Knock Nevis
Encyclopedia
Seawise Giant, later Happy Giant, Jahre Viking, and Knock Nevis, was a ULCC supertanker and the longest ship ever built, and possessed the greatest deadweight tonnage
Deadweight tonnage
Deadweight tonnage is a measure of how much weight a ship is carrying or can safely carry. It is the sum of the weights of cargo, fuel, fresh water, ballast water, provisions, passengers, and crew...
ever recorded. Fully laden, her displacement was 657019 tonnes (646,640.4 LT), the heaviest ship of any kind, and with a draft
Draft (hull)
The draft of a ship's hull is the vertical distance between the waterline and the bottom of the hull , with the thickness of the hull included; in the case of not being included the draft outline would be obtained...
of 24.6 m (80.7 ft), she was incapable of navigating the English Channel
English Channel
The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...
, the Suez Canal
Suez Canal
The Suez Canal , also known by the nickname "The Highway to India", is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. Opened in November 1869 after 10 years of construction work, it allows water transportation between Europe and Asia without navigation...
or the Panama Canal
Panama Canal
The Panama Canal is a ship canal in Panama that joins the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and is a key conduit for international maritime trade. Built from 1904 to 1914, the canal has seen annual traffic rise from about 1,000 ships early on to 14,702 vessels measuring a total of 309.6...
. Overall, she was generally considered the largest ship ever built, as well as the largest self-propelled, man made object ever built. She was last used as a floating storage and offloading unit (FSO) moored off the coast of Qatar
Qatar
Qatar , also known as the State of Qatar or locally Dawlat Qaṭar, is a sovereign Arab state, located in the Middle East, occupying the small Qatar Peninsula on the northeasterly coast of the much larger Arabian Peninsula. Its sole land border is with Saudi Arabia to the south, with the rest of its...
in the Persian Gulf
Persian Gulf
The Persian Gulf, in Southwest Asia, is an extension of the Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.The Persian Gulf was the focus of the 1980–1988 Iran-Iraq War, in which each side attacked the other's oil tankers...
at the Al Shaheen Oil Field
Al Shaheen oil field
The Al Shaheen Oil Field is a production oil and gas field off the north east of coast of Qatar in the Persian Gulf, north of Doha. The oil field lies over the North Gas Field, the largest gas field in the world...
.
The vessel was sold to India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n ship breakers
Ship breaking
Ship breaking or ship demolition is a type of ship disposal involving the breaking up of ships for scrap recycling. Most ships have a lifespan of a few decades before there is so much wear that refitting and repair becomes uneconomical. Ship breaking allows materials from the ship, especially...
, and renamed Mont for her final journey in December 2009. After clearing Indian customs, she was sailed to, and intentionally beached at Alang, Gujarat, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
for demolition
Ship breaking
Ship breaking or ship demolition is a type of ship disposal involving the breaking up of ships for scrap recycling. Most ships have a lifespan of a few decades before there is so much wear that refitting and repair becomes uneconomical. Ship breaking allows materials from the ship, especially...
.
History
Seawise Giant was built in 1979 by Sumitomo Heavy Industries, Ltd.Sumitomo Heavy Industries
Sumitomo Heavy Industries, Ltd. is an integrated manufacturer of industrial machinery, automatic weaponry, ships, bridges and steel structure, equipment for environmental protection, including recycling, power transmission equipment, plastic molding machines, laser processing systems, particle...
at their Oppama shipyard in Yokosuka, Kanagawa
Yokosuka, Kanagawa
is a city located in Kanagawa, Japan. As of 2010, the city had an estimated population of 419,067 and a population density of 4,160 people per km². It covered an area of 100.62 km²...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
as a 418,000 ton ULCC, and christened Oppama when the Greek owner failed to take delivery.
Orient Overseas Container Line
Orient Overseas Container Line is a Hong Kong-based container shipping and logistics service company.OOCL is one of the world's largest shipping and logistics companies with more than 280 offices in 55 countries around the world, providing 78 services covering international trading markets with a...
founder C. Y. Tung to lengthen the ship by several metres and add 156,000 metric tons of cargo capacity through jumboisation
Jumboisation
Jumboisation is a technique in shipbuilding consisting of enlarging a ship by adding an entire section to it. By contrast with refitting or installation of equipment, jumboisation is a long and complex endeavour which can require a specialised shipyard....
. Two years later she was relaunched as Seawise Giant.
After the refit, the ship had a capacity of , a length overall of 458.45 metres (1,504.1 ft) and a draft of 24.611 metres (80.7 ft). She had 46 tanks, 31541 square metres (37,722.7 sq yd) of deck space, and drew too much water to pass through the English Channel
English Channel
The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...
. The rudder weighed 230 tons, the propeller 50 tons.
