Seawise Giant

TT Knock Nevis, formerly Seawise Giant, leaving the Dubai Drydocks
History
Name
  • Seawise Giant (1979–1991)
  • Happy Giant (1991)
  • Jahre Viking (1991–2004)
  • Knock Nevis (2004–2009)
  • Mont (2009–2010)
Owner
OperatorPrayati Shipping (2009–2010)
Port of registry
Builder
Completed1979
Out of service1988 and 2009
Identification
FateScrapped in 2010
Notes[2][3]
General characteristics
TypeCrude oil tanker
Tonnage
  • 260,941 GT
  • 214,793 NT
  • 564,763 DWT
Displacement
  • 81,879 long tons light load
  • 646,642 long tons full load
Length458.45 m (1,504.10 ft)
Beam68.6 m (225.07 ft)
Draft24.611 m (80.74 ft)
Depth29.8 m (97.77 ft)
Propulsion
Speed16.5 knots (30.6 km/h; 19.0 mph)
Capacity4.1 million barrels
Notes[4]

The TT Seawise Giant—earlier Oppama; later Happy Giant, Jahre Viking, Knock Nevis, and Mont—was a ULCC supertanker and the longest self-propelled ship in history, built in 1974–1979 by Sumitomo Heavy Industries in Yokosuka, Kanagawa, Japan. She possessed the greatest deadweight tonnage ever recorded. Fully laden, her displacement was 657,019 tonnes.

At the time she was built, she was the heaviest self-propelled ship of any kind. With a laden draft of 24.6 m (81 ft) and a length of 1,504.10 ft, she was incapable of navigating the English Channel,[5] the Suez Canal or the Panama Canal. Overall, she is generally considered the largest self-propelled ship ever built.[6][7] In 2013 her overall length was surpassed by 30 m by the floating liquified natural gas installation Shell Prelude (FLNG), a monohull barge design 488 m (1,601 ft) long and 600,000 tonnes displacement. Seawise Giant's engines were powered by Ljungström turbines.

She was damaged in an airstrike in 1988 during the Iran–Iraq War, but was later repaired and restored to service.[8] The vessel was converted to a floating storage and offloading unit (FSO) in 2004, moored off the coast of Qatar in the Persian Gulf at the Al Shaheen Oil Field.[9]

The vessel was sold to Indian ship breakers, and renamed Mont for a final journey in December 2009. After clearing Indian customs, the ship sailed to Alang Ship Breaking Yard, Alang, Gujarat, where she was beached for scrapping, which was completed in 2010.[9][10]

  1. ^ "JAHRE VIKING (370263)". Port State Information Exchange. United States Coast Guard. Retrieved 16 October 2012.
  2. ^ "Knock Nevis (94118)". Shippingdatabase.com.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference bluepulz1209 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference rss was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ "The remarkable story of the largest ship ever built". telegraph.co.uk. 1 March 2018. Retrieved 6 October 2022.
  6. ^ Baljit Singh (11 July 1999). "The world's biggest ship". The Tribune. Retrieved 4 June 2010.
  7. ^ Rich Galiano. "Artifacts & Shipwrecks: Tanker". NJScuba.net. Archived from the original on 2 July 2010. Retrieved 4 June 2010.
  8. ^ "Iraq Bombs 5 Huge Tankers at Iran Oil Site". Los Angeles Times. 15 May 1988.
  9. ^ a b "The world's largest ship to be scrapped". Bluepulz. 5 September 2009. Archived from the original on 17 March 2010. Retrieved 4 June 2010.
  10. ^ Bhavnagar (19 December 2009). "Crude oil carrier Mont awaits clearance to dock at Alang". The Indian Express. Retrieved 4 June 2010.