Talk:Wyoming (Schooner)/largestships

Introduction
There have been many contenders for the title of world's largest wooden ship, although not all of the claims are credible. Some of these ships benefitted from substantial iron or even steel components since the flexing of wood members can lead to significant leaking as these ships become larger. Some of these ships were not very seaworthy. Some large ships were never able to leave their berths.

Contenders for "World's Largest Wooden Ship"

 * The Swedish ship Göteborg has a length of 40.9 meters (134.19 feet), or 58.5 meters long (200.13 feet) including bowsprit. This ship is a replica of original that sank off Göteborg in 1745, and was launched in 2003.


 * The British ship SV Tenacious is 65 meters (213.25 feet) long. The SV Tenacious is a recently constructed wood ship and is specially designed to accommodate the disabled.


 * The Danish ship Fregatten Jylland has a length of 71 meters (233 feet). It was launched in 1860 and decommissioned in 1908.


 * A Chinese Zheng He treasure ship replica has a length of 71.1 meters (233.27 feet). This ship is under construction.


 * The Kuwaiti ship Al-Hashemi-II has a length of 83.7 meters (274.6 feet). Its construction started in 1985, and it is currently still under construction. It will be used as a museum and never put to sea.


 * The British ship Baron of Renfrew was 92.65 meters long, 18.59 meters wide and 10.36 meters tall (304 feet × 61 feet × 34 feet). The Baron of Renfrew was a disposable ship, or timber ship, also known as a timber drogher. It was built and dismantled after one voyage in 1825. Its wooden components were sold after being towed from Quebec to Europe, since this scheme avoided certain taxes. She was not particularly seaworthy:


 * The American ship Appomattox had a length of 97.2 meters  (319 feet). It was built in 1896 and went aground in a fog on the Great Lakes  in 1905. Because of its immense length, it used metallic cross bracing, a metallic keelson,   metallic plates , and multiple metallic arches. Several syphons and  steam-driven pumps were required to keep the Appomattox afloat.


 * The American ship Wyoming had a length of 100.4 meters (329.5 feet). It was built in 1909. Because of the extreme length of the Wyoming and its wood construction, it tended to flex in heavy seas, which would cause the long planks to twist and buckle, thereby allowing sea water to intrude into the hold. The Wyoming had to use pumps to keep its hold relatively free of water. In 1924, it foundered in heavy seas and sank with the loss of all hands.


 * The American ship Great Republic had a length of 101.8 meters (334 feet). It was built in 1853 and used until 1872 when it started to leak after encountering a hurricane off Bermuda and was abandoned. It had to be reinforced with steel, and included 90 steel cross braces, 4 inches wide, 1 inch thick, and 36 feet long, and metal keelsons. It was bolted together with iron bolts. The MIT Museum noted that:


 * The British ships HMS Orlando and HMS Mersey had a length of 102.1 meters (335 feet). However, they were pushing the limits of what was possible in wooden ship construction:


 * The American ship Pretoria was 103 meters (338 feet) long, 13.4 meters (44 feet) wide and 7 meters (23 feet) in depth. It was a barge built for use on the Great Lakes. To strengthen its wooden frame and hull, it included steel keelson plates, steel chords, steel arches , and also it was diagonally strapped with steel. It needed a donkey engine to run a pump to keep its interior dry. It was launched in 1900 and sunk in a storm in 1905.


 * The French ship Rochambeau, formerly the American USS Dunderberg, had a  length of 115 m (377.3 feet). This ship was an iron-clad wooden ship built in New York in 1865 and sold to France, which decommissioned the Rochambeau in 1874. About 50 feet of her length was a ram, so her waterline length was considerably shorter. She was not particularly stable or seaworthy, even with her substantial metal components, and only made one voyage in the open ocean to reach her new owners.


 * The French ship France II had a length of 146 meters (479 feet). The vessel had some wooden components, including wooden decks, but it had a steel hull. It was built in 1911, and went aground in New Caledonia 1922.

Comments

 * Re: France II: Should we even include this ship? It's not really wood.  Orangemarlin 07:02, 2 February 2007 (UTC)


 * I am not sure. Some call it a wooden ship but it is not. It is large however. what is interesting is that to make it that large, they made it out of a lot of metal.--Filll 01:24, 4 February 2007 (UTC)

What is interesting about all these examples is that they ALL had problems with seaworthiness problems when read the references and their histories. And all were braced with iron (except maybe the Chinese treasure ships, but those might have been mythical). --Filll 23:05, 1 February 2007 (UTC)


 * Shall we be consistent have have metric (English in parentheses)? Orangemarlin 07:01, 2 February 2007 (UTC)