Automotive & Other Vehicles

The Biggest Cruise Ship in The World

The biggest cruise ship in the world is the Oasis of the Seas, owned by Royal Caribbean International. The ship was finished in 2009. We’re talking about something really exceptional: a tonnage of nearly 225,290 GT, the length of 360 m, the height of 72 m above the line of water and 16 passenger decks.

It reaches the speed of 22.6 knots (that would be about 42 km/h).The capacity of this cruise ship is 5,400. The crew is as numerous as 2,165! It has six diesel engines (three 16-cylinder and three 12-cylinder) producing nearly 25,291 hp each.

Now about the amenities…It has a casino, a mini-golf course, several night clubs, bars and swimming pools. There are also basketball and volleyball courts, parks and children nurseries.

All of these amenities are organized within seven areas known as ‘neighborhoods’. These are: Central Park with boutiques, bars and a huge living park counting about 12,100 plants; Boardwalk with restaurants and shops; Royal Promenade; Youth Zone and Entertainment Place; the Vitality at Sea Spa and Fitness Center; Pool and Sports Zone.

Now can you imagine how it all looks? It is like a small mobile city on the water. You may be sailing for months without even being able to notice it, because everything you need is right there. Just go to the any of the seven neighborhoods and find what you are looking for. The prices are not the subject here, but they probably match the luxury of the ship.

So this kind of trip is not affordable to everyone. But those who are lucky to get this opportunity will probably want to repeat this experience and remember it for the rest of their lives. This is the kind of ship that will make you forget the meaning of the word “seasick”.

The Biggest Car in The World

There are several candidates for the title of the biggest car in the world. Some claim that the biggest car in the world is The Bugatti Type 41 – the “Royale”. It is called “Royale” because it was planned to be sold to the European royalty. But it was the time of the Great Depression, so the royalty was less interested in buying it than expected and this car is most expensive car today in the World.

Twenty five were planned to be built, but they only built six and sold the three of them. Today this car is regarded as a rarity. It is also considered to be perhaps the biggest car in the world, speaking of its length. It is approximately 6.5 meters long and weights about 3 tones and 200 kg.

The production was taking place from 1927 till 1933, but regardless to the fact that this period was very difficult, they managed to built a car that is still famous and considered a ‘royal vehicle’. Ironically, none of the cars was actually sold to any of the royal customers.

The second very large car is Ford F-350 Super Duty, built in 2009. But it is a pickup, not a limousine. When it comes to the passenger cars, the 1975 model of Cadillac known as Fleetwood stands side by side with the Bugatti ‘Royale’. It is about 6.5 meters long and falls into the class of luxury cars.

Then there is Mercedes-Benz Sprinter, which is considered to be the longest vehicle used for commercial purposes. It is as long as 7.4 meters! It belongs to the class of vans.

When it comes to the height record, the tallest car (commercial) is the Rolls Royce Phantom, which is a little more than 1.59 meters high. Guinness World Records claim that the tallest limousine in the world is 3.4 meters high and comes from Australia.

The Biggest Helicopter in the World

The biggest helicopter in the world ever to be created is Russian Mil MI-12. NATO classified it as a Homer class aircraft. Only two were made. They were designed during the sixties.

The main goal of designing this helicopter was to lift more than 30.000 kg needed to transport parts for ballistic missiles. First prototype had its first flight on 10th July, 1967. It takes a crew of 6 people to operate it (pilot, copilot, navigator, flight engineer, radio operator and electrician). It has a capacity of 30.000 kg with the record weight of 44.200 kg lifted.

It is thirty seven meters long and has twin rotors with the thirty five meters diameter each. Fully loaded it weighs up to maximum of 97 tons. Maximum speed is 260 km/h, it can fly over 500 km without refill and the top height at which it can operate is 3.700 meters. The twin rotors were designed and put in place, thus eliminating the need for tail rotor.

The diameters of both rotors exceed wing span of Boeing 747-400 ! Since its first flight, this wonder of cold war Soviet engineering has even outperformed most of its projected capacities and broke several world records. Even today it holds the records.

Its designers from Mil Bureau won several awards for this design including prestigious Sickorsky Prize, given by the American Helicopter Society.

This award is given for outstanding achievements in helicopter design and technology. Despite all the awards and records, Soviet military never started production of these helicopters. This was so because these helicopters weren’t needed anymore as the main reason for their production i.e. the fast deployment and transport of ballistic missiles no longer existed.

