Step aboard the Emma Maersk for a glimpse at the adventