Giant ships: what are the dimensions of the largest peaceful ship in the world? The largest passenger ship in the world: history and modernity
Today we will talk about the largest ships on the planet: passenger, military, cargo, industrial. Some of them are so large that they cannot enter the canals and straits, and most of the world's ports are closed to them.
We have selected seven of the most amazing giant ships. Five of them have recently been set sail, two have already been written off, and you can even buy a ticket for one. Each of them is a champion in their category.
The longest ship on earth
Length - 488 m, width - 74 m, deadweight - 600,000 tons. Launched in 2013.
The largest ship on the planet and the largest floating structure ever built by man is the Prelude FLING. It is equal in length to the famous Wailing Wall in Israel. On board could accommodate five full-size football fields or 175 Olympic swimming pools. However, its purpose is different: it is the world's first floating plant for the extraction and liquefaction of natural gas.
The vessel is owned by the Dutch-British oil and gas company Shell, built in South Korea by Samsung Heavy Industries, and will operate off the coast of Australia, extracting gas from the ocean floor - the first drilling is scheduled for 2017. In the strict sense of the word, this is not quite a ship: Prelude will not be able to sail under its own power, and it will have to be towed to the workplace. But this monster is unsinkable and indestructible: it was created specifically for service in the “cyclone zone” in the open ocean and is able to withstand even the fifth, highest category hurricane. The planned service life is 25 years.
Petronas towers with spiers
Length - 458.45 m, width - 68.86 m, deadweight - 564,763 tons. Launched in 1979, scrapped in 2010.
The largest oil tanker Seawise Giant got into the Guinness Book of Records for its size. The ship is 6 meters longer than the 88-story Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, complete with spiers, and is about the width of a football field. It is so large that the draft did not allow it to pass through the Suez, Panama Canals and the English Channel.
Designed and built in Japan by Sumitomo Heavy Industries Ltd. in the mid-1970s, the tanker was destined for a Greek customer. However, he refused to buy: during the tests, a strong vibration of the hull was found while swimming in reverse. As a result, the ship was resold to a Hong Kong company and rebuilt: its displacement at full load reached an absolute record - 657,018 tons. During its long life, the ship changed owners and names several times, it was Happy Giant, Jahre Viking, Knock Nevis, Mont, went under Liberian, Norwegian, American and Sierra Leone flags.
In 1986, the Seawise Giant was nearly destroyed during the Iran-Iraq war. A missile fired by an Iraqi fighter caused a fire on board, the crew was evacuated, and the ship ran aground in the Strait of Hormuz and was considered sunken. The Norwegians found it, repaired it and sent it on a new voyage. Since 2004, the world's largest tanker has ceased to be a floating tanker and has been used as an oil storage near Qatar. In 2009, he made his last trip to the shores of India and was dismantled for scrap. After the disposal of the giant, the largest supertankers are four double-hulled TI-class ships: Oceania, Africa, Asia and Europe. They have a length of 380 m and outperform their competitors in deadweight of 441,585 tons.
Stadium running track
Length - 400 m, width - 58.6 m, deadweight - 184,605 tons, capacity - 19,100 teu (1 teu is a standard 20-foot container). Launched in 2014.
In January 2015, the world's longest container ship CSCL Globe made its maiden voyage from China to Europe. It was built by the South Korean shipyard Hyundai Heavy Industries and is owned by the Chinese company China Shipping Container Lines. Although this ship is the largest among container ships (it could run 400 m races), it is inferior in terms of carrying capacity to another giant: MSC Oscar, which was also recently built in South Korea for an Italian company and can carry 124 containers more. The difference is small, but the Chinese container ship has a longer length and the most powerful engine in the world: a MAN diesel engine with a capacity of 77,200 hp is hidden in the engine compartment of the ship. With. and a height of 17.2 m. Korean shipbuilders are not going to stop there and predict the emergence of new giant container ships.
Four statues of liberty
Length - 382 m, width - 124 m, deadweight - 48,000 tons. Launched in 2013.
