There are a few things I find truly satisfying in this world: waves crashing along the shore, watching a cake rising in the oven and seeing timelapse films of big things being built. This being Jalopnik, it’s the third one I want to talk about today after I saw this incredible timelapse of an enormous cruise ship build highlighted the incredible choreography that goes into assembling a 180,000 ton vessel.
The film speeds up the two-year production process of the AIDAnova cruise ship into around two minutes, and it is fascinating. Shared by timelapse experts MK Timelapse over on YouTube, the film breaks down every stage of the gargantuan ship’s construction.
The process starts with the enormous engines, which are powered by both heavy fuel oil and liquefied natural gas. There are four 16-cylinder engines on the ship, which produce a combined 83,970 horsepower and are fed through a pair of air ship-sized fuel tanks that drop into place.
With the propulsion systems installed, sections of the hull are then lined up at a dry dock in Germany. There, the stage is set for a carefully choreographed parade of decks, floors and rooms that are swung into place via a network of cranes hanging above the dry dock.
More sections of the vessel are floated in and strapped together, along with the pointed bow of the ship. Once strapped together, the AIDAnova measures more than 1,100 feet and is one of the largest LPG-powered cruise ships currently in operation.
With 20 decks in place, the final piece of the puzzle is the fully formed bridge, which is slowly hoisted to the front of the ship. All that’s then left to do is give the ship lips and eyes, for some reason, before it’s floated out of the dock for the next stage in its construction.
That next stage saw the vessel berth outside the dry dock at Meyer Werft in Germany, where it was fitted with its mast and funnel cladding, the shipbuilder explained in a post. While in the harbor, it underwent further outfitting and work on the interior, before going through a full suite of tests of all its onboard systems. Those don’t make much of an interesting timelapse, though, so are cut off this video.
The enormous ship has since entered service and construction of its sister vessels remains ongoing in Germany. To find out more about the world’s largest cruise ships, head here for our roundup of the largest vessels currently in service.