The Epic Story of the Longest Ship Ever Built – The Seawise Giant
In the 1980s, a giant supertanker named the Seawise Giant took to the seas. It was the largest ship in the world, more than 1,500 feet long and taller than the Empire State Building.
In the 1980s, a giant supertanker called the Seawise Giant took to the seas. It was the world’s largest ship, over 1,500 feet long and taller than the Empire State Building.
However, the ship, which changed names and owners several times during its lifetime, is not only famous for its massive size. Its history is an epic story that rivals famous ships like the Titanic.
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From its impressive construction to being sunk by Saddam Hussein’s missiles to its subsequent salvage and resurfacing, the Seawise Giant has certainly earned its place among history’s great ships.
World’s Biggest Ship – Seawise Giant
The original idea for the Seawise Giant came from a Greek businessman who hired Japan’s Sumitomo Heavy Industries to build a giant supertanker. However, the South China Morning Post reports that the businessman did not buy the final ship. Accounts vary, but it’s possible they declared bankruptcy or simply changed their minds about the purchase.
This, of course, posed a problem for Sumitomo Heavy Industries, where one of the largest ships it was currently building was waiting at the shipyard with no potential buyers. Fortunately, it wasn’t long before another interested party showed up.
In 1981, two years after construction, Tong Qiuyong signed an agreement to buy the ship. But Mr. Tong, founder of Hong Kong-based OOCL, wasn’t satisfied with the ship’s impressive size. I wanted it bigger.
Tong oversaw the addition of a few feet to the ship’s length, which increased its capacity by more than 140,000 tons. The giant ship soon reached 1,504 feet long and 225 feet wide, becoming the largest and longest ship in the world.
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Of course, the Ocean Giant wasn’t a ship meant for narrow passages. The turning circle has a diameter of 1.86 miles, and if the captain wanted to slow the ship from its top speed of 16.5 knots to a complete stop, he would have to travel a full 5.6 miles to slow down.
That’s good because the Seawise Giant wasn’t built for speed. It primarily transported crude oil between the United States and the Middle East. Unfortunately, he did so at a time when Iraq and Iran were at war, and he soon became an unintended victim of that conflict.
The Seawise Giant Sinks
In May 1988, the Seawise Giant met with disaster while anchored near the Iranian island of Larak. According to the Daily Telegraph, the ship was carrying Iranian oil when Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi forces bombed it.
As we all know, fire and oil are a bad mix, and the Seawise Giant immediately caught fire. It wasn’t long before the ship was completely submerged and eventually sank in shallow water.
The Seawise Giant catches fire after being bombed in 1988.
For most ships, that would have been the end. But the world’s largest ship, the Seawise Giant, was unlike most.
Some still see value in the wreck of the world’s largest ship. One such group is the Norwegian Norman International Group. When the Iran-Iraq War ended shortly after the Seawise Giant sank, Norman International pulled the giant ship from the seafloor and towed it to Singapore for repairs.
By October 1991, more than 3,700 tons of new steel had been used to repair the Seawise Giant, which was now seaworthy again and had a new name: the Happy Giant.
The Seawise Giant’s Second Life
The Happy Giant was eventually purchased by another Norwegian shipping magnate, Jørgen Jahre, for $30 million (about $45 million today). The giant ship once again had a new name: the Jahre Viking.
The Jahre Viking was operated on a small scale by a crew of just 40, but it operated successfully for another ten years. The ship was once again transporting oil across the seas.
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However, the Jahre Vikings faced major problems that became increasingly apparent. First, much fuel was required to power such a large ship. Beyond that, the ship’s size was also an issue. It was too large to fit into many of the world’s major ports, including the English Channel, the Suez Canal, and the Panama Canal.
Eventually, the Jahre Viking was sold again to the Norwegian company First Olsen Tankers. But First, Olsen had no interest in taking its newly purchased vessel, now renamed the Nork Nevis, to sea. Instead, they used it as a stationary storage facility for tanks at Qatar’s Al Shaheen oil field.
The deck of the Seawise Giant, the world’s largest ship, 1991.
“I have been associated with this giant ship for the past decade and, if I may, I am humble enough to add that my team and I have contributed greatly to the vessel, building a good name and reputation in the tanker market. ” said Surrinder Kumar Mohan, then Captain of Turbine Tanker’s Jahre Viking.
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“Unfortunately, I don’t think another ship of Viking’s size will be built as it is not financially viable given the current costs of building new ships, catamaran legislation and the demand for crude oil.”
The largest ship ever lost.
The newly renamed Knock Nevis remained in Qatar for another six years before it was finally sold for scrap to a scrapyard in the Indian state of Gujarat. There, tens of thousands of workers worked for over a year to completely dismantle the former Seawise Giant and sell its parts.
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And so ends the story of the world’s largest ship. The Seawise Giant may be gone, but at least some of its impressive heft remains: the ship’s 36-tonne anchor is on display at the Hong Kong Maritime Museum, testifying to the astonishing size of what was once the world’s largest ship.
