10 Largest Ships Ever Built

If you were to ask someone what the largest ship in the world was, they would probably tell you it is the Titanic. Nobody can deny that the Titanic was one of the largest and most famous of all time, but there just happen to be several other giant ships that most people have never been made aware of. Below we have provided a list of history’s 10 largest ships that were ever built.
The ships have been listed in accordance to their gross tonnage, dead-weight tonnage and their overall lengths. Included are the current record-holders either by ship class or individually as well as some that were former record-holders and scrapped vessels that were very large.

1. TI Class Supertanker

The TI Class Supertanker Oceania happens to be one of the most alluring vessels ever developed with an enormous capability for crude oil transfers. This class of ship possesses four of the biggest double-hulled supertankers on the planet. They also happen to be the largest ships currently sailing the seas. There are longer ships than these – such as the Maersk Triple E class container ships – but the TI Class still happen to be the most significant as far as dead-weight and gross tonnage are concerned.
The TI Oceania has dead-weight tonnage of approximately 440,000 tons combined with the acceleration potential of between 16 to 18 knots. This class of ship is a work of genius that is loaded with technology which challenges any obstacles that might take place on its travels. The length is 380 meters (1,247 feet).

2. Berge Emperor

Mitsui built the Berge Emperor in Japan during 1975 and it was one of the largest oil tankers ever constructed. The ship came in at a weight of 211,360 tons, had a length of 381.82 meters and was first launched on August 30, 1975. It was originally owned by Bergesen d.y. & Co and later was sold to Maastow BV in 1985. The name was then changed to “Emperor” and eventually was scrapped at Kaohsiung, Taiwan on March 30, 1986.

3. CMA CGM Alexander von Humboldt

The CMA CGM Alexander von Humboldt was named after the man, and was an Explorer class container ship that was created for CMA CGM. Up until the arrival of the Maersk Triple E Class, it was the largest container ship in the world. The dead-weight tonnage of it was nearly 187,624 tons and its length is 396 meters (1,299 feet).

4. Emma Maersk

The Emma Maersk holds the ranks at no. 2 for the 10 biggest ships on the planet that is currently still in use. It is the A. P. Moller-Maersk Group’s first container ship in the E-class of eight in total, was first launched during 2006 and at that time was the biggest container ship that was ever built. In 2010 it and its fellow seven sister ships were among the longest container ships that had ever been built. It can carry approximately 11,000 (TEU) twenty-foot equivalent units or 14,770 TEU all depending upon the definition they choose to use. This massive ship carries around a length of 397.71 meters (1,305 feet).

5. Maersk Mc-Kinney Møller

Of all the ships in Maersk’s Tripe E class container vessels, the Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller is the leader of them all. As of 2013 she is the longest ship in worldwide service and is also carries the biggest cargo potential in TEU of any ship that has yet been built. She entered service in July of 2013 and was built for Maersk in South Korea by Daewoo Shipbuilding Engineering (DSME).The Maersk Mc-Kinny Moller is 1,300 feet (399 meters) in length and possesses a cargo capability of 18,270 TEU containers and can travel at an utmost speed of 23 knots. As well as her sister ships, she is the world’s most streamlined and largest running container ship as of 2013.

6. Esso Atlantic

As far as big ships are concerned, Esso Atlantic is one of the most prominent names in the history of large ships. It proudly carries a massive length of 406.57 meters (1,333.9 feet) long and an amazing capacity for dead-weight at 516,891 tons. For a wonderful 35 years, Esso Atlantic has been serving the world with its continuous service level. It was certainly one of the best oil tanker ships of its time but was finally scrapped in Pakistan during 2001.

7. Batillus

In 1976 this supertanker was launched by Chantiers de l’Atlantique by Saint-Nazaire for Shell Oil’s French branch. Batillus and its sister ships Pierre Guillaumat, Prairial and Bellamya were the first vessels of homonymous Batillus class supertankers. They were some of the largest in the world and eventually got surpassed only by Seawise Giant which was constructed in 1976 and got extended during 1981. The four Batillus class ships did happen to have a larger gross tonnage however.
Batillus was the 4th largest ship in the world and made her last voyage on December 28, 1985 from Vestnes to Kaoshiung, Taiwan. It carried a dead-weight limit of nearly 554,000 tons, had a speed of 16 to 17 knots and a length of about 414.22 meters (1,359 feet).

8. Pierre Guillaumat

This behemoth was the 3rd largest in the world’s history and was named after Pierre Guillaumat who was the French politician and founder of the Elf Aquitaine oil industry. Chantiers de l’Atlantique built the Pierre Guillaumat in 1977 for Compagnie Nationale de Navigation.
It was left with some very large un-profitability and suffering demands and only got to serve for 6 years before it was scrapped. Having such huge proportions made the ship very limited as far as usability was concerned. As well, due to her dimensions she was never able to pass through either the Suez or Panama canals. The Pierre Guillaumat’s draft left her unable to enter a majority of the world’s ports and was forced to be moored on the rigs that were offshore as well as the oil terminals like Antifer. Its dead-weight tonnage was roughly 555,000 tons and could travel at nearly 16 knots of speed. The length of it ran 414.22 meters (1,360 feet) long.

9. Seawise Giant

This supertanker went through such names as Mont, Knock Nevis, Oppama, Happy Giant and Jahre Viking before finally being dubbed Seawise Giant. It went on to become the longest and largest ship by dead-weight tonnage because of its lengthening. The Seawise Giant at one time was also labeled as the Queen of Oceans and Rivers. Sumitomo Heavy Industries, Ltd in Japan built her in the shipyard during 1979. Most unfortunately, during the Iraq-Iran War it was attacked and damaged from the air and was a sunken loss. There were however some pieces of the wreckage that could be repaired and salvaged and afterward she was back in service and known as the Happy Giant.
It got renamed to Mont after it was sold to Indian ship breakers and made its final quest in December of 2009. When that had happened, it was purposely beached in India to be demolished. Along with possessing the title of being the largest ship on the planet at the time, it also retains the title of being the largest ever built oil tanker type ship.

10. Prelude FLNG

Until now, the Prelude is the largest ship in the world ever constructed. Amazingly, it possesses a hull that is longer in length than the Empire State Building is tall. It was introduced to the ocean on December 2013 in South Korea and is 488 meters (1,601 feet) long, 74 meters (234 feet) wide. The hull of the ship belongs to Shell’s Prelude floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) facility, which just happens to be the biggest facility that was ever developed. There was amazingly more than 260,000 tons of steel that were used to build it and when it is in operation, it weighs more than 600,000 tons which is more than 5 times the weight of the biggest aircraft carrier in the world.