The largest ship in the world is Maersk. The largest passenger ship in the world: history and modernity

When it comes to big ships, the first thing that comes to mind is the Titanic. It can certainly be classified as one of the most famous ships that crashed on its first voyage. But there are other huge ships that most people have never even heard of. We invite you to get acquainted with the largest ships in the history of shipbuilding, some of them still sail the oceans, and some have long since been scrapped. The list is based on the vessel's length, gross tonnage and gross tonnage.

The TI class supertanker Oceania is one of the most beautiful vessels designed for oil transportation. There are four such supertankers in the world. The Oceania's gross payload capacity is 440 thousand tons, with the ability to reach speeds of up to 16-18 knots. The length of the vessel is 380 meters.

Berge Emperor was the largest oil tanker launched by Mitsui in 1975 and one of the largest tankers in the world. The weight of the vessel is 211360 tons. The first owner was Bergesen d.y. & Co, but then in 1985 the tanker was sold to Maastow BV, where it received a new name. He served there for only a year, and then he was sent for scrap.

Named after Alexander von Humboldt, the CMA CGM is an Explorer-class container ship. It was the largest container ship in the world until the Maersk Triple E class appeared. Its length is 396 meters. The gross lifting capacity is 187,624 tons.

In the list of the largest ships, Emma Maersk ranks second among the ships still in service. This is the first E-class container ship of eight owned by the A. P. Moller-Maersk Group. It was launched into the water in 2006. The vessel is capable of approximately 11 thousand TEUs. Its length is 397.71 meters.

The Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller is a leading E-class container ship. It has the largest cargo capacity in the world and is also the longest vessel in 2013. Its length is 399 meters. Maximum speed - 23 knots with a load capacity of 18270 TEU. It was built for Maersk at the South Korean plant Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering.

Esso Atlantic is one of the most popular names in the history of large ships. The huge vessel, 406.57 meters long, has an incredible gross lifting capacity of 516,891 tons. She served 35 years primarily as an oil tanker and was scrapped in Pakistan in 2002.

Batillus is a supertanker built by Chantiers de l’Atlantique for the French subsidiary of Shell Oil. Its gross lifting capacity is 554 thousand tons, speed is 16-17 knots, length is 414.22 meters. This is the fourth largest ship in the world. It made its last flight in December 1985.

The world's third largest ship is named after the French politician, founder of the Elf Aquitaine oil company Pierre Guillaume. It was built in 1977 in Chantiers de l’Atlantique for the Nationale de Navigation company. The ship served for six years, and then it was scrapped due to incredible unprofitability. Due to its enormous size, its use was severely limited. It could not pass through either the Panama or Suez Canals. And the ship could not enter all ports. The gross load capacity was almost 555 thousand tons, speed 16 knots, length 414.22 meters.

The supertanker Mont was known by many names and was called the queen of oceans and rivers. The ship was built in 1979 at the Japanese shipyards of Sumitomo Heavy Industries, Ltd. It was badly damaged during the Iran-Iraq War and was sunk because it was deemed beyond repair. But it was later raised and renovated, calling it Happy Giant. In December 2009 it made its last voyage. At that time it was the largest ship in the world, but it still retains the title of the largest tanker.

Prelude is the largest operational vessel in the world, built in 2013 in South Korea. Its length is 488 meters, width 78 meters. It is intended for transportation of liquefied natural gas. Its construction required 260 thousand tons of steel, and when fully loaded the weight exceeds 600 thousand tons.

Who said size doesn't matter? The gigantic ships, striking in their size, are built with the latest technology and transport more than 90% of the total cargo by sea (and that’s not even counting people). The largest ships in the world are oil tankers, container ships and cruise ships.

Large ships are built for different human needs. Some, with large diesel engines, transport cargo over long distances, while naval vessels usually sail with nuclear engines so they can remain independent of fuel and remain at sea for many months. But, regardless of the method of transportation, with one look at one of the megaships you understand how much human effort and what kind of engineering genius was required to build each giant.

Here list of the largest ships in the world with photo and detailed description.

What types of energy have the shipping industry tried to use - diesel, gas, nuclear, wind energy. But the solar region remained uncovered until the advent of Planet Solar. It is the largest ship powered entirely by solar energy in the world. Its length is 31 meters, and the panels are capable of absorbing almost 103.4 kW of solar energy.

