Mærsk McKinney-Møller Triple-E Class Ship, Photo by John Konrad

Earlier this month gCaptain was invited to DSME, the world’s second largest shipyard, for a behind-the-scenes tour of the world’s largest ship, the mighty Maersk Triple-E.

Maersk has the option to buy 20 of these impressive 400-meter (1,312′), 18,000 TEU vessels, but the first, the M/V Mærsk McKinney-Møller, has already been launched with delivery scheduled for June 28th, 2013.

Until the naming ceremony vessel, Maersk will not comment on those big black letters painted on the bow and stern but we think it’s safe to say that the ship is named for Mærsk McKinney-Møller, son of the Danish shipping magnate Arnold Peter Møller and his Kentucky-born wife Chastine Mc-Kinney. Mærsk Møller became a partner of father’s company in 1940, but soon fled to New York to escape the Nazi occupation of Denmark. That same year he married Emma Marie Neergaard Rasmussen, namesake for the the M/V Emma Maersk, the first of the company’s E-Class of container vessels.

Among Mærsk McKinney-Møller’s many accomplishments include his long tenure on IBM’s board of directors, a knighthood and a long and productive life. In fact, right up to his passing last year at the age of 98, Mærsk McKinney-Møller was often seen walking up the stairs to his office on the 6th floor of Maersk headquarters.

The name seems appropriate for this well built, larger than life, vessel.