Who says size doesn't matter? These gigantic vessels are built to the latest technology and carry more than 90% of the world's cargo (not counting people). The largest ships in the world include oil tankers, container ships and cruise liners.
Large ships are built for different human needs. Some, with large diesel engines, carry cargo over long distances, while naval vessels are usually powered by nuclear engines to be able to remain independent of fuel and stay at sea for many months. But no matter the method of transportation, one look at one of the megaships reveals how much human effort and engineering genius went into building each giant.
Here list of the largest ships in the world with photos and detailed description.
10. Planet Solar - 31 meters
The shipping industry has tried to use all kinds of energy – diesel, gas, nuclear, wind energy. But the solar area remained uncovered until the appearance of Planet Solar. This is the largest ship in the world that uses only solar energy. Its length is 31 meters, and its panels are capable of absorbing almost 103.4 kW of solar energy.
The ship's speed is not very high yet - only 8 knots, but, after all, it is a unique development. It will certainly be improved.
9. Club Med 2 - 194 meters
Built in 1992 in Le Havre, France, Club Med 2 is the largest sailing ship in the world. It is 194 m long and has a cargo capacity of 14,983 tons. For comparison, the wing length of the largest aircraft in the world is 117.3 meters.
In addition to the 214 crew members, Club Med 2 can accommodate 386 passengers. The sailboat can reach speeds of 10-15 knots and currently operates as a cruise ship – sailing the Mediterranean and Adriatic Seas in the summer and moving to the Caribbean in the winter.
The Club Med 2 has five masts. In addition to seven sails (controlled not by people, but by the ship's computer), the ship is equipped with four diesel engines. Entertainment for passengers includes ballroom dancing, card games, musical shows and, of course, stunning sea views - the Club Med 2, like many sailing ships before it, sails along the coastline and only during the day, and anchors at night.
8. SSV-33 - 265 meters
The largest ship in Russia is also known as the Ural. It belongs to the class of reconnaissance ships with a nuclear engine. The Ural was built during the Cold War, when the USSR and the USA were spying on each other. And it was intended for reconnaissance operations in the largest ocean in the world, where the USA had several ballistic missile testing grounds. The Ural was 265 m long, had a crew of 950 people, and had a cruising speed of 21.6 knots. Thanks to its nuclear engine, the Ural was autonomous and could go for three months without entering a port after refueling.
The Ural began its service on the Far East coast, where due to its gigantic size there was no suitable berth for it, so the ship spent most of its time anchored in the bay. But its calm was deceptive - in the 1980s, the Ural served as the main source of information about what was happening in the military circles of the USA and Japan.
Everything ended with the beginning of perestroika. First, junior specialists of the conscript service were discharged into the reserve, then the nuclear boilers were damaged in a fire. For some time, the ship lived on diesel generators, until the agonizing half-starved existence ended in 2001 - the Ural was laid up. In 2008, its disposal began, and by 2016 it was completely dismantled.
7. USS Enterprise (CVN-65) - 342 meters
No, this ship has nothing to do with Star Trek, but its dimensions are truly impressive - it is the largest military ship in the world in the history of the navy. It is 342 meters long, can carry up to 4,600 troops, 2,520 tons of weapons, and the cruising speed of the Enterprise's namesake is 33.6 knots.
The USS Enterprise has a long and illustrious history.
- At one time it became the first among nuclear aircraft carriers (launched in 1961) and its price was so high that it was decided to abandon the planned series of ships of the same purpose and size.
- The USS Enterprise began service during the Cuban Missile Crisis, then patrolled the Mediterranean, fought in the Vietnam War, and, nearly twenty years later, fought pirates in Iraq…
- Overall, it served for 51 consecutive years, longer than any other U.S. aircraft carrier to date.
But the world was changing, and even such a technically advanced ship, regularly upgraded, became hopelessly outdated. In 2012, the ship made its last voyage. And by April 2018, it was finally decommissioned.
6. RMS Queen Mary 2 - 345 meters
The world's largest transatlantic liner is the RMS Queen Mary 2, built in 2004. The ship was named after the first Queen Mary, which left the shipyard in 1936, and the abbreviation RMS (royal mail ship) was awarded only to the fastest and most reliable ships. At present, the RMS Queen Mary 2 is the only transatlantic ship cruising between Southampton and New York. However, once a year, the Queen also works as a cruise ship, making a round-the-world tour.
The Queen Mary is 345 m long, can accommodate 2,620 passengers and 1,253 crew members, and can reach a speed of 30 knots. Although the ship is smaller than the titanic cruise liners (although only by 15 m), it still holds its position as the largest ocean liner.
- The difference between a cruise ship and an ocean liner is that the former sets out on a journey and drops off passengers at the same port, while the latter's purpose is to transport passengers from one point to another.
- However, this is not the only difference. A transatlantic liner makes long journeys, so it often encounters adverse weather conditions. Therefore, its structure must be stronger than that of cruise liners sailing in comfortable conditions, its seaworthiness must be better, and its engines must be more powerful.
- A cruise ship can afford to focus on the number of passengers it can carry instead of seaworthiness and endurance – that’s why they have such a funny box-like shape for better passenger capacity.