The ship's speed is still low - only 8 knots, but, after all, this 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. Its length is 194 m, and its carrying capacity is 14,983 tons. For comparison: the wing length is 117.3 meters.

In addition to 214 crew members, Club Med 2 can carry 386 passengers. The sailboat reaches speeds of up to 10-15 knots and currently operates as a cruise ship - in the summer it sails on the waters of the Mediterranean and Adriatic seas, and in the winter it goes to the Caribbean.

Club Med 2 has five masts. In addition to seven sails (they are 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, music shows and, of course, stunning sea views - Club Med 2 sails, like many sailing ships before it, along the coastline and only anchors during the day and 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 power plant. The Ural was built during the Cold War, when the USSR and the USA were keeping an eye on each other. And it was intended for reconnaissance operations in, where the United States had several test sites for ballistic missiles. The length of the Ural was 265 m, the crew numbered 950 people, and the cruising speed was 21.6 knots. Thanks to the nuclear engine, the Ural was autonomous and, after refueling, could not enter the port for three months.

The Ural began its service on the Far Eastern 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 his calmness was deceptive - in the 80s, “Ural” served as the main source of information about what was happening in the military circles of the USA and Japan.

It all ended with the beginning of perestroika. First, junior conscript specialists were transferred to the reserve, then nuclear boilers were damaged as a result of a fire. For some time, the ship lived on diesel generators, until the painful, half-starved existence ended in 2001 - the Ural was laid up. Its disposal began in 2008, and by 2016 it was finally dismantled.

7. USS Enterprise (CVN-65) - 342 meters

No, this ship has nothing to do with Star Trek, but its size is truly impressive - it is the largest warship in the world in the entire history of the navy. Its length is 342 m, it 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 proud history.

Once 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, participated in the Vietnam War and, almost twenty years later, in Iraq, fighting sea pirates...
In total, her service life was 51 consecutive years - longer than any other US aircraft carrier to this day.

But the world was changing, and even such a technically advanced ship, which regularly underwent modernization, became hopelessly outdated. In 2012, the ship made its last voyage. And by April 2018, it was completely disabled.

6. RMS Queen Mary 2 - 345 meters

The world's largest transatlantic liner is RMS Queen Mary 2, built in 2004. The ship received its name in honor of 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. Currently, RMS Queen Mary 2 is the only transatlantic ship cruising between Southampton and New York. However, once a year the Queen also operates as a cruise ship, making a round-the-world tour.

The Queen Mary is 345 m long and can accommodate 2,620 passengers and 1,253 crew members. It reaches a speed of 30 knots. Although the ship is inferior in size to the titanic cruise liners (however, by only 15 m), it still does not give up its position as the largest ocean liner.

The difference between a cruise ship and an ocean liner is that the first one goes on a journey and disembarks passengers locally in the same port, while the purpose of the second one is to transport passengers from one point to another.
However, this is not the only difference. The transatlantic liner makes long journeys and therefore often encounters adverse weather conditions. Therefore, its design must be stronger than that of cruise ships sailing in comfortable conditions, its seaworthiness must be better, and its engines must be more powerful.
A cruise ship, on the other hand, can afford to focus on the number of passengers carried instead of seaworthiness and endurance - that’s why they have such a funny box shape for better passenger capacity.

5. Gas carriers Q-Max - 345 meters

The world's largest carriers of liquefied gas are Q-Max ships. Their length reaches 345 m, and their total capacity varies from 262,000 to 267,000 m3. At the same time, their speed is quite good for ships of this class - 19.5 knots.

There are currently 14 vessels of this type in circulation; they were built by Samsung, Hyundai and Daewoo. The very first of them, Mozah, left the shipyard in 2007 and received its name in honor of one of the wives of the Emir of Qatar. All 14 vessels are owned by a Qatari natural gas transportation company. These are the largest ships that can dock 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 length of cruise ships is 360 m, and the capacity is up to 6296 passengers, excluding the crew of 2394 people. These are the fastest of the large passenger ships - their speed reaches 22.6 knots.

There is plenty of entertainment on board so that tourists on board do not get bored. There is even surfing, a zip line 25 m long and 9 decks high, two climbing walls 13 m high, swimming pools, a basketball court, a water park and even an ice skating rink. No wonder there are so many service personnel on the ship!