This was the main reason. The second reason was extremely expensive production. This helicopter was later replaced by a smaller (and stronger) MI-26.

The Biggest Boat in The World

The biggest boat ever to be constructed and to have sailed the seven seas is certainly the famous oil supertanker Knock Nevis. It was the longest ship ever created and had the biggest dead-weight tonnage ever to be recorded.

It was built in 1979 by Sumimoto heavy industries. It was bigger than some of the world’s tallest buildings such as Petronas Twin Towers and the Empire State building. It was 458.45 meters long, and it had a draft of 24.5 meters which made it impossible for this ship to pass through English Channel, Suez and Panama Canal. It could go 16 to 16 ½ knots when the weather was good. Its turning circle was two miles wide and could reach a full stop down from top speed after 8 km.

There are actually two biggest passenger ships. They are called Allure of the Seas and Oasis of the Seas. Allure of the Seas is currently under construction, but it will be 360 meters long, it will have total tonnage of 225.000 tons and will carry more than 5500 people.

The first voyage of this ship is scheduled for the end of 2010. Its “sister ship” has the same characteristics. But it has been in usage since 2009.

The biggest military ship is the USS Enterprise which is operated by the United States Navy. It’s the world’s first nuclear powered aircraft carrier. It is 342 meters long and has a displacement of almost 89000 tons.

It is in commission since November 1961, and is the second longest running ship in US Navy. USS Enterprise was employed during the Cuban missile crisis and during the Vietnam war, in the Adriatic during the Yugoslavian peace negotiations, Persian Gulf and in Iraq.

The Biggest Truck in The World

The biggest truck in the world title goes to Liebherr T 282 B model. It was first presented at the construction and mining fair in Munich, Germany in 2004. It is used in mining and surface excavations.

They have been used in coal mines in Australia and Wyoming, gold mines in Nevada, iron excavations in South Africa and copper mines in Chile. It can carry 400 tons of loads at maximum speed of 65 km/h. It weighs 225 tons; it’s 15 meters long, 7.5 meters high and has a wheel base that is over 6.5 meters wide. The bed has a volume of 34 m3. When fully loaded it has a total weight of 624 tons. The price is something about $ 3 million.

It is powered by one enormous diesel engine which has 3650 HP, but it’s not used for running the truck itself. Instead it is used to power 2 electric motors which are located in the rear axles. It is using AC which is more efficient than DC and used in conventional trucks.

There are only 75 of these trucks sold each year, because the market for them is so small and specialized. Diesel engine was built by Detroit Diesel and Cummins. Electric motors, drive system and electric controls were designed by Siemens and tires were made by joint efforts of Michelin and Bridgestone.

The biggest problem with this truck which is big as a house is how to stop it. Constructors have installed an electric brake which can create more that 6000 HP of retarding effort using electric motors. It also has conventional brakes, but they are used only in case of emergency because considering the load and the weight, the conventional break can easily overheat and break.

The Biggest Plane In The World

In case you are an aircraft fan, looking for the biggest plane in the world must be one of your obsessions. Besides the performances, sizes are also interesting to compare.

The comparison parameters are various. There are several ways to compare different aircraft models. One of the parameters is wingspan, but we will also consider weight and the maximum weight when taking off. If considering that, the biggest plane in the world is the Antonov AN-225 or Cossack according to NATO. This model was built in Ukraine (Eastern Europe), in the time it still belonged to the Soviet Union.

Maximum take off weight for An-225 is over 600 tons or 1.3 million pounds with wingspan 291 feet, 2 inches. At first, An-225 aircraft was made to transport a Soviet space shuttle, but later they started to use it for other purposes, like transporting numerous ultra sized or even over sized cargoes.

After this the biggest plane in the world, An-225, they continued to use it for strategic cargo transport only. This model was never used in purposes of an airliner. At this moment, there is only one An-225 aircraft operating in the sky. There were projects for another one to be built, but so far it has not come to reality. In the beginning the biggest aircraft in the world was able to weigh maximum 6 hundred tons.

It was adjusted in 2001 with an extra floor and now the max weight is 640 tons. An-225 had its first presentation in 1989 at Paris Air Show, carrying Buran orbiter on its back. There are possibilities that the biggest plane in the world takes part in the Russian space program, but the rest of the story is still uncertain. The only aircraft that can challenge An-225 is the new Airbus A-380.

Find information about Fastest Plane in the World