With a length of 458.45 meters and a gross capacity of 564,763 tonsthe oil tanker Seawise Giant – also known as Mount, Happy Giant, years Viking And Knock Nevis – was longest ship achieved in history, as also confirmed by the Guinness World Records, as well as that of the largest deadweight. This vessel was made in Japan and used for 31 years old in the transport of crude oil. Consider that this already astonishing ship has also gained another record over time: that of largest ship ever scrapped.
The Seawise Giant was not an oil tanker like the others: it was a ULCC, or Ultra Large Crude Carrierthat is, a megatanker 458.45 metres long and 70 metres wide. The vessel could reach a maximum speed of 16.5 knots (about 30 km/h) and a turning radius of approximately 3 kmThe ship was commissioned in 1974 by the Japanese Sumitomo Heavy Industries by a Greek tycoon. The problem is that once it was ready, in 1979, the tycoon refused to buy it: there are various theories, some that claim he simply changed his mind, others that hypothesize his bankruptcy. Regardless of the real reasons, the ship remained stationary for another 2 years, until it was sold to the founder of the Hong Kong’s Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL), Tung Chao-yung. Think that he, not satisfied with the already impressive dimensions of the vessel, decided to make a naval lengthening: this is an operation to connect an additional section to the vessel. This modification allowed to increase its capacity by over 140 thousand tons!
The Seawise Giant was initially used to transport crude oil between the US and the Middle East but in 1988 it was bombed from the forces iraqi, immediately catching fire and sinking in shallow water. The following year the vessel was salvaged by a Norwegian company and refitted. It then continued to transport oil under the Norwegian flag until its last days. In the end, in fact, after 31 years of servicethe Seawise Giant was dismantled in India at theAlang Ship Breaking Yardputting an end to the world’s largest oil tanker.