The Oasis of the Seas cost about $1.14 million to build, the highest price paid for a civilian ship in human history. 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 service 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 the customers renamed them “TI Oceania”, “TI Europe”, “TI Asia” and “TI Africa”.

Approximately $90 million and 700,000 man-hours were spent on the construction of each vessel. They are shorter than the Knock Nevis at 78m; their length is 380 m, the carrying capacity is 440,000 tons, and they can reach a speed of 16 to 18 knots. In addition to their size, the ships impress with the grace of their outlines and the beauty of their design; if you look at them high from above, they most of all look like giant snow-white icebergs.

2. CSCL Globe and Maersk Triple E class vessels - 400 meters

In the fall of 2014, the “baptism” ceremony of the world’s largest container ship, CSCL Globe, took place. It was the first of five 19,000 TEU vessels ordered by the Chinese shipbuilder in 2013. However, since then the CSCL Globe record has been broken by OOCL class cargo carriers, the capacity of which reaches an impressive figure of 21,413 TEU - with the same length.

The 400 m long megaship is propelled by a 77,200 hp main engine. pp., whose efficiency is so high that it consumes no more fuel than a container ship with a carrying capacity of almost half as much. Fuel savings are up to 20%. This happens due to the fact that the “smart” engine reacts to the situation at sea and adjusts fuel consumption accordingly.

The Danish company Maersk ordered the construction of 20 Maersk Triple E class vessels from Daewoo. Each of them cost about $200 million. Their capacity is slightly less than that of the CSCL Globe (18,000 TEU), but they are almost identical in 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” - the principles encrypted in brief form that customers and shipbuilders adhered to:

saving;
energy efficiency;
environmental friendliness.

Currently, Maersk ships are among the most efficient container ships in terms of cost/volume of cargo transported.

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. Measuring 1,504 feet (or 458.45 m) from stem to stern, it is the longest ship in shipbuilding history, longer than the Empire State Building laid on its side. Knock Nevis was a ULCC class of oil tanker and had the largest cargo capacity of any vessel. It is considered the largest artificial object, capable of moving independently, of all ever built by man.

At full load, the volume of cargo transported 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 speed of the ship was surprisingly high for its size - 16 knots. The Knock Nevis was driven by a single engine with a diameter of 9 m. The braking distance from cruise speed to a complete stop took 9 km, and the turning radius of the vessel was 3 km. It was served by a team of 35 people.

Knock Nevis was built in 1979 by the Japanese shipbuilding company Sumimoto Heavy Industries at the Japanese shipyard in Yokosuko. 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 last trip to a shipyard in Gujarat, India, where it was dismantled.

Why are the largest ships in the world dangerous?

Huge ships are not very environmentally friendly. Transporting goods by sea costs the planet almost 1.4 billion tons of carbon dioxide, which is 6% of total emissions. This number is twice that of 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 driven by wind and solar energy.

Expert in the automotive section. Lives in the garage. Well versed in engines, chassis, spare parts and accessories. Today he is an active participant in automotive communities, forums and exhibitions. Ready to help in choosing the best car, auto products, winter and summer tires. It distinguishes bad gasoline by taste and smell. He treats car ratings with some doubt, believing that there are no bad cars, only inexperienced drivers.

Oceans and seas occupy most of the surface of our planet. To navigate them, humanity 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 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 following top 10 largest ships include ships that are relatively modest in size compared to tankers, but the largest 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 was already launched in 2013, are amazing. The length of the vessel is 488 m and the width is 78 m. With such gigantic dimensions, the cargo ship has a displacement of 600,000 tons. This is not exactly a cargo ship, but the world's first floating platform designed for the extraction, liquefaction and subsequent transportation of natural gas. The giant is being built by order of Royal Dutch Shell by the South Korean corporation Samsung Heavy Industries.

Full completion of construction is planned for 2017. The floating leviathan, which produces and processes gas on its own, cannot navigate the sea; tugs will be used for this. The platform's future location is Western Australia, 295 km east of the city of Broome. The cost of constructing the ship is $12 billion, and the estimated operational period is 25 years. The design of the vessel is designed to withstand the most powerful cyclones existing in nature; for this, it has three shunting engines with a power of 6700 hp. With. every. With their help, 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 world's previous largest ship represents the future of shipbuilding, then this largest ship in history has already been taken out of service 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 Channel, because the tanker’s draft was under summer the 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 at the same time the stopping distance of the ship was 10.2 km, and the turning diameter 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 reconstruction of the ship, a cylindrical insert was added to it, and the ship acquired its final record sizes. In 1981, the ship was named Seawise Giant and began sailing the ocean under the Liberian flag transporting crude oil.

