Pierre Guillaumat a Supertanker Ever Built

Pierre Guillaumat was a supertanker, in-built 1977 by Chantiers de l'Atlantique at Saint-Nazaire for Compagnie Nationale de Navigation. Pierre Guillaumat, which was the third vessel of Batillus class supertankers (the other three, slightly smaller, were Batillus, Bellamya and Prairial), is distinguished as the biggest ship ever constructed, surpassed in measurement solely by Seawise Big[5][6] (later Jahre Viking, Completely satisfied Large and Knock Nevis) in-built 1976, and solely subsequently lengthened, though the four ships of the Batillus class had a larger gross tonnage.

Named after the French politician and founding father of Elf Aquitaine oil industry, Pierre Guillaumat, the vessel was accomplished and put in service in 1977. As a consequence of unprofitability, accentuated by large dimensions of the ship, which placed restrictions on the place she could possibly be employed, the Pierre Guillaumat was placed on hold at Fujairah anchorage since February 2, 1983,[2] and later that 12 months, bought by the Hyundai Company, and renamed Ulsan Grasp, she arrived at Ulsan, South Korea for demolition on October 19, 1983.

Due to her gigantic proportions the usability of the Pierre Guillaumat was very limited. She couldn't move by means of both the Panama or Suez canals. Due to her draft, she may enter a minimal number of ports on the earth, and was therefore moored on offshore rigs, and oil terminals like Antifer and after off-loading to reduce her draft, at Europoort.

Pierre Guillaumat  Technical data

Length total was 414.23 m, beam 63.05 m, draft 28.603 m, deadweight tonnage 555,051, and gross tonnage 274,838. Propulsion was offered by two propellers each driven by two Stal-Laval steam generators developing a complete power of sixty five,000 Hp. The service pace was 16.7 knots, with gasoline consumption of about 330 tonnes of heavy oil per day and gasoline sufficient for 42 days.

The cargo was carried in forty tanks with a total quantity of 677,300 m3. They have been divided into central and lateral tanks, whose dimensions was designed to scale back significantly the risk of air pollution brought on by collision or grounding. Ahead of the international requirements of the time, the wing tanks had a most unit volume not exceeding 17,000 m3, which was reduced to 9,000 m3 in the most vulnerable parts of ship.

Seawise Giant

Seawise Giant, later Glad Giant, Jahre Viking, and Knock Nevis, was a ULCC supertanker and the longest ship ever constructed, and possessed the greatest deadweight tonnage ever recorded. Fully laden, her displacement was 657,019 tonnes (646,642 lengthy tons; 724,239 quick tons), the heaviest ship of any form, and with a draft of 24.6 m (81 ft), she was incapable of navigating the English Channel, the Suez Canal or the Panama Canal. Overall, she was generally thought of the biggest ship ever constructed, as well as the most important self-propelled man made object ever built. She was final used as a floating storage and offloading unit (FSO) moored off the coast of Qatar within the Persian Gulf on the Al Shaheen Oil Field.



The vessel was offered to Indian ship breakers, and renamed Mont for her remaining journey in December 2009. After clearing Indian customs, she was sailed to, and intentionally beached at Alang, Gujarat, India for demolition.

Seawise Large was in-built 1979 by Sumitomo Heavy Industries, Ltd. at their Oppama shipyard in Yokosuka, Kanagawa, Japan as a 418,000 ton ULCC to be named the Porthos by a Greek owner. Nevertheless, after the vessel was launched, he failed to take supply, and it was christened Oppama by S.H.I.

The shipyard exercised its right to promote the vessel and a deal was brokered with Hong Kong Orient Overseas Container Line founder C. Y. Tung to elongate the ship by a number of metres and add 156,000 metric tons of cargo capacity by way of jumboisation. Two years later she was relaunched as Seawise Giant.

After the refit, the ship had a capacity of 564,763 metric tons deadweight (DWT), a length total of 458.45 metres (1,504.1 ft) and a draft of 24.611 metres (80.74 ft). She had forty six tanks, 31,541 square metres (339,500 sq ft) of deck house, and drew an excessive amount of water to pass by way of the English Channel. The rudder weighed 230 tons, the propeller 50 tons.

Seawise Giant was damaged during the Iran-Iraq Conflict by an Iraqi air force attack while transiting the Strait of Hormuz on 14 Could 1988 and carrying Iranian crude oil. She sank and was declared a complete loss.

Shortly after the Iran-Iraq battle, Norman International bought the wreckage of the ship and repaired her. She was renamed Completely happy Big after the repairs. These repairs were completed at the Keppel Company shipyard in Singapore after towing her from the Persian Gulf. She entered service in October 1991 as Pleased Giant.

Jørgen Jahre 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., renamed Knock Nevis, and converted into a permanently moored storage tanker in the Qatar Al Shaheen oil discipline within the Persian Gulf.

Knock Nevis was renamed Mont, and reflagged with Sierra Leone by new house owners Amber Development Company, for her ultimate voyage to India in January 2010 the place she was scrapped. Her 36 tonne anchor was saved and despatched to the Hong Kong Maritime Museum for exhibition.


Size comparison of Knock Nevis, ex-Seawise Giant (in red) and other ships and buildings:

•   The Pentagon, 431 m
•   RMS Queen Mary 2, 345 m
•   USS Enterprise (CVN-65), 342 m
•   Hindenburg, 245 m
•   Yamato, 263 m
•   Empire State Building, 443 m
•   Knock Nevis, ex-Seawise Giant, 458 m

Seawise Giant was the longest ship ever constructed, longer than the height of most of the world's tallest buildings. Though slightly smaller than Taipei 101 at 509.2 metres (1,671 ft) and the Willis Tower at 527.3 metres (1,730 ft) from street stage to high of antenna, she was larger than the Petronas Twin Towers at 452 metres (1,483 ft).

Regardless of her nice length, Seawise Large was not the most important ship by gross tonnage, ranking fifth at 260,941 GT, behind the 4 274,838 to 275,276 GT Batillus-class supertankers. Batillus class ships and Seawise Large have been the biggest self-propelled objects ever constructed.

Seawise Giant was featured on the BBC sequence Jeremy Clarkson's Excessive Machines whereas she was beneath method as Jahre Viking. In response to her captain, S. K. Mohan, she may attain up to 16.5 knots (30.6 km/h) in good weather, it took 5.5 miles (8.9 km) to stop from that pace, and the turning circle in clear climate was about 2 miles (3.2 km).