Tanker Knock Nevis: history, characteristics

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

Knock Nevis is the largest tanker in the world, also known as Jahre Viking, Happy Giant, Seawise Giant and Mont. The oil tanker was designed and built by the Japanese in 1974-1975, and has long been the largest ship ever built. In 2010, the "sea giant" was decommissioned and subsequently dismantled for scrap.

Record holder

The tanker Knock Nevis was the largest vessel built in the 20th century at 458 meters long. It had a volume of 260,851 register tons (RT), which corresponds to 738,208.3 m3. Only in 2013, the Prelude FLNG supertanker was manufactured in South Korea, whose length exceeded the previous record holder by 30 meters. However, in terms of displacement, it is significantly inferior to the giant from Japan (600,000 tons versus 657,000).

This ship is big enough to fit four football fields on deck. Its braking distance is about 3.5 miles (5.6 km), and at fullloading sediment in water reaches 80 feet (more than 24 meters).

After the catastrophic oil spill from the tanker Exxon Valdez in the waters of Alaska on March 27, 1989, the US government decided to use ships with a double bottom to transport petroleum products. Ships that do not meet these requirements are not allowed into US territorial waters. This initiative was supported by many countries. The manufacture of hulls of this design is very technically difficult, so some of the record-breaking characteristics of the Knock Nevis tanker will not be broken for a long time.

In the foreseeable future, ships of the “floating city” type may exceed the tonnage of the Japanese heavyweight. Some of the ship-city projects are already entering the implementation stage, but their practical implementation will take years and billions of dollars of investment.

Comparative data of tanker Knock Nevis

The ship, designed by the engineers of the Land of the Rising Sun, is one of the largest ships in the history of civilization. Even the mighty aircraft carriers seem less intimidating against its background. Comparative characteristics among its fellow supertankers:

• Knock Nevis (1975-2010): displacement - 657,018 tons, volume - 260,851 RT, length - 458.5 m.
• Prelude FLNG (2013): displacement - 600,000 tons, volume - 300,000 RT, length - 488 m.
• Pierre Guillaumat (1977-1983): displacement - 555,051 tons, volume - 274,838 RT, length - 414 m.
• Prairial (1979-2003): displacement - 554,974 tons, volume - 274,826 RT, length - 414 m.
• Battilus and Bellamya (1976-1986): displacement - 553,662 tons, volume - 273,550 RT, length - 414 m.
• Esso Atlantic and Esso Pacific (1977-2002): displacement - 516,000 tons, volume - 259,532 RT, length - 406 m.

The newest TI-class tankers, produced since 2002, are slightly inferior in performance to the "old guard". Their displacement is "only" 509,484 tons, volume - 234,006 RT, length - 380 m. However, it is not always advisable to build larger ships, since they will not be able to pass through the English Channel, the Suez and Panama Canals.

Creation

The construction of the tanker Knock Nevis began in 1974 by the Japanese company Sumitomo Heavy Industries in Osaka for the Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis. However, due to an oil embargo in the 1970s, the billionaire was declared bankrupt before the ship was even built.

The rights to the giant ship were bought by the Hong Kong shipowner Tang. He instructed the builders to increase its length and increase its carrying capacity from 480,000 to 564,763 tons. Since the tanker was actually already assembled, the hull had to be cut in half and an additional section welded in. Japanese specialists brilliantly coped with an unparalleled task. After launching in 1979, the ship was named Seawise Giant.

Specifications:

• Vessel type - oil tanker.
• Dimensions (length, width) - 458, 45/68, 86 m.
• The height of the sides above the waterline at maximum load is 24.6 m.
• Displacement - 657 018, 5 t.
• Deadweight (full load capacity including cargo, crew, food and water supplies) - 564,763 tons.
• The power of the power plants is 50,000 liters. s.
• Cruising speed - 30 km/h (16 knots).
• The number of crew members is 40 people.
• Braking distance - 5.6 km.

Getting Started

Originally, the tanker Knock Nevis delivered oil from fields in the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea to the United States. It was later transferred to the Persian Gulf to export oil from Iran. In the 1980s, a war broke out between neighbors Iran and Iraq. In 1986, the ship was attacked by Iraqi aircraft while moving through the Strait of Hormuz. Several Exocet missiles hit the ship. The tanker suffered enormous damage during the attack. It eventually sank in the shallow waters of Hark Island.

Rebirth

It would seem that the fate of the Seawise Giant was sealed. However, a few months after the end of the Iran-Iraq war, in August 1988, Norman International bought a sea tanker resting at the bottom. Specialists managed to lift it and tow it to the Keppel shipyard in Singapore. The ship was restored and renamed the Happy Giant in honor of the miraculous rescue.

Experts note that such a costly operation to lift and repair a supertanker was not due to economic feasibility, but to the prestige of owning the world's largest ship. Incidentally, almost allrecord-breaking supertankers built in the 1970s were scrapped by the early 2000s. The oil carrier outlived its "colleagues" for a good ten years.

Further destiny

In 1999, a deal was made to transfer the tanker Knock Nevis to Norway. In March 2004, she was sent by her new owner (First Olsen Tankers) to the dry docks of Dubai, where the ship was converted into a floating oil storage and offloading terminal. Under the name Nok Nevis, he began working at the Al Shaheen field in the waters of Qatar.

In December 2009, the tanker Knock Nevis was sold to Indian refiners for scrapping. To the place of the last mooring, the ship sailed under the name Mont. Upon arrival, the ship was deliberately grounded off the coast of the Indian state of Gujarat in the waters of the port of Alang. On January 4, 2010, the last official photo of Knock Nevis was taken, after which the dismantling of the legend of the seas began.

As a reminder of the giant supertanker's existence, its 36-tonne anchor is on display at the Hong Kong City Maritime Museum, People's Republic of China.