In 1986, during the Iran-Iraq conflict, the tanker ran aground due to damage from an anti-ship missile. After the war, she was bought and restored by the Norwegian Norman International, and the ship was renamed Happy Giant. Even before commissioning in 1991, she was again resold to the Norwegian shipping company Loki Stream AS, so when the ship left the Singapore shipyard, she received another new name, Jahre Viking. The tanker received its last name, Knock Nevis, in 2004 after its purchase by the Norwegian company First Olsen Tankers Pte. From this year it was anchored and 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 in the Hong Kong Maritime Museum.

It is currently the longest operational vessel in the world. This container ship is 397 m long and is one of 8 E-Class vessels built by the Moller-Maersk Group. The ship's displacement is 157 thousand tons, it was launched in 2006. Its main purpose is to transport goods between Southeast Asia and Northern Europe through the Suez and Gibraltar Canals.

The vessel is capable of transporting up to 11 thousand standard 20-foot containers (with cargo), its carrying capacity is 123 thousand tons. The power of its huge diesel plant is 109 thousand liters. s, and its mass is 2300 tons, thanks to it the ship can move across the ocean at a speed of 25.5 knots. On average, a large commercial vessel travels a distance of just over 300 thousand km per year.

Today, ships 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 transporting liquid cargo hazardous to the environment. A total of 4 ships of this series were built, 2 of which, TI Europe and TI Oceania, sail on the ocean, and 2 were turned into floating platforms to support the operation of the field near Qatar. The length of the vessels is 380 m.

5. Vale ore carriers

These are the largest dry cargo ships in operation today. The displacement of the largest vessels in 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 United States from Brazilian deposits.

Today, the fleet of super-ore carriers consists of 31 ships with a displacement of 380 to 400 thousand tons. The four largest vessels were recently chartered to China's largest dry cargo fleet operator COSCO for 25 years. The advantage of Vale ships is considered to be 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 thousand tons.

This is the largest passenger ship, its length is 362 m, and its displacement is 19.8 thousand tons. It has a twin ship - the cruise ship Oasis in the Seas, which is 50 mm shorter. Allure of the Seas was launched as recently as 2008. The cruise ship's crew is 2,100 people, and the maximum passenger capacity is 6,400 people. On board the ship there is:

a park with exotic trees and shrubs;
various sports facilities (ice skating rink, golf course, basketball and volleyball courts, bowling alley, etc.);
swimming pools with jacuzzi;
shops, casinos and much 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). Enterprise entered service in 1961. Initially, it was 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 were decided not to be replicated. In 2012, the aircraft carrier completed its last 8-month sea cruise. The ship's crew was 3,000 people, the number of aviation personnel was 1,800 people, and the aircraft carrier could accommodate up to 90 airplanes and helicopters.

If we talk about huge military vessels, 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. Its length is 306 m and its width is 72 meters. If we talk about the active fleet, then in its size it is currently second only to Nimitz-class aircraft carriers, their length is almost 333 m.

This is the largest steamship ever built. Its length was 211 m, and its displacement was 22.5 thousand tons. The ship was launched in 1857. From the very beginning of its operation, its notoriety was firmly established; what other ship, except one haunted by misfortunes, could in just two years:

cause the death of several dozen workers during launching;
damaged due to a steam engine explosion during the first passage;
run into a rock.

The ship's crew was 418 people, and its passenger capacity was 4,000 people. The steamship was propelled by two paddle wheels powered by a 3650 hp steam engine. With. and a 4-blade propeller powered by a 4000 hp steam engine. With. In addition, the ship could sail through the sea under sails attached to 6 masts.

9. Project 941 Akula submarines

These are the largest submarines of our time. The length of 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 weapons - intercontinental solid fuel three-stage ballistic missiles.

The underwater vessel is driven by two pressurized water nuclear reactors with a capacity of 190 MW each (shaft power 2×50 thousand hp) and two steam turbine units. In addition, the ship has two backup DC electric motors and a thruster device consisting of two folding columns driven by electric motors. The submarine's crew is 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 its displacement was 10.7 thousand tons. The ship was used for transporting goods (wool, ore, coal) across to the whole world. In 1922, near New Caledonia, the ship hit a reef and was abandoned by its owners. In 1944, during the bombing, it was destroyed.

Any ship presented in our TOP 10 largest ships can be called a creation of engineering thought. Of course, gigantic dimensions are not the goal for which these ships were designed and built. The size of the ships is determined, first of all, by the tasks that huge ships had to solve or are solving.

These huge monsters walk the seas and fly in the sky. They weigh hundreds of tons, cost hundreds of millions of dollars, and some of them are almost half a kilometer long.

Container ship Maersk Mc-Kinney Møller

The world's largest container ship Maersk Mc-Kinney Møller set out on its maiden voyage on July 15, 2013.

Its length is 400 meters, width - 59 meters, capacity - 18,000 containers, carrying capacity - 165 thousand tons.

The world's first floating plant

Royal Dutch Shell has begun building the world's first floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant. The plant will be located at the Prelude field off the coast of Australia, and after its production it will be able to move to another field. According to expert estimates, the cost of building the world's first floating LNG plant could be up to $5 billion 600,000 tons, almost half a kilometer in length (488 meters) - this giant will displace six times more water than the largest aircraft carrier.

Semi-submersible vessel Dockwise Vanguard

Dockwise Vanguard is the largest and most innovative semi-submersible vessel in history. It is 275 m long and 70 m (230 ft) wide. Loading capacity reaches 110 thousand tons.

The vessel was developed by Dockwise for the transport of dry cargo and for use as a dry dock.

By the way, it will be used to remove the wreckage of the Costa Concordia from the Italian island of Giglio.

Nimitz-class aircraft carriers

Nimitz class aircraft carriers are a type of American aircraft carrier with a nuclear power plant. The Nimitz aircraft carriers, with a maximum displacement of up to 106 thousand tons, are the largest warships in the world.

They are designed to operate as part of carrier strike groups and engage large surface targets, provide air defense for naval formations, and also for conducting air operations.

The lead ship of the series has a length of 333 meters, a displacement of 106,000 tons, as well as 2 nuclear reactors and a power of 260,000 hp.

Longest passenger aircraft

Boeing 747-8 is a double-deck passenger aircraft developed by Boeing. Announced in 2005, the airliner is a new generation of the famous Boeing 747 series with a stretched fuselage, redesigned wing and improved cost efficiency.

The 747-8 is the largest commercial aircraft built in the United States, as well as the longest passenger aircraft in the world, exceeding the length of the Airbus A340-600 by almost a meter.

The cost of one aircraft is 250 million dollars, length - 76.4 meters. The first commercial owner of the passenger version was the German Lufthansa on April 25, 2012.

The largest passenger plane in the world

The Airbus A380 is a double-deck four-engine jet passenger aircraft created by Airbus S.A.S. - the largest serial airliner in the world (height - 24.08 meters, length - 72.75 meters, wingspan - 79.75 meters).

The maximum take-off weight is 560 tons (the weight of the aircraft itself is 280 tons). Today, the A380 is also the largest passenger airliner in the world.

In standard configuration, it seats 525 passengers, which is almost 100 people more than the next largest competitor, the Boeing 747. The cost of one aircraft is $389.9 million.

Boeing C-17 Globemaster III

The Boeing C-17 Globemaster III is an American strategic military transport aircraft. Currently, aircraft of this type are in service with the US Air Force and six other countries.

The maximum take-off weight is 265 tons (the weight of the aircraft itself is 122 tons).

The cost of one aircraft is $316 million.

Yamato - the largest battleship in history

All information on the Yamato type of battleship was so classified that the true characteristics of these ships became known to Japan's enemies only after the war.

The length of the battleship is 263 meters, width is 39 meters, displacement is 73 thousand tons. The huge displacement allowed the designers to equip the Yamato-class battleships with the largest 460 mm caliber guns in recent history. They gave the ships exceptional firepower.
The giant currently rests on the ocean floor off the southern island of Kyushu, Japan.

An-225 "Mriya"

The An-225 is the heaviest cargo-lifting aircraft ever taken into the air. The only aircraft superior to the An-225 in terms of wingspan is the Hughes H-4 Hercules, which belongs to the class of flying boats and flew only once in 1947

The empty weight of the aircraft is 250 tons, the maximum take-off weight is 640 tons. "Mriya" is a record holder for the weight of cargo transported: commercial - 247 tons, commercial monocargo - 187.6 tons, and an absolute record for carrying capacity - 253.8 tons. In total, this aircraft holds about 250 world records.