The catamaran Pioneering Spirit, which until February 2015 was called Pieter Schelte, is the absolute champion in terms of deck area. The creators claim that a small town can fit on it. In length, four statues of Liberty (93 m with a pedestal) could be laid. The ship was built in South Korea according to the project of a Finnish company. Its function is the laying of underwater pipelines and the movement of drilling platforms. In January 2015, the ship arrived in Europe and has already become the center of controversy because of its name - in honor of the Nazi criminal Peter Schelte Heerm, an SS officer who was found guilty of war crimes and evaded punishment by deceit. Seeing the gigantic ship with that name in Rotterdam, the Jewish communities of Great Britain and Holland raised a fuss, as a result of which even the British government spoke out in favor of renaming the ship. Under public pressure, the head of Allseas, which owns the miracle ship, and Peter Schelte's own son, Edward Heerma, agreed not to use his father's name in the name of the catamaran and changed it to the neutral Pioneering Spirit.
whole city
Length - 362 m, width - 60 m, deadweight - 19,750 tons. Launched in 2009.
The largest cruise ship, Allure of the Seas, has a capacity of 6,296 passengers and 2,384 crew members. Made in Finland by the Norwegian company STX Europe, it is owned by the US-Norwegian company Royal Caribbean International and runs between the US and Europe. A whole city is placed on board: 2700 cabins, a park with live trees and flowers, an ice rink, an aquatic theater, a climbing wall, a theater for 1380 spectators, as well as shops, bars, restaurants, baths, saunas, etc. It is noteworthy that this ship has the twin of the same class is the cruise ship Oasis of the Seas. However, Allure of the Seas is 5 cm longer. The price for a 12-day sailing across the Atlantic from Fort Lauderdale to Barcelona starts from 53,600 rubles.
Six Leaning Towers of Pisa
Length - 362 m, width - 65 m, deadweight - 402,347 tons. Launched in 2010.
The largest bulk carriers for transporting ore are called Valemax: this is a series of ships of the Brazilian mining company Vale SA. Seven ore carriers were ordered by this company in South Korea and 12 more in China. The pioneer among the twins was the Vale Brasil, later renamed Ore Brasil, launched in 2010 to transport ore from Brazil to Asia. This bulk carrier replaces 11,150 ore-carriers, burns almost 97 tons of fuel per day and ranks second among ships in terms of deadweight, giving way to TI-class ships. Due to its size, it can moor only in some deep-water ports in Brazil, China and Europe. It could easily fit six Leaning Towers of Pisa, if laid out in length.
90 aircraft
Length - 342 m, width - 78.4 m, displacement - 94,781 tons. Commissioned in 1961, decommissioned in 2012.
The American aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVN-65) was the longest aircraft carrier in the world and was also the world's first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. The maximum capacity was 5828 people, up to 90 aircraft could be on board at the same time, but usually 60 were placed. The total ammunition capacity was 2520 tons. Initially, it was planned to create six such machines, but due to the high price ($ 451 million), it remained the only one of its kind - its feature was not only the size, but also the presence of eight reactors of the A2W type.
The aircraft carrier has become a symbol of US naval power and has been used in almost all wars and conflicts involving this country: in the Caribbean crisis, in the Vietnam War in 1965, in Iraq in 1998, in Afghanistan in 2001, in the Iraq War of the 2000s , in the fight against Somali pirates in 2011.
During its long life, the aircraft carrier went to sea 25 times, made one circumnavigation (in 1964), set a record for the number of sorties from a ship (65 in one day in 1965) and almost exploded in 1969, when on board an unplanned self-launch of aerial bombs occurred, which provoked the scattering of missiles and the destruction of 15 aircraft. Then 27 people died, 314 people were injured, and the damage to the ship was estimated at $ 6.4 million. However, the miracle aircraft carrier was restored and continued to sail until it was decommissioned in 2012. Its full disposal is scheduled for 2016.
The largest ship in the world November 30th, 2016
Until today, I considered the largest ship or for example
As time goes by, technologies evolve. It so happened that the glory of the largest ships was fixed behind container ships and supertankers. But much less visible ships, designed to perform technical and production work, have long surpassed them in these parameters. And depending on the set goals, they become more and more.
Launched a new record holder vessel "Pioneer" (Pioneering Spirit), owned by a Swiss company - a giant construction catamaran, which has no analogues in modern shipbuilding.
Let's take a closer look at how and why this wave lord was built, the width of which exceeds the length of a football field.
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The pioneer is a ship of gigantic proportions. Reaching 124 meters in width and 382 in length, it is equal in its parameters to the famous Empire State Building, and its width exceeds the length of a football field. Carrying capacity is great even for ships of the same type - 48 thousand tons. The cost of the project is also on a record and is almost 3 billion dollars.