Seawise Giant was damaged during Iran–Iraq War by an Iraqi air force attack while transiting the Strait of Hormuz
Strait of Hormuz
The Strait of Hormuz is a narrow, strategically important waterway between the Gulf of Oman in the southeast and the Persian Gulf. On the north coast is Iran and on the south coast is the United Arab Emirates and Musandam, an exclave of Oman....
on 14 May 1988 and carrying Iranian crude oil. She sank and was declared a total loss.
Shortly after the Iran-Iraq war, Norman International bought the wreckage of the ship and repaired her. She was renamed Happy Giant after the repairs. These repairs were done at the Keppel Company shipyard in Singapore after towing her from the Persian Gulf
Persian Gulf
The Persian Gulf, in Southwest Asia, is an extension of the Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.The Persian Gulf was the focus of the 1980–1988 Iran-Iraq War, in which each side attacked the other's oil tankers...
. She entered service in October 1991 as Happy Giant.
Jørgen Jahre
Jørgen Jahre
Jørgen Jahre was a Norwegian shipowner and sports official.Jørgen Jahre was born in Tjølling, in Vestfold county, Norway. He was a nephew of Norwegian shipping magnate Anders Jahre. He was secretary of the Norwegian shipping company A/S Kosmos in Sandefjord until in 1939...
bought the tanker in 1991 for US$39 million and renamed her Jahre Viking. From 1991 to 2004, she was owned by Loki Stream AS and flew the Norwegian flag.
In 2004, she was purchased by First Olsen Tankers Pte. Ltd.
First Olsen Tankers
First Olsen Tankers Ltd AS is a Norwegian shipping company owned by Ganger Rolf ASA and Bonheur and affiliated with Fred. Olsen & Co. The company is registered in Bermuda....
, renamed Knock Nevis, and converted into a permanently moored storage tanker in the Qatar
Qatar
Qatar , also known as the State of Qatar or locally Dawlat Qaṭar, is a sovereign Arab state, located in the Middle East, occupying the small Qatar Peninsula on the northeasterly coast of the much larger Arabian Peninsula. Its sole land border is with Saudi Arabia to the south, with the rest of its...
Al Shaheen oil field
Al Shaheen oil field
The Al Shaheen Oil Field is a production oil and gas field off the north east of coast of Qatar in the Persian Gulf, north of Doha. The oil field lies over the North Gas Field, the largest gas field in the world...
in the Persian Gulf
Persian Gulf
The Persian Gulf, in Southwest Asia, is an extension of the Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.The Persian Gulf was the focus of the 1980–1988 Iran-Iraq War, in which each side attacked the other's oil tankers...
.
Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone , officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Guinea to the north and east, Liberia to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west and southwest. Sierra Leone covers a total area of and has an estimated population between 5.4 and 6.4...
by new owners Amber Development Corporation, for her final voyage to India in January 2010 where she was scrapped. Her 36 tonne anchor was saved and sent to the Hong Kong Maritime Museum
Hong Kong Maritime Museum
Hong Kong Maritime Museum is a non-profit educational institution funded by Hong Kong's international shipping community and is located on the ground floor of Murray House in Stanley, Hong Kong....
for exhibition.
Size record
Seawise Giant was the longest ship ever constructed, longer than the height of many of the world's tallest buildings. Though slightly smaller than Taipei 101Taipei 101
Taipei 101 , formerly known as the Taipei World Financial Center, is a landmark skyscraper located in Xinyi District, Taipei, Taiwan. The building ranked officially as the world's tallest from 2004 until the opening of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai in 2010...
at 509.2 metres (1,670.6 ft) and the Willis Tower at 527.3 metres (1,730 ft) from street level to top of antenna, she was larger than the Petronas Twin Towers
Petronas Twin Towers
The Petronas Towers are skyscrapers and twin towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia...
at 452 metres (1,482.9 ft).
Despite her great length, Seawise Giant was not the largest ship by gross tonnage, ranking fifth at 260,941 GT, behind the four 274,838 to 275,276 GT Batillus-class supertankers
Batillus class supertankers
The Batillus-class supertanker is a class of the biggest ships by gross tonnage ever constructed. At , and 414-metres, the four vessels were built in the Louis Joubert Lock, and launched from the shipyards of Chantiers de l'Atlantique at Saint Nazaire, France at the end of the 1970s.The only other...
. Batillus class ships and Seawise Giant were the largest self-propelled objects ever constructed.
Seawise Giant was featured on the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
series Jeremy Clarkson's Extreme Machines
Jeremy Clarkson's Extreme Machines
Jeremy Clarkson's Extreme Machines was a six-part documentary series, originally broadcast on BBC Two in 1998. The series focused on presenter Jeremy Clarkson, testing out a series of cars, jet planes and powerboats.-Episode list:...
while she was under way as Jahre Viking. According to her captain, S. K. Mohan, she could reach up to 16.5 knots in good weather, it took 5.5 miles to stop from that speed, and the turning circle in clear weather was about 2 miles.