Empress of Japan

At 26,313 gross tons, Empress of Japan is the 22,111th largest of the 84,014 vessels in this registry that report a tonnage. The median across that set is 5,994 GT, so this hull is about 4.4 times the typical vessel on record here. The largest measures 499,167 GT.

Among the 617 passenger vessels held here, it ranks 9th by tonnage — larger than 98% of that group. Their median tonnage is 909 GT, and the largest tenth begin at 9,718 GT. The flag most often flown by this group is Egypt (65 ships). The yard that appears most often against it is Meyer Werft, with 16 hulls on record.

Empress of Japan was built in 1930, making it 96 years old. It is one of 73 hulls in this registry delivered that year, a cohort whose median tonnage is 1,592 GT; within it this ship is the 1st largest. Across the whole of the 1930s the registry holds 552 vessels, median 1,138 GT. The median build year across the entire registry is 1995.

The registry attributes 10 vessels to Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, with a median tonnage of 26,313 GT, delivered between 1930 and 1964. See the rest of that yard’s output.

At 205.0 m overall, Empress of Japan is 144.0 m longer than the 61.0 m median for passenger vessels on record, with a beam of 25.5 m and a draft of 13.8 m.

IMO numbers are issued in broadly chronological blocks. Within 500 either side of 5514232 this registry holds 2 other vessels, whose median build year is 1934 and which range from 1930 to 1939. That places this hull’s registration in the same part of the series, consistent with its recorded build year of 1930.

Its IMO number, 5514232, carries its own check digit. The first six digits are weighted seven down to two and summed — 5×7 + 5×6 + 1×5 + 4×4 + 2×3 + 3×2 = 98 — and the last digit of that total, 8, must equal the seventh digit, 2. It does not, so this number as recorded does not validate; it is shown here as held rather than silently corrected.