5. Q-Max gas carriers - 345 meters
The world's largest LNG carriers are Q-Max vessels. They are up to 345 m long and have a total capacity of 262,000 to 267,000 m3. At the same time, their speed is quite good for vessels of this class - 19.5 knots.
There are currently 14 vessels of this type in service, built by Samsung, Hyundai and Daewoo. The first of these, Mozah, was launched in 2007 and named after one of the wives of the Emir of Qatar. All 14 vessels are owned by the Qatari Natural Gas Shipping Company. They are the largest vessels capable of docking at LNG terminals.
4. Oasis of the Seas - 360 meters
The largest passenger ships in the world are Oasis of the Seas, Allure of the Seas and Harmony of the Seas, formerly known as Project Genesis. They belong to Royal Caribbean and were built in 2009, 2010 and 2015 respectively. The cruise liners are 360 m long and can accommodate up to 6,296 passengers, excluding the crew of 2,394. They are the fastest of the large passenger ships, reaching speeds of 22.6 knots.
There are plenty of entertainment options to keep the tourists on board from getting bored. There is even surfing, a zipline (rope descent) 25 m long and 9 decks high, two 13 m high climbing walls, swimming pools, a basketball court, a water park and even an ice rink. No wonder there is so much service personnel on the ship!
Oasis of the Seas cost about $1.14 million to build, the highest price ever paid for a civilian ship. Both Oasis and Allure currently operate week-long cruises in the Caribbean and are very popular with tourists.
3. TI class vessels – 380 meters
The largest oil tankers in operation were designed and built for the Hellespont Group at a shipyard in South Korea by Daewoo (or rather its shipbuilding division) in 2003. There are four vessels in total – later renamed by the customers as TI Oceania, TI Europe, TI Asia and TI Africa.
Each ship cost approximately $90 million and 700,000 man-hours to build. They are 78 m shorter than the Knock Nevis; they are 380 m long, have a deadweight of 440,000 tons, and can travel at speeds of 16 to 18 knots. Beyond their size, the ships are impressive in their graceful lines and beautiful design; when viewed from high above, they resemble nothing so much as giant, snow-white icebergs.
2. CSCL Globe and Maersk Triple E class vessels – 400 meters
In the fall of 2014, the world's largest container ship, the CSCL Globe, was christened. It was the first of five 19,000 TEU (TEU – twenty-foot equivalent unit, a unit of capacity for a ship) vessels ordered by a Chinese shipbuilding company in 2013. However, since then, the CSCL Globe's record has been broken by OOCL class cargo ships, which have an impressive capacity of 21,413 TEU – with the same length.
The 400m long megaship is powered by a 77,200hp main engine, which is so efficient that it consumes no more fuel than a container ship with a capacity of almost half as much. Fuel savings amount to up to 20%. This is due to the fact that the “smart” engine reacts to the situation at sea and regulates fuel consumption accordingly.
The Danish company Maersk ordered 20 Maersk Triple E class vessels from Daewoo. Each of them cost about 200 million dollars. Their capacity is slightly less than that of the CSCL Globe (18,000 TEU), but they are almost the same length. The cruising speed of the new container ships is high - from 23 to 26 knots, which makes them the fastest ships of this class in the world.
Triple E, that is, “triple E” is a short, encrypted form of the principles that customers and shipbuilders adhered to:
- saving;
- energy efficiency;
- environmental friendliness.
Maersk vessels are currently among the most efficient container ships in terms of cost/volume of cargo carried.
1. Knock Nevis - 458.45 meters
During its service to people, the ship changed many names - Seawise Giant, Happy Giant, Jahre Viking and, finally, Knock Nevis. It is the longest ship in the history of shipbuilding - from bow to stern, its length is 1,504 feet (or 458.45 m), which is longer than the Empire State Building laid on its side. Knock Nevis belonged to the ULCC class of oil tankers and had the largest cargo capacity of all ships. It is considered the largest man-made object capable of moving independently, of all those ever built by man.
At full load, the volume of cargo carried by the ship was 657,019 tons, and with a draft of 24.6 m, even the English Channel, Suez and Panama canals were shallow for the sea giant. At the same time, the ship's speed was surprisingly high for such a size - 16 knots. Knock Nevis was driven by a single engine with a diameter of 9 m. The braking distance from cruising speed to a complete stop was 9 km, and the turning radius of the ship was 3 km. It was serviced by a crew of 35 people.
Knock Nevis was built in 1979 by the Japanese shipbuilding company Sumimoto Heavy Industries at the Japanese shipyard in Yokosuka. The Greek owner named the ship "Porthos". Since then, the ship has seen a lot:
- traveled the seas for about 30 years;
- was damaged in 1988 during the Iran-Iraq War;
- was repaired and sold to Norway;
- In 2009, it made its final voyage to a shipyard in Gujarat, India, where it was dismantled.
What is the danger of large ships?
Huge ships are not exactly environmentally friendly. Shipping cargo by sea costs the planet almost 1.4 billion tons of carbon dioxide, which is 6% of the total emissions. This figure is twice as much as air transport.
For this reason, most marine giants are trying to switch to highly efficient and fuel-saving engines, and also use hybrid systems - there are ships that are powered by wind and solar energy.
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