• 1991 - 2004..........Jahre Viking

• 1989 - 1991..........Happy Giant

• 1979 - 1989........Seawise Giant

Overview

The Mont was the worlds largest ship at 1504 feet long (over 1/4 of a mile) and 226 feet wide.

The Mont, a ship so huge that when fully laden she can not pass through the 32 mile wide English channel because it cannot manoeuvre, as travelling in a straight line is its best forte.

When fully laden, she sits 24.5 meters deep in the sea, a depth great enough to stop her from accessing most of the world’s major ports. The photo below is of her when she was the Jahre Viking and she is loaded to full capacity with oil, hence she sits low in the water.

Making big waves, the 'Jahre Viking' as she was know then, at full steam ahead !

Specific Details

When fully laden with the capacity of 4,240,865 barrels of oil the Mont has a displacement of 825,614 GLW (Gross Laden Weight) metric tons. It has an  un-laden weight is 564,763 tons.

The hold could swallow St Pauls cathedral four times over. It has a crew of 35 to 40, which means it only needs two lifeboats. Taking 5.5 miles to stop with a turning circle of over 2 miles.  When this ship docks into its port it is done so very slowly as mistakes cannot easily be rectified when there is so much weight on the move.

History

In the course of her life the Mont has changed hands many times. It was launched in Japan at Sumitomo Heavy Industries Yard at Opera in 1979 with the hull number of 1016. She was christened Seawise Giant. 

After three years of use the owner who was a Greek shipping magnate went bankrupt and sold her to another Shipping magnate, C.Y Tung Industries. But before taking delivery however, her new owner ordered that the length be increased.

Already massive at 480,000 tonnes, he ordered that her length be increased several more metres to add another 87,000 tons to her load-carrying capacity to make her, at 825,614 GLW tons, the largest ship ever be built and sail the seas.

Two years later, in 1981, she was finally ready to be put to sea still under the name of the Seawise Giant.  At this time though the two major oil-producing states of Iran and Iraq were at war. And any ship carrying Iranian or Arab oil, in effect every tanker using the Persian Gulf, the source of most of the world’s oil, was seen as a legitimate military target by Iraq.

The Super tanker 'Seawise Giant' sailed without hassle in the Gulf Of Mexico, sometimes it even doubled as a storage facility. However she was soon needed in the Persian Gulf to ply her trade as a transporter of much needed oil. This  however put the ship into danger.

It was not long before the ship was sighted and subsequently attacked. While sailing the Hormuz Straits in 1986, she was targeted by Iraqi jets, who fired Exocet missiles into her hull. The Sea Wise Giant never had a chance, she erupted into flame as the oil onboard ignited with the explosion.