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Unlike oil tankers or container ships, crane ships specialize in the transport of multi-ton cargo and take part in offshore construction. This vessel will be used to install oil and gas platforms.
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The customer of the world's largest crane ship is the Allseas company, which is not going to stop there: the next ship built by them will be 160 meters wide and 400 meters long. The new vessel will be commissioned no later than 2020. The giants are being built at shipyards in South Korea.
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Built in the docks of South Korea, the Pioneer was sent to Rotterdam for final fine-tuning and launching. From the Maasflakte-2 zone, where a special dry dock was built for the new ship, the giant marine crane will go to Cape Town, and then on its first mission.
The catamaran is operated by a team of 571 people, including sailors, engineers, specialists in lifting and installing offshore drilling platforms and support staff.
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The world's largest ship cost its owners Allseas Corporation $1.7 billion, and the project was designed by Finnish shipbuilders Deltamarin. The contract for the creation of a giant ship by Allseas Corporation was signed in June 2010, after which the development of design documentation and the laying of a huge ship in South Korea at the Daewoo Shipbuilding Marine Engineering shipyard began. In 2013, the world's largest ship Pieter Schelte was launched.
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Thanks to the use of a catamaran-type hull, the dimensions of the newest ship turned out to be impressive: the maximum length is 382 m, the width is 117 m. This design made it possible to place its own infrastructure on the deck of the floating city, as well as the ability to transport a small oil platform.
The power plant of the vessel includes eight diesel engines with a capacity of 15640 hp. and thirteen Rolls-Royse diesel generators with a total capacity of 97,000 hp.
It is noteworthy that the ship was originally named after Peter Schelte Heerem, a marine engineer, father of the founder of Allseas, and, concurrently, a Nazi criminal. During World War II, Peter Schelte served in the Waffen-SS, and after the end of the war, a Dutch court sentenced Heerem to three years in prison for war crimes. At the end of last year, the provocative name was changed, and the ship became the "Pioneer".
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The largest ship in the world is equipped with three deck cranes with a lifting capacity of 50 tons and one with a lifting capacity of 600 tons. The diameter of the laid pipes ranges from 2 to 68 inches, and pipes with a total weight of 27,000 tons can be placed in a special cargo compartment.
The world's largest vessel is equipped with a modern dynamic positioning system and is designed to transport, install and commission drilling platforms. The maximum carrying capacity of the world's widest vessel is 48,000 tons. To do this, he was equipped with a unique 65-meter-high killer system, made by special order in Italy.
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The owners have high hopes for the newest vessel, and they are confident that it will break all records for the depth and speed of laying pipes, for this it has all the necessary equipment. In particular, seven automatic welding stations and six stations for applying a protective layer on pipes will be installed along the entire length of the world's largest ship. It is also already known that Allseas intends to order a second multifunctional vessel, which will be larger than its predecessor. The commissioning of the world's largest ship is planned for 2020, and its main purpose will be the installation and dismantling of the largest oil and gas platforms.
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which can become a home for 30,000 people, as well as accommodate an airport, a casino and several shopping centers.
Freedom Ship International Inc., headquartered in Florida, hopes to collect 1 billion dollars for the construction of a huge ship, which will become the world's first city on the water.
The ship will be approximately 1 370 meters, have 25 decks and will weigh no less 2.7 million tons.
The floating city will also have schools, hospitals, business centers, parks, places for walking, landscape architecture and even salt water aquariums.
In addition, the ship will have enough space for 30,000 daily visitors, 20,000 crew members and 10,000 city residents.
According to the company, Freedom Ship will continuously sail around the world. The company also said that it had already managed to raise the initial amount to start the project.
Nevertheless, to insure against unexpected situations, the company's management considered that it was necessary to wait a while and collect an additional amount of money before starting the construction of the ship.
It should be noted that in order to supply all premises with electricity, the ship will be equipped with a huge number of solar panels and wind power generators.
Unfortunately, they will not be able to power the entire vessel, which means that about 70% of the time, the city on the water will be anchored next to offshore offshore wind farms.
The largest ships in the world
10. Roman Abramovich's yacht is the largest private yacht in the world, with a length of 162.5 meters and a weight of 13,000 tons.
9. The world's largest nuclear-powered icebreaker bears the name 50 years of victory. It is 159.60 meters long and has a displacement of 25,168 tons. The vessel is equipped with the latest digital automatic control system. Also, an ecological compartment was created on the icebreaker, which boasts equipment for the collection and disposal of waste products of a new generation ship.