Currently, one copy is in flight condition and is operated by the Ukrainian company Antonov Airlines.

Supertanker Knock Nevis - the largest ship in the world

Its dimensions were: 458.45 meters long and 69 meters wide, which made it the largest ship in the world.

Built in 1976, in recent years it was used as a floating oil storage facility, then delivered to Alang (India), where it was disposed of in 2010. One of the giant's 36-ton main anchors was preserved and is now on display at the Maritime Museum in Hong Kong.

The largest cruise ship in the world

Allure of the Seas is the second Oasis class cruise ship owned by Allure of the Seas Inc. It was built in 2010. Along with its sister ship, Oasis of the Seas is the largest passenger ship in the world as of November 2010: both cruise ships are approximately 360 m long (depending on temperature), with Allure of the Seas being 5 cm longer than its sister.

This is a real floating city. Crew - 2,100 people, number of passengers - 6,400.

Against the background of this giant, the famous Titanic will seem “baby”: the length of the Titanic is 269 meters versus 360 meters for the Allure of the Seas. The displacement of the Titanic was 52 tons, that of the Allure of the Seas was 225 tons.

Since ancient times, for a person the ability to swim like a fish was no less desirable than the ability to fly like a bird. What the body given by nature cannot do, the machines we built helped to accomplish. From the fragile boats of antiquity, humanity has grown to create huge cities on the water. The largest of them amaze even modern people accustomed to the achievements of progress with their combination of power and beauty.

The largest ships in the world: selection criteria

To name the biggest ship, there are at least two criteria: dimensions (length and width) and displacement (essentially the volume of the underwater part of the ship).

In addition, to determine the winner in individual categories, his ability to fulfill his main task is decisive. For a passenger ship, this is the number of passengers it can take on board and the number of cabins; for a dry cargo ship or tanker, this is the weight of the cargo being transported; for a container ship, this is the number of containers.

Sailboats and steamships

Before moving on to modern record holders, let's remember their predecessors, those who plowed the seas driven by the power of wind and steam.

The largest sailing ship ever launched is the French barque France II. The ship had a displacement of almost 11 tons and a length of 146 meters. For only ten years - from 1912 to 1922 - it carried out regular cargo transportation, until the sailing ship, which ran aground off the coast of New Caledonia, was abandoned by its owners. The ship was finally destroyed in 1944 during a bombing.

The greatest steamship in history is the Great Eastern, launched in 1857. Its length is 211 meters, and its displacement is 22.5 thousand tons. The ship was driven by two wheels and one propeller, but could also sail. The main purpose of the vessel is passenger transportation; the Great Eastern could take up to 4,000 people on board. Unfortunately, the age of coal and steam was not kind to such large-scale projects - the operation of Great Eastern turned out to be unprofitable and was discontinued for economic reasons.

Absolute record holder

For many years, the winner in the category “The largest ships in the world” was the tanker Knock Nevis. Built in 1976 in Japan, it has changed names many times and undergone major renovations. The champion acquired its final dimensions in 1981 (under the name Seawise Giant): 458.5 meters long, 68 meters wide with a displacement of 565 thousand tons.

A huge tanker is a piece of equipment that is not so easy to find a use for. Due to its size, the ship had a low speed, a huge stopping distance (more than 10 kilometers!), could not pass through strategic shipping straits and could only moor in a few ports around the world.

You can see a photo of the largest ship on any website dedicated to the history of shipbuilding, but this giant has recently belonged to the past, just like sailing ships and steamships. In 2010, the ship, which had not been used for six years, was cut into scrap metal.

Hard-working giants

Like the Seawise Giant, the other largest ships are also cargo ships: tankers, bulk carriers, container ships.

The longest ship currently in use (397 meters) is the container ship Emma Maersk. According to various sources, its side can be lifted from 11 to 14 thousand standard containers. Since the designers were tasked with ensuring the passage of Emma Maersk through the Suez and Panama Canals, the width and draft of the ship were designed to be quite moderate. Therefore, the displacement of such a giant is “only” 157 thousand tons.

