Construction Of The Batillus-class Supertanker

The Batillus-class supertanker is a class of the biggest ships by gross tonnage ever constructed. At 555,000 metric tons deadweight (DWT), and 414-metres, the four vessels were built in the Louis Joubert Lock, and launched from the shipyards of Chantiers de l'Atlantique at Saint Nazaire, France at the end of the 1970s.
The only other ship considered larger was the Seawise Giant (ex-Jahre Viking, Happy Giant and Knock Nevis) of 1981, which was originally designed with a smaller tonnage than the Batillus class, but had her length and tonnage increased during construction. If gross tonnage is considered, Batillus and Bellamya each with a gross tonnage of 275,276 tons, are the largest ever built, exceeding even the Seawise Giant (260,581 gross tons when in service as an oil tanker). When considering fully-loaded displacement, the Seawise Giant still holds the record, edging out the Batillus ships. The Batillus class's depth of nearly 36 meters and full load draft of 28.5 meters are records for tankers--slightly more than the two Globtik Tokyo class ULCCs.
Unlike Seawise Giant and most other ULCCs, the Batillus class vessels had twin screws, twin boilers of full size and power, and twin rudders. As a result, in an emergency they could more easily and safely be operated with a single propeller and a single boiler.