8. Some of the largest ships are those designed to carry other ships. One of these ships is named after Dockwise Vanguard. Its length is 275 meters and it is capable of carrying cargo with a total weight of 110,000 tons.
7. Yamatowas a battleship of the Japanese Imperial Navy during World War II. It was the largest warship in the world, reaching a length of 256 meters.
6. Gemini Allure of the Seas And Oasis of the Seas, built by Royal Caribbean, are the largest passenger ships in the world, capable of carrying over 225,000 tons. The length of each is 362 meters. Technically, Allure of the Seas is 50 mm longer than its brother.
5. Gemini FSO Asia And FSO Europe are supertankers capable of carrying cargo with a total weight of more than 236,000 tons. The length of each is 380 meters. Since they are too large to generate the desired income, for the moment the ships serve as floating platforms.
4. Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller has a length of 399 meters and a width of 59 meters. Its goal is to pave the trade route between Asia and Europe, thereby giving way to millions of products from China, Malaysia and Korea. The vessel can fit 18,000 containers, each measuring 6,096mm x 2,370mm x 2,591mm - enough to carry 36,000 vehicles.
3. Knock Nevis(also known as the Seawise Giant, Happy Giant and Jahre Viking) is a huge supertanker measuring 458.45 meters long and 69 meters wide. It was the largest ship in the world until it was scrapped in 2010. In its last years, the ship was used as a floating oil storage. One was so big that it couldn't swim across the English Channel.
2. Supertanker Pierre Guillaumat was no larger than Knock Nevis, having a length of 414.23 meters and a displacement of 274,838 tons. It was built and launched in 1977. Like all other supertankers of that time, the ship was too large. It could not sail through the Panama and Suez canals, and had to sail by detours. The ship completed its work in 1983.
1. freedom ship only a project for now, but once implemented, it will be large enough to accommodate an airport capable of handling a Boeing 737.
The biggest store in the world
In China, you can find the largest shopping center in the world. It's called New Century Global Center, and it has everything and even more - in addition to the usual shops and cinemas, there is an artificial Mediterranean village.
The height of the center is 100m, the length is 500m and the width is 400m. The building was officially opened on June 28, 2013.
It is worth noting that the area of the shopping center is slightly smaller than the area of the state of Monaco, and approximately 3 times the area of the Vatican.
Humans have long sought to create something great by raising the bar over and over again and engaging in an ongoing display of superiority and power. Each new creation, structure or mechanism had to be stronger, faster, higher, wider, larger and more durable than the previous ones. The military industry is no exception. Since ancient times, the strength of the navy largely determined the winner of the battle and clearly demonstrated the alignment of forces. Civilizations constantly fought for fertile land and influence in strategically advantageous sea basins. As a result, thousands of magnificent and amazing ships have been built over the past centuries, designed to testify to the military power of their country. In this compilation, 25 of the largest warships ever launched are waiting for you.
25. America-class amphibious assault ships
America is a huge assault ship and one of the largest ships in the US Navy. So far, only one ship of this configuration exists, and that is USS America, built in 2014. The length of the vessel is 257 meters, and its displacement is about 45,000 tons!
24. Shokaku-class warship
Photo: wikimedia.org
Both Shokaku-class aircraft carriers were built for the Imperial Japanese Navy in the late 1930s. The construction of the ships was completed shortly before the outbreak of World War II in 1941, and these ships were at one time considered in fact "undoubtedly the best aircraft carriers in the world." The Shokaku-class vessel was 257.5 meters long. Both giants were sunk by the enemy in 1944.
23. Audacious-class ships
Photo: anonymous, 09 HMS Eagle Mediterranean Jan1970
The Audacious-class aircraft carriers were designed by military engineers for the British government in the 1930s and 1940s. They failed to show in practice during the fight against Nazi Germany, since the construction of these ships was completed after the end of World War II. The Audacious warships participated in exercises and strategic operations from 1951 to 1979. The length of such a vessel was 257.6 meters.
22. Taiho-class aircraft carrier
Photo: wikimedia.org
Taiho was first launched in 1941, and it was an aircraft carrier of the Empire of Japan, built to participate in the battles of World War II. The total length of the ship was 260.6 meters, and its design assumed invulnerability even in the face of massive bombardment, torpedoing and other hull attacks. The aircraft carrier Taiho was supposed to be able to continue the battle in any conditions, but in 1944 she managed to sink everything. The ship sank after a direct hit by a torpedo fired by the American submarine USS Albacore during a fierce battle in the Philippine Sea.
