The recently retired oil tanker Knock Nevis, formerly known as the Jahre Viking, was the world’s largest vessel. Weighing in at almost 565,000 tonnes and measuring 458 metres (1,504ft) in length the giant ship had a beam of almost 69m (226ft) and drawing over 24m (80ft) of water it could not enter most of the world’s ports. Given the complexity in manoeuvering such an enormous vessel, the ship was so massive it was too big to navigate through the English Channel.