Background
The World Concord left the Mersey on the afternoon of the 26 November 1954 and set off southward down the Irish Channel. The vessel was in 'Winter Ballast Departure Condition', as recommended by the builders, carrying about 18000tonnes water ballast. In the evening, warnings of severe south-westerly gales were received. The master took on more ballast and reduced the engine speed. By midnight the wind force was 8-9 on the Beaufort scale and waves were about10m high. The engine speed was reduced further.
In the early hours of 27 November, two very large waves hit the ship. The master estimated that the crest of the first wave was under the centre of the ship when the second wave broke over the fore of the ship. There was a loudrumbling noise and the vessel broke in half (see Fig.). Both parts remained afloat, although they did collide. No casualties were reported.
The World Concord was built by Vickers Armstrong Ltd in Barrow-in-Furness. It was a single deck, all-welded, single screw steam turbine oil tanker, 199m long with a registered tonnage of 11700 tonnes. At the time of its failure, it was the largest tanker in the world. The vessel framing consisted of longitudinals approximately 0.8m apart and transverse webs positioned about 3m apart. Transverse bulkheads were located every 12m along the vessel's length. There were ten cargo tanks each with starboard, centre and port compartments.
The steel plating for the hull and deck was 20 to 31mm thick. The bilge strakes, deck stringers and shear strakes were of 'special quality' steel meeting the requirements of Section 7 of the Rules for Quality and Testing Materialsused by Lloyd's Register in 1950 with the extra condition of 0.23% maximum C content. The remaining plates were of 'ordinary shipbuilding quality' by early 1950s standards.
The World Concord was repaired and operated under another name until 1974.