Seawise Giant: The Largest Ship Ever Built
What was the Seawise Giant? The Seawise Giant was a supertanker, later renamed Knock Nevis, and at 458.45 metres long it was the longest ship ever built.
It could carry more than 564,000 tonnes of cargo, nearly twice what a modern supertanker carries. It survived a missile attack, sank, was raised from the sea and sailed again. Then it was cut up on a beach in India. At MarineOar, we think it is one of the greatest stories in shipping, so here is the full guide.
What Was the Seawise Giant?
It was an ultra large crude carrier, or ULCC, a tanker built only to move crude oil. Sumitomo Heavy Industries built it at Yokosuka, Japan. It was ordered in 1974 and delivered in 1979.
Guinness World Records lists it as the longest ship ever built. It holds a second record too, as the largest ship ever scrapped. The ship carried many names during its life, which is why people search for it in different ways. Its names were Oppama, Seawise Giant, Happy Giant, Jahre Viking, Knock Nevis and, finally, Mont.
How Big Was the Largest Ship Ever Built?
The numbers are hard to picture, so here they are in plain terms.
The ship was 458.45 metres long, or 1,504 feet. Its deadweight was 564,763 tonnes. Deadweight means the total weight a ship can carry, including cargo, fuel and supplies. Its beam, which is its width, was about 69 metres. Its gross tonnage was 260,941.
A modern very large crude carrier, or VLCC, is about 330 metres long and carries 300,000 to 320,000 tonnes. So this ship was roughly 40 percent longer and carried close to twice as much.
Stood on end, it would have risen higher than the Empire State Building, which is about 443 metres tall to the tip of its antenna.
How Does It Compare to the Titanic?
The Titanic was about 269 metres long. The Seawise Giant was about 1.7 times longer. Its beam was more than twice as wide. The Titanic was built to carry people fast across the Atlantic. This tanker was built to carry as much oil as possible, and speed hardly mattered.
Compared with today’s ships, it still stands tall. The giant container ship Ever Ace is about 400 metres long. The cruise ship Symphony of the Seas is 362 metres long. Both are well short of 458 metres.
Who Built It, and Why Did It Change Names So Often?
The story of the Seawise Giant is odd from the start. A Greek shipowner first ordered the tanker. The owner backed out, and the shipyard was left with a half built hull.
In 1981, Hong Kong shipping owner Tung Chao Yung, founder of Orient Overseas Container Line, bought the hull. He had it made longer. This lengthening, called jumboisation, added about 146,000 tonnes of cargo capacity. He named it Seawise Giant.
Then came more owners and more names. Norman International, a Norwegian company, rebuilt it after the war and named it Happy Giant. It soon became Jahre Viking. In 2004 it became Knock Nevis. Its last name was Mont.
What Happened to the Seawise Giant in the Iran and Iraq War?
On 14 May 1988, the ship was anchored off Larak Island in Iran, loaded with Iranian crude oil. Iraqi aircraft hit it with Exocet missiles. This was during the Tanker War, when both sides attacked ships near the Strait of Hormuz.
The ship caught fire and sank. It was declared a total loss. In sailor talk, it had gone to Davy Jones’ Locker, the old legend for the bottom of the sea.
Yet this locker gave the ship back. Norman International bought the wreck, raised it and had it repaired. The ship was towed to Singapore for repairs. It returned to service in October 1991. Few ships have come back from a loss that complete.
Why Could It Not Use the Suez or Panama Canal?
It was simply too big. The ship sat very deep in the water, with a loaded draft of about 24.6 metres, according to Maritime Page. That is deeper than the Suez and Panama canals allow. Sources also note it was too large for the English Channel.
So its voyages took long detours. Ships that do use the Red Sea route pass the narrow gate at the Bab el Mandeb Strait, but this giant mostly went around Africa instead. Its turning circle was about two miles, and it needed more than five miles to stop.
What Is the Largest Vessel in the World Today?
It depends on how you measure. The Seawise Giant remains the longest self propelled ship ever built. Shell’s Prelude floating gas platform is about 488 metres long, which is longer, but it is a floating plant and does not sail on its own.
Among ships that carry goods, the biggest are now container ships such as the Ever Ace at about 400 metres. For the very latest record holders, check the current lists from Guinness World Records or classification societies, because new ships keep arriving.
Why Was No Bigger Ship Ever Built?
Nothing in engineering stopped it. Money and ports did. Industry writers point to a few key limits.
Few ports are deep enough to take a ship this size.
Few shipyards and dry docks can handle a hull this large.
Canals cannot fit ships of this depth, so routes get longer.
A giant hull is costly to run, insure and scrap.
The industry settled on VLCCs instead. They are big enough to be efficient but small enough to reach many ports.
What Happened to Knock Nevis at the End?
In 2004, First Olsen Tankers bought the ship and converted it to a floating storage and offloading unit, called an FSO. It was renamed Knock Nevis and stayed in one place off Qatar, storing oil instead of sailing.
In 2009 it was sold again and renamed Mont. It made its last trip to Alang, in Gujarat, India, one of the world’s largest ship breaking yards. There it was run onto the beach and cut apart. The work finished in 2010.
Where Is the Ship Now?
Almost nothing is left. The ship’s 36 tonne anchor was saved and given to the Hong Kong Maritime Museum in 2010. Everything else became recycled steel. Photos, films and models are the main record of the largest ship ever built.
What to Remember About the Seawise Giant
It was 458.45 metres long, the longest ship ever built.
Its deadweight was 564,763 tonnes.
It was hit by missiles on 14 May 1988, sank, and sailed again by October 1991.
It was scrapped at Alang in 2010, the largest ship ever scrapped.
The Seawise Giant proved how far shipbuilders could go, and also where the limits lie. No one has built anything bigger since.
FAQ
What was the Seawise Giant?
The Seawise Giant was a ULCC supertanker built in Japan and delivered in 1979. At 458.45 metres, it was the longest ship ever built.
Is Knock Nevis the same ship?
Yes. Knock Nevis was the name the ship carried from 2004 to 2009, after it became a floating storage unit.
Is the ship still around?
No. It was scrapped at Alang, India, in 2010.
How much could it carry?
Its deadweight was 564,763 tonnes, which is nearly twice that of a modern supertanker.
Read More
Titanic: The Ship, the Sinking and the Facts
Ever Given: The Ship That Blocked the Suez Canal
