Esso Northumbria

Short description: British crude oil tanker

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General characteristics
Type:|  Oil tanker
Tonnage:|

* 126,543 GRT
* 254,277 DWT[1]

Length:|

* 348.5 m (1,143 ft 4 in) o/a
* 330.7 m (1,085 ft 0 in) p/p[2]

Beam:|  51.9 m (170 ft 3 in)[2]
Depth:|  25.6 m (84 ft 0 in)[3]
Propulsion:|  2 × Associated Electrical Industries steam turbines, 32,000 shp (24,000 kW), single screw[3]
Speed:|  16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph)[2]

## Contents

* 1 History
* 2 In popular culture
* 3 References
* 4 External links

## History

Esso Northumbria was the first of a series of Very Large Crude Carrier ships, built by Swan Hunter at Wallsend on Tyneside, in 1969. When launched on 2 May 1969 by Princess Anne it was the largest vessel to have been built in the United Kingdom at the time.[4]

The ship was designed to carry crude oil from the Persian Gulf, and its large design was a result of the Six Day War, which had resulted in the closing of the Suez Canal. The ship was single-hulled and was designed with relatively limited knowledge of the behaviours of such large structures at sea, being generally a straightforward scaling-up of smaller tanker designs. It was also built to a fixed-price contract at a time when rampant inflation was occurring in Britain. This led to many attempts to cut costs; Swan Hunter ultimately made a loss on the contract. Final cost of the ship's construction were £6.5 million.

The Northumbria was plagued with problems both with its fittings and also, more seriously, with cracking of its hull under stress. The ship needed many repairs throughout its short working lifetime and this, together with fears of a major oil spill, prompted its retirement in 1982 after only 12 years in service. The ship was sailed on its final voyage to Taiwan, where it was broken up for scrap at Kaohsiung. A similar fate befell the Northumbria's sister ship, Esso Hibernia, which was also built on Tyneside and launched in 1970.[5]

## In popular culture

The launching of the Northumbria was a major local media event at the time. [6] In 2019, the Canadian folk band The Dreadnoughts released a song called Roll Northumbria, dedicated to the ship which describes an exaggerated account of the Northumbria's short and unfortunate service.[7]

## References

1. ↑ Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `shipspotting`
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `aukevisser`
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `tynebuiltships`
4. ↑ "Large Ship Launched by Princess". The Corpus Christi Caller-Times. Associated Press (Corpus Christi, Texas). 3 May 1969. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7053858/the_corpus_christi_callertimes/.
5. ↑ "Esso Hibernia". https://www.tynebuiltships.co.uk/E-Ships/essohibernia1970.html.
6. ↑ "The launch of the Esso Northumbria in May, 1969" (in en). https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/history/esso-northumbria-at-swan-hunter-16206469.
7. ↑ The Dreadnoughts. Roll Northumbria. Retrieved 2025-07-14.

## External links

* "Building The Big 'Un (1969 film)". BBC Nation on Film. https://www.bbc.co.uk/nationonfilm/education/archive-clips/building-the-big-un.shtml.

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