High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! USS Silica (IX-151), a Trefoil-class concrete barge designated an unclassified miscellaneous vessel, was the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for silica. Her keel was laid down as SS Bauxite (T. B7-D1, MC hull 1331) on 5 December 1943 by Barrett Hilp, Belair Shipyard, San Francisco, California. She was launched on 31 December 1943 sponsored by Mrs. William O`Neill, and acquired by the Navy and commissioned on 8 June 1944 with Lieutenant Ormond A. Seavey, USNR, in command.