21. Warship Akagi
Photo: wikimedia.org
There were many glorious ships in the Japanese navy, and Akagi is another famous aircraft carrier of this Asian empire, which served it from 1927 to 1942. The ship distinguished itself first in the Second Sino-Japanese War of the 1930s, and then during World War II in the legendary attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941. The last battle of the aircraft carrier was the Battle of Midway Atoll in June 1942. Akagi was seriously injured in the battle, and his captain decided to sink the ship himself, which was a common practice among the captains of the Japanese Navy in those years. The length of the ship was 261.2 meters.
20. Charles de Gaulle-class warship
Photo: wikimedia.org
Let's go straight to the numbers - the length of the French flagship Charles de Gaulle is 261.5 meters, and its displacement is 42,500 tons. To date, this warship is considered the largest warship in all of Western Europe, still launched to participate in exercises and strategic operations. The flagship Charles de Gaulle was commissioned for the first time in 1994, and today this nuclear-powered vessel remains the leading aircraft carrier of the French Navy.
19. Ship INS Vikrant
Photo: Indian Navy
Here is the first aircraft carrier built in India. The length of this warship is 262 meters, and it is about 40,000 tons. Vikrant is still in the process of fitting out and is scheduled for completion in 2023. The name of the aircraft carrier from the Indian language is translated as "courageous" or "daring".
18. English warship HMS Hood
Photo: wikipedia.org
And this is one of the oldest warships on our list of the largest naval ships in the world. HMS Hood was the last battlecruiser built for the British Royal Navy. Launched in August 1918, HMS Hood was 262.3 meters long and boasted a displacement of 46,680 tons. The impressive cruiser was sunk by the Germans during World War II in the Battle of Denmark Strait in 1941.
17. Graf Zeppelin-class warship
Photo: wikipedia.org
The four Graf Zeppelin-class ships were to become Kriegsmarine ships (Kriegsmarine, the German navy of the Third Reich era), and their construction was planned as early as the 1930s. However, due to political disagreements between the German Navy and the Luftwaffe (Luftwaffe, the air force in the Reichswehr, Wehrmacht and Bundeswehr), due to disagreements among the highest ranks of the Kriegsmarine itself, and because Adolf Hitler lost interest in this project, none of these impressive aircraft carriers was never launched. As planned by the engineers, the length of such a ship was to be 262.5 meters.
16. Yamato-class warships 
Photo: wikimedia.org
The Yamato-class ships were Imperial Japanese Navy warships built and launched during World War II. The maximum displacement of these giants was 72,000 tons, for which they are still considered one of the heaviest warships in the history of the navy of the whole world. The total length of the Yamato-class vessel was 263 meters, and although 5 of these warships were originally planned, only 3 were eventually completed.
15. Clemenceau-class vessel
Photo: wikimedia.org
The Clemenceau-class aircraft carriers were a pair of warships that served with the French Navy from 1961 to 2000. In 2000, one of these aircraft carriers, Clemenceau, was disarmed and dismantled, and the second, Foch, was transferred to the Brazilian Navy. The aircraft carrier Foch remains in the port of Sao Paolo to this day. Its total length is 265 meters.
14 Essex Aircraft Carriers 
Photo: wikimedia.org
Here is the foremost power of the US Navy during World War II, the Essex-class aircraft carrier. In the 20th century, this type of warship was the most common type of large warship. There were 24 of them in total, and 4 of these aircraft carriers are now open to the public as floating museums of the history of the American Navy. So if you happen to go to the states and want to get on board a real battle cruiser, the ships Yorktown, Intrepid, Hornet and Lexington will happily open the veil of military secrets of the mid-20th century for you.
13. Combat aircraft carrier Shinano
Photo: wikimedia.org
Shinano was a huge aircraft carrier that served in the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. The ship was 266.1 meters long and weighed 65,800 tons. However, the Japanese rushed to launch it, because at that time Shinano still needed design work. Probably for this reason, the giant aircraft carrier lasted only 10 days in the war and was sunk at the end of 1944.
