Pierre Guillaumat (supertanker)

History
Name	Pierre Guillaumat
Owner	Compagnie Nationale de Navigation, France
Operator	Elf Aquitaine
Port of registry	Le Havre
Builder	Chantiers de l'Atlantique, Saint-Nazaire, France
Yard number	D26
Launched	August 16, 1977
Completed	October 1977
Maiden voyage	1977
In service	October 1977
Out of service	1983
Identification	IMO number: 7360150[1]
Fate	Scrapped at Ulsan, South Korea in October 1983.
General characteristics
Class and type	Batillus, ULCC
Tonnage	555,051 DWT[1][3] 274,838 GRT[1] 224,831 NRT
Length	414.23 m (1,359 ft 0 in)[1]
Beam	63.05 m (206 ft 10 in)
Draft	28.603 m (93 ft 10.1 in)
Installed power	47,840 kW[4] (65,000 Horsepower)
Propulsion	4 × Stal-Laval[2] single reduced steam turbine engines 2 × propellers
Speed	16 knots (30 km/h)

The Pierre Guillaumat was a supertanker built in 1977 by Chantiers de l'Atlantique at Saint-Nazaire for Compagnie Nationale de Navigation. It was the third vessel of Batillus class supertankers (the other three, slightly smaller, were Batillus, Bellamya and Prairial) and distinguished for being the biggest ship ever constructed (by gross tonnage). It was surpassed in length, deadweight tonnage and displacement only by Seawise Giant,^[5][6] which, though it was originally smaller when it was built in 1976, was subsequently lengthened and enlarged.

It was named after the French politician and founder of Elf Aquitaine oil industry Pierre Guillaumat and was completed in 1977. However, the poor state of the tanker market, accentuated by the huge dimensions of the ship that restricted where it could be employed, meant that the Pierre Guillaumat was unprofitable for most of its career and the vessel was laid up at Fujairah anchorage on February 2, 1983.^[3] Later that year, it was bought by the Hyundai Corporation and renamed Ulsan Master, she arrived at Ulsan, South Korea for demolition on 19 October 1983.

Its gigantic proportions left Pierre Guillaumat with very limited employment opportunities. The vessel could not pass through the Panama canal, and its draft meant it was only able to enter a small number of ports. It was therefore often moored at offshore rigs and oil terminals such as Antifer and, after lightering to reduce her draft, at Europoort.