And the largest ships in the world in terms of displacement are four Hellespont supertankers. Although the length of each of them is 17 meters less than that of the leader among container ships, the displacement is one and a half times greater - 234 thousand tons.

The ore carriers of the Brazilian company Vale are not too inferior to them. The largest of them - Vale Sohar - has a displacement of about 200 thousand tons and a length of 360 meters. The maximum cargo that this giant is able to transport is 400 thousand tons.

Cruise beauties

Although passenger ships are not as large as cargo ships, they make an indelible impression. A cruise ship is not a means of transportation, but a luxury vacation destination. The large size of the ship here serves not so much as an opportunity to accommodate as many passengers as possible on board, but rather to create all imaginable comfort that would satisfy the most demanding public.

The largest passenger ships are many times larger than the Titanic, which once seemed incredible. The pair of twin ships Allure of the Seas and Oasis in the Seas are unparalleled in size. 362 meters in length and 225 thousand tons of displacement - figures comparable to the largest cargo ships. Each of the liners can comfortably accommodate 6,400 passengers. In addition, 2,100 personnel serve on board (this is against several dozen sailors serving tankers and dry cargo ships).

Allure of the Seas or Oasis in the Seas offers shops, casinos, restaurants, bars, nightclubs, a fitness center, volleyball and basketball courts, a sauna and swimming pools. There is even a park with real trees and grass.

Sea storm

You cannot ignore the largest warships. These are now aircraft carriers. And this is understandable: no matter how hard aviation engineers work to reduce the take-off mileage of aircraft, the “winged sailors” still need a rather large path to take off.

In the period before World War II, the most powerful maritime powers built especially large warships - battleships. The largest of them is the flagship of the Japanese fleet, Yamato. 263 meters long, 40 wide, with a crew of 2,500 sailors - the battleship seemed simply invulnerable. However, the ship, launched in 1940, was sunk shortly before Japan's surrender.

The development of anti-submarine weapons has made such ships too easy a target. The ships laid down in those years were still in service (for example, the American battleships of the Iowa project), but the main focus in the post-war period was on aircraft-carrying ships.

The largest naval ship of all time was the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise. Its length is 342 meters, width - 78 meters. The ship carried up to 90 aircraft (planes and helicopters), which served 1,800 people. The total crew size is 3,000 sailors. After serving for more than half a century, the Enterprise was retired from service with the United States Navy in 2012. Now its place has been taken by Nimitz-class aircraft carriers, slightly inferior in size to their predecessor - the length of the largest modern aircraft-carrying ships is 333 meters.

The largest ships in Russia

Although Russian-made ships do not occupy the top positions in the ratings of the largest ships in the world, some models have no equal in their categories.

Thus, the flagship of the Russian Northern Fleet, the nuclear-powered missile cruiser "Peter the Great" is the world's largest non-aircraft-carrying combat strike ship. Dimensions of the cruiser: 251 meters - length, 28 meters - width, displacement - 28 thousand tons. Main task: countering enemy aircraft carrier formations.

There is also another record holder in service in the Russian Navy - the Akula submarine (project 941). The length of the boat is 173 meters, the underwater displacement is 48 thousand tons, the crew is 160 people. The submarine is equipped with a nuclear reactor and diesel power plants. The main weapons are intercontinental ballistic missiles with nuclear warheads.

Among civilian ships, we should mention the largest nuclear icebreaker "50 Let Pobedy", which left the slipway in 1993. Perhaps, knowing what the largest ships in the world are, its 160 meters in length will seem frivolous, but still in its class this ship has no equal.

Giant at the shipyard

In addition to the ships themselves, modern shipbuilders are busy developing other sea giants - floating platforms. The amazingly sized structures can be used for a variety of purposes, from mining to launching spacecraft.

Right now, at the shipyards of South Korean Samsung Heavy Industries, the Prelude floating platform is being completed, which the customer, Royal Dutch Shell, plans to use for the production, liquefaction and transportation of natural gas. In 2013, the Prelude hull was launched. Its dimensions are more impressive than the largest ships in the world can boast. A photo of the unfinished giant became available to everyone interested.

The length of the vessel is 488 meters, width - 78 meters, displacement - 600 thousand tons. It is assumed that the platform will be moved using tugs. Only the lack of its own chassis does not allow us to call the Prelude a champion among giant ships. A platform is still not a ship.

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