The top 5 wonders of the marine world are biggest, heaviest & most advanced marvels of marine engineering. Ships have always fascinated me because its not just marine engineering you need to know about, I’ll explain why !
Lets consider that you want to build a cruise ship, so you need to know about-
- Marine engineering – since it needs to float & not sink !
- Mechanical engineering – because you need to propel & balance the ship !
- Civil engineering – because you need to design mall, shops & rooms for thousands of people who travel for days !
- Electrical engineering – because not only you need to generate power for propelling but produce electricity & supply it to whole ship !
- Computer/Information technology – to run all the softwares, autopilot & mechatronic systems !
- Telecommunication engineering – nobody wants to get stuck into middle of ocean so you always need to be in contact with other pilots & guys sitting on the shore !
This is the reason, they’ve always fascinated me ! Alright, enough of explanation, lets get on with the list !
Top 5 Wonders of the Marine world are –
1. Harmony of the seas
Harmony of the Seas is the biggest cruise ship ever built, surpassing her older sisters- Oasis of the Seas & Allure of the Seas !
She has got 10 story tall enclosed slides, 4 swimming pools, 10 bath tubs including 2 cantilevered over the edge of ship, 2 surf simulators, casino, mini golf course, basketball court, Starbucks, shopping mall, a park & lots of other stuff which you probably don’t even have in your locality. This is a whole city… & it floats ! The crew itself is of 2300 members !
Specification :-
Length – 362.12 m
Decks – 18
Max. speed – 46 kmph
Passenger capacity – 5500 to 6500
2.OCCL Hong Kong
Oh yeah, OCCL Hong Kong is the largest cargo ship built yet ! Built at the Samsung Heavy industries, it has a carrying capacity of 21,413 TEUs, being the first one to cross the 21000 mark (TEU is Twenty foot equivalent unit, an inexact way to indicate 1 twenty feet long container). It is powered by Wärtsilä-Sulzer RTA96-C, the biggest engine in the world producing more than 80,000 kW of power !
Specification :-
Length – 399.87 m
Carrying capacity – 197,317 tons
Max. speed – 40 kmph
3.Nimitz class carrier
The Nimitz class carriers are a class of 10 nuclear powered aircraft carriers in service with the United States Navy. The lead carrier is named after the World War II United States Pacific Fleet commander Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz. The Nimitz class could carry minimum 85-90 fixed winged aircrafts & helicopters. In addition to the aircafts carried on board(which is enough for defence), the carrier is also equipped with missile defense cannons, missile launchers & antiship missiles ! As the carriers are nuclear powered, the nuclear reactors produce as much as 190,000 kW of power ! All the 10 ships were built between 1968 & 2006 and each unit costs about $8.5 billion !
Specification :-
Length – 332.8 m
Max speed – 56 kmph
Range – UNLIMITED distance, capable of operating 20-25 years without refuelling
4.Mont
I don’t think that there is any other vehicle other than this which has so many names. Seawise Giant, later Happy Giant, Jahre Viking, Knock Nevis, Oppama, and finally Mont was a super oil tanker & longest ship ever built by Sumitomo Heavy Industries in 1979 ! It sank during Iraq-Iran war but was restored again to service until it was sold to Indian ship-breakers & scrapped down in December 2009. Currently the TI class oil tankers are the largest tankers in the world !
Specification :-
Length – 458 f**king metres ! (even greater than the Empire state)
Oil carrying capacity – 675 million f**king litres
Max. speed – 30 kmph
(Yes, adding “f**king” was necessary)
5.Dockwise Vangaurd/Marlin
Now this blew my mind ! In simple words, Dockwise Vanguard is a partial ship & partial submarine ! It is the largest vessel of its type & is specially designed for carrying heavy loads, yes, loads upto 110,000 tons ! What is as heavy as 110000 tons ?
Answer – Oil rigs ! This ship has only one motto – transporting oil rigs. First, the ship fills up it’s ballast tanks so that the deck goes 16m below the surface. Then goes underneath the rig & aligns itself properly. Giant centrifugal pumps then empties the ballast tanks & ship starts raising upwards & eventually the buoyant force is so much that it is easily able to carry cargoes of 100s of tons !
One more vessel called as Blue Marlin from the Dockwise shipping also transports oil rigs as well as ships. Yes, so basically its a ship which transport ships !
Specification :-
Length – 275 m
Max speed – 26kmph
Cargo capacity – 110,000 tonnes (WEIGHT OF SELF)
BONUS –
The Typhon
The Typhoon class is a nuclear powered submarine deployed by the Soviet Navy in 1980s & is the biggest submarine in the world ! The submarine can stay submerged upto 120 days & potentially more if necessary. The typhoon class is equipped with 6 torpedo tubes & is capable of carrying 20 ballistic missiles & other dozens of armaments comprising of torpedos & cruise missiles !
This thing is so big it could carry loads upto 10,000 tons & has numerous facilities so that the 160 crew members could comfortably live inside it for months. Did I tell you, that there is a swimming pool inside the submarine ? Yes, I just did.
Specifications :-
Length – 175m
Crushing/test depth – 400m
Max. surface speed – 41.15 km/h (25.57 mph)
Max. underwater speed – 50 km/h (31 mph)
Everytime I’m like “Damn… nothing could go bigger than this” but then there’s always bigger than the previous one ! I’ve realised it now that science, technology, engineering & human stupidity has no limits !
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Which of above shocked you most ? I’d love to hear your thoughts on them. Also let me know if you have any other ship in mind which should be listed. You can do so by commenting below. 😀