[2] Kantner could not be credited as one of the joint authors-composers of "Wooden Ships" on the original May 1969 release of Crosby, Stills & Nash, because he was embroiled in legal disputes with Jefferson Airplane's then manager, Matthew Katz.
Jefferson Airplane's performance – which ran to over 21 minutes in length and included several extended jam sections – remained unreleased until the 2009 Woodstock Experience set.
It has been likened to Tom Lehrer's "We Will All Go Together When We Go" and Barry McGuire's "Eve of Destruction," in that it describes the consequences of an apocalyptic nuclear war.
"[2] As the wooden ships, devoid of metal that would become radioactive from neutron activation, are carrying the survivors away from the shores, radiation poisoning kills those who have not made it aboard.
That grim tableau is described thus: It is also described in an (unsung) prelude, included in the lyric sheet: Ultimate Classic Rock critic Michael Gallucci rated it Jefferson Airplane's 5ith best song, claiming that it is better than the Crosby, Stills and Nash version because it "better captures the melancholic dread facing the few survivors of a nuclear war in this Vietnam-era classic.
In 1975, Mike Friedrich and Steve Leialoha adapted the song into graphic format for issue #3 of the alternative Science-fiction and Fantasy magazine Star*Reach.