The world's largest ships currently in use are transport container ships approximately 400 m long and 60 m wide. However, these giant ships are not the largest ever built. The largest ship ever built was the Seawise Giant (also known as the Knock Nevis). It measured 458 m long and 70 m wide (SF Fig.

The largest ship ever built by gross tonnage and length is the Seawise Giant (later known as Knock Nevis, Jahre Viking, Happy Giant, and Mont).

Here are the key details:

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Vital Statistics:

• Length: 458.45 meters (1,504 ft) – longer than the Empire State Building is tall.
• Gross Tonnage: 260,941 GT.
• Deadweight Tonnage (DWT): 564,763 tons – the highest deadweight of any ship in history.
• Width (Beam): 68.86 meters (226 ft).
• Draft: 24.61 meters (81 ft) when fully loaded.

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History & Career:

1. Construction: Built in 1979 by Sumitomo Heavy Industries in Japan for a Greek owner.
2. Size Increase: Originally ordered as a smaller VLCC (Very Large Crude Carrier), the new owner, Tung Chao Yung, demanded it be jumboized during construction by adding a mid-section, making it the largest ship in the world.
3. Infamous Incident: In 1988, during the Iran-Iraq War, it was heavily damaged by Iraqi air force Exocet missiles and sank in the Strait of Hormuz.
4. Rebirth: It was salvaged, repaired, and renamed Happy Giant, returning to service in 1991.
5. Later Life: It served as a floating storage and offloading unit (FSO) for the last years of its career, anchored off Qatar, named