12. Iowa-class warship
Photo: wikipedia.org
Fast battleships of the Iowa class were built by order of the US Navy in 1939 and 1940 in the amount of 6 combat units. As a result, only 4 out of 6 ships were launched, but all of them took part in a number of important confrontations for America, including World War II, the Korean and Vietnam Wars. The length of these artillery armored ships was 270 meters, and the displacement was 45,000 tons.
11. Lexington-class aircraft carrier
Photo: wikipedia.org
In total, 2 such aircraft carriers were built, and both ships were designed by order of the US Navy in the 1920s. This class of ships performed very well and was seen in many battles. One of these warships was the aircraft carrier Lexington, which was sunk by the enemy during the Battle of the Coral Sea in 1942. The second ship, the Saratoga, was blown up during an atomic bomb test in 1946.
10. Kiev-class warship
Photo: wikimedia.org
Also known as Project 1143 or the aircraft carrier Krechet, the Kyiv-class ship was the first Soviet aircraft carrier to transport fixed-wing aircraft. To date, of the 4 ships built, one has been dismantled, 2 are out of order, and the last, Admiral Gorshkov, was sold to the Indian Navy, where it is still in service.
9. Queen Elizabeth class warship
Photo: UK Department of Defense, flickr
She is one of two Queen Elizabeth class ships and both are still in the process of fitting out for the Royal Navy. The first ship is HMS Queen Elizabeth, and all work on its construction will be completed in 2017, the second - HMS Prince of Wales, which is scheduled to be launched in 2020. The length of the hull of HMS aircraft carriers is 284 meters each, and the maximum displacement is 70,600 tons.
8. Ship type Admiral Kuznetsov
Photo: Mil.ru
The Admiral Kuznetsov-class aircraft carriers were the last warships of their kind built for the Soviet Navy. In total, 2 ships of this class are known, and this is the Admiral Kuznetsov board (launched in 1990, still in the ranks of the Russian Navy), as well as Liaoning (sold to China, construction was completed in 2012). The hull length of aircraft carriers of this class is 302 meters.
7. Midway class aircraft carrier
Photo: wikimedia.org
The Midway-class aircraft-carrying cruiser project proved to be one of the most reliable and enduring design solutions in the history of the Navy. The first flagship of this type, launched in 1945, was the USS Midway, which served the US Army until 1992. The last task of the vessel was participation in the operation "in the desert" in 1991. Another ship of this class is the USS Franklin D. Roosevelt and was retired from service in 1977. A third aircraft carrier, USS Coral Sea, was placed on standby in 1990.
6. USS John F. Kennedy
Photo: wikipedia.org
Secondly nicknamed Big John, the aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy is one of a kind and the last non-nuclear US Navy ship. The vessel reaches 320 meters in length, and once it was even capable of conducting combat operations against submarines.
5. Forrestal-class warship
Photo: wikipedia.org
Here is one of 4 Forrestal-class aircraft carriers, designed and built specifically for the US Army in the 1950s. The ships Forrestal, Saratoga, Ranger and Independence were the first supercarriers to combine significant displacement, elevators and a corner deck. Their length is 325 meters, and the maximum weight is 60,000 tons.
4. Combat ship Kitty Hawk
Photo: wikipedia.org
The Kitty Hawk class was the next generation of US Navy supercarriers after the Forrestal class. 3 ships were built in this line (Kitty Hawk, Constellation, America), all of them were ready for launching in the 1960s, and today they have already been decommissioned. The hull length is 327 meters.
3. Nimitz-class aircraft carrier
Photo: wikimedia.org
The Nimitz ships are 10 nuclear-powered supercarriers belonging to the American Navy. With an overall length of 333 meters and a maximum displacement of over 100,000 tons, these vessels are considered the world's largest warships underway. They have taken part in many battles around the world, including Operation Eagle Claw in Iran, the Gulf War, and the recent conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
2. Warship Gerald R. Ford
Photo: wikimedia.org
This type of ship is planned to replace some of the still operational Nimitz-class supercarriers. The hull of the new vessels will be very similar to the Nimitz cruisers, but in terms of technical equipment, the Gerald R. Ford class will be much more modern. In particular, such innovations as an electromagnetic catapult for launching aircraft and many other technological solutions are already planned to increase the efficiency of the ship and reduce the cost of its operation. The Gerald R. Ford aircraft carriers will be slightly longer than the Nimitz class, at 337 meters.
