But the Palo Alto could not survive the most recent storms as 34-foot high waves finally broke it in half. The California Parks Department says it has no plans to remove the pieces of the hull and will just let nature take its course.
