Want to know a ship bigger than the biggest ship mentioned in this article? You can read about it here.
Introduction
In our previous posts on the speeds of large container ships we saw that they were one of the biggies of the shipping world. However, there is one class of ships which are bigger than them too. Which ones are we talking about? The supertankers, of course.
Take a look at the comparative of the largest ships. The McKinney represents the container ship world and the Knock – Nevis represents the supertanker world.
Most of the biggest ships in the supertanker world were manufactured in the 70s at the peak of oil demand and movement through ocean and seaways. That also means that all the ships that we are now going to talk about are no more sailing; in fact, most of them have been scrapped as well.
That said, it’s quite interesting to know about the ships which could not even pass through the Suez and Panama Canal; and the largest of them all couldn’t pass through the English Channel as well. How’s that for size?
Let’s get on then.
Fastest: Pierre – Guillaumat
This is the second largest ship in the supertanker world. It is one of the fastest among the supertankers. The Pierre belongs to the Batillus class of supertankers built in France. In fact, this list is dominated by the Batillus class tankers. The Pierre though was the third ship in the group, it was slightly longer than the other three and that gives it the distinction of being the second largest ship instead of a joint largest.
See a video on the Batillus Class here
The Pierre could do a top speed of 31 kmph.
Second Fastest: Batillus
As stated earlier, this is another ship of the Batillus class and in fact, derives its name from the class name. Being the first of the four siblings, the Batillus is the flag-bearer of the class. It is the joint third largest ship along with its two other siblings, which we will see in a moment. The Batillus could do a top speed of 31 kmph.
Third Fastest: Bellamya
Bellamya was the second ship of the Batillus class, behind the Batillus. It was manufactured in response to Shell Oil’s need for the supertankers. It represents a class which could not sail through the Suez and Panama Canals. The Bellamya just like its sisters could do a 31 kmph.
Fourth Fastest: Prairial
The Prairial was lucky as compared to her other sisters. All of the ships that we read through till here, were out of service within 8 years of coming into service and few of them being scrapped within 10 years. The Prairial served till 2003 and had changed multiple hands during those years of ownership.
The Prairial could do a top speed of 31 kmph and could cruise at 30 kmph – not a vast difference between its top and cruising speed.
Fifth Fastest: Seawise Giant
This is the largest ship in the world and although coming in at number 5 due to its speed, in an article on the largest ship it would undoubtedly be at number 1.
This ship during its manufacturing years was much smaller in size and it was only its second owner who wanted to make it longer than its proportions of the time. That elongation saw it become the world’s largest, a distinction it still holds.
Take a look at the video on the Seawise Giant
Much like Prairial, it too changed hands multiple times and therefore, also a change in its name. Seawise Giant, Knock – Nevis, Happy Giant, Jahre Viking, Oppama and Mont were few of her names in her lifetime. The Seawise was finally scrapped in 2010. It did a top speed of 30.55 kmph.
Parting Shot
So that completes our list of top five supertankers. The ships in this segment are not going to grow anymore. The demand for oil movement, though continues, it is hardly desired to have such supertankers. This segment of ships, therefore, will continue to remain unchallenged.
I hope readers enjoyed reading the article! Enjoy and have fun!
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Image Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons
Disclaimer: Video posted on youtube does not belong to the Author nor does the Author validate that it belongs to the user who posted it. These videos are added to give additional information to readers about the subject being discussed.
Wow....very very big ship. I can't imagine how many people to realize those ship and hiw many time and money spend in bulding it. Thanks for sharing us @oivas. God bless you
Yeah, they are really huge ships. Huge is an understatement when talking about these ships. :)
Glad you enjoyed the article!
Great article, upvoted. Have a great day!
Thank you @tylerkingdurden ! Glad you enjoyed.
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I work in a large Port in Florida some of the super container ships are coming in now. They are huge. The new cruise ships look like a city block.
Ah, talking of cruise ships, that is something I will be writing about soon. Those are huge too... You should read about the 'Symphony of the Seas', the current largest Cruise Ship in the World. To know that by 2021 her sister ship will come into service and will be bigger than her (I mean the Symphony).
I personally think, that there are only two classes of ships which can match the supertankers' size in the future... One is Cruise Ships and the other is Cargo / Container ships... Both of these are increasing in size... So you never know.
By the way, your knowledge of these ships would be awesome... Must be like I already know this while reading this article... isn't it? :)