1. Combat vessel USS Enterprise
Photo: wikimedia.org
Here is the leader of our list and the first supercarrier with a nuclear power plant. USS Enterprise is the longest (342 meters) and most famous warship in the world. It has served the US Army for 51 years and is therefore also considered one of the longest lasting US aircraft carriers. The USS Enterprise saw action in many battles including the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Vietnam War, and the Korean War. In addition, this cruiser took part in the filming of feature films. For example, some scenes from Star Trek and Top Gun (Star Trek) were filmed on the deck of the USS Enterprise, which is rightfully considered the largest American aircraft carrier and one of the 10 most dangerous warships on the planet.
Oceans and seas occupy most of the surface of our planet. To move on them, mankind has been building various ships for many millennia, and some of them are truly gigantic in size. The largest ships in the world are usually cargo ships, tankers or container ships. But among other types of ships in the world, there are those that deserve interest when it comes to the largest ship. Therefore, the top 10 largest ships below include relatively modest in size compared to tankers, but the largest ships in their class (military, passenger, sailing).
1. Prelude
Although this ship is not yet in operation, it already rightfully bears the title of the largest ship in the world. The dimensions of its hull, which has already been launched in 2013, are amazing. The vessel is 488 m long and 78 m wide. With such gigantic dimensions, the cargo ship has a displacement of 600,000 tons. This is not quite a cargo ship, but the world's first floating platform designed for the production, liquefaction and subsequent transportation of natural gas. The giant is being built by the order of Royal Dutch Shell by the South Korean corporation Samsung Heavy Industries.
Full completion of construction is scheduled for 2017. The floating leviathan, which produces and processes gas independently, cannot go by sea; tugboats will be used for this. The place of the future work of the platform is Western Australia, 295 km east of the city of Broome. The cost of building the ship is $12 billion, and the estimated period of operation is 25 years. The design of the vessel is designed to withstand the most powerful cyclones that exist in nature, for this it has three shunting engines with a capacity of 6700 hp. With. every. With the help of them, during storms, the ship will turn to the required position. The capacity of the floating plant is 3,600,000 tons of liquefied gas per year.
2 Seawise Giant (Knock Nevis)
If the previous largest ship in the world represents the future of shipbuilding, then this largest ship in history has already been decommissioned and cut up for scrap. A giant 458.5 m long and 69 m wide was built in 1976, its displacement was almost 565 thousand tons. Its colossal dimensions did not allow it to pass through the Panama and Suez canals and even through the English load line was 24.6 m.
The maximum speed of the tanker, due to its size, was relatively small, 13 knots or 21.1 km / h, but even so, the stopping distance of the ship was 10.2 km, and the turning circle of the vessel was 3.7 km. Initially, in 1976, the ship, built by the Japanese Sumitomo Heavy Industries (SHI), was named Oppama. Then its dimensions were more modest, length - 376.7 m, displacement - 418.6 thousand tons. Later, the new owner of the ship, the Orient Overseas Line company from Hong Kong, ordered the restructuring of the ship, a cylindrical insert was added to it, and the ship acquired its final record size. In 1981, the ship was named Seawise Giant and began to sail the ocean under the Liberian flag carrying crude oil.
In 1986, during the Iran-Iraq conflict, the tanker ran aground due to damage from an anti-ship missile. After the war, it was bought and restored by the Norwegian Norman International, the ship was renamed the Happy Giant. Even before it was put into operation in 1991, it was again resold to the Norwegian shipping company Loki Stream AS, so when the ship left the shipyard in Singapore, it received another new name Jahre Viking. The tanker received its last name Knock Nevis in 2004 after it was purchased by the Norwegian company First Olsen Tankers Pte, since this year it has been anchored and it has ceased to be a transport vessel. The giant made its last voyage in 2009 to the shores of India, where it was disposed of in 2010. One of his 36-ton anchors can be seen today at the Hong Kong Maritime Museum.
It is currently the world's longest operating ship. This is a container ship with a length of 397 m, it is one of 8 vessels of the E-Class series built by the Moller-Maersk Group. The displacement of the ship is 157 thousand tons, it was launched in 2006. Its main purpose is the transportation of goods between Southeast Asia and Northern Europe through the Suez and Gibraltar Canals.
The ship is capable of carrying up to 11,000 typical 20-foot containers (with cargo), its carrying capacity is 123,000 tons. The power of its huge diesel plant is 109,000 liters. s, and its mass is 2300 tons, thanks to it the ship can go across the ocean at a speed of 25.5 knots. On average, a large commercial vessel travels a total distance of just over 300,000 km a year.
Today, the vessels of this series are the largest ships in operation in terms of displacement, which is 441.6 thousand tons. They have a double hull, which is dictated by modern environmental requirements for ships carrying environmentally hazardous bulk cargo. A total of 4 ships of this series were built, 2 of which, TI Europe and TI Oceania, sail the ocean, and 2 were turned into floating platforms to ensure the operation of the field near Qatar. The length of the vessels is 380 m.
5. Ore trucks Vale
These are the largest dry cargo ships operated in modern times. The displacement of the largest vessels of this series reaches 400 thousand tons, and the length is 362 m. All vessels of the Vale family are owned by the Brazilian mining corporation of the same name. They are mainly used to transport iron ore to the US from Brazilian deposits.
Today, the fleet of super-ore carriers consists of 31 ships with a displacement of 380 to 400 thousand tons. Four of the largest ships were recently chartered to China's largest dry-cargo fleet operator COSCO for 25 years. The advantage of Vale vessels is their low diesel fuel consumption and low carbon dioxide emissions per ton of ore, when compared with conventional ore carriers with a displacement of up to 200,000 tons.
This is the largest passenger ship, its length is 362 m, and the displacement is 19.8 thousand tons. It has a twin ship - the Oasis in the Seas cruise ship, which is 50 mm shorter. Allure of the Seas was launched as recently as 2008. The cruise ship has a crew of 2,100 and a maximum passenger capacity of 6,400. On board the ship are:
- a park with exotic trees and shrubs;
- a variety of sports facilities (ice rink, golf course, basketball and volleyball courts, bowling, etc.);
- swimming pools with jacuzzi;
- shops, casinos and more.
7. Aircraft carrier USS Enterprise
This is the largest warship in the world. The length of the aircraft carrier is 342 m, and the width is 78.4 m. This is the first warship of this type with a nuclear power plant (8 reactors). The Enterprise entered service in 1961. It was originally planned to build 5 ships of this type, but due to the enormous cost ($451 million) and a number of other reasons, the largest warships of this modification decided not to be replicated. In 2012, the aircraft carrier made its last 8-month sea voyage. The crew of the ship was 3000 people, the number of aviation personnel - 1800 people, up to 90 aircraft and helicopters could be located on the aircraft carrier.
If we talk about huge military ships, then Russia also has its own large aircraft carrier - this is the heavy aircraft-carrying cruiser Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union Kuznetsov. It is 306 meters long and 72 meters wide. If we talk about the operating fleet, then at present it is second in size only to aircraft carriers of the Nimitz type, their length is almost 333 m.
This is the largest steamship ever built. Its length was 211 m, and the displacement was 22.5 thousand tons. The ship was launched in 1857. From the very beginning of its operation, it was firmly entrenched in notoriety, what other ship, except for the one pursued by misfortunes, could in just two years:
- cause the death of several dozen workers during launching;
- get damaged due to the explosion of the steam engine during the first passage;
- hit the rock.
The crew of the ship was 418 people, and the passenger capacity was 4,000 people. The steamer was propelled by two paddle wheels powered by a 3650 hp steam engine. With. and a 4-bladed propeller powered by a 4000 hp steam engine. With. In addition, the ship could go by sea under sails fixed on 6 masts.
9. Project 941 Shark submarines
These are the largest submarines of our time. The length of the submarines of this series is almost 173 m, and the underwater displacement is 48 thousand tons. Their colossal dimensions, first of all, were determined by the dimensions of the main armament - intercontinental solid-propellant three-stage ballistic missiles.
The submarine is propelled by two water-cooled nuclear reactors with a capacity of 190 MW each (shaft power 2 × 50 thousand hp) and two steam turbine plants. In addition, the ship has two standby DC electric motors and a thruster, consisting of two folding columns driven by electric motors. The crew of the submarine - 160 people.
This five-masted barque, launched by the French in 1912, is the largest sailing ship in history, its length was 146.2 m and a displacement of 10.7 thousand tons. The ship was used to transport goods (wool, ore, coal) across around the world. In 1922, near New Caledonia, the ship hit the reefs and was abandoned by the owners. In 1944, during the bombing, it was destroyed.
Any ship presented in our TOP 10 largest ships can be called engineering creations. Of course, gigantic dimensions are not the goal for which these ships were designed and built. The dimensions of the ships are determined, first of all, by the tasks that huge ships had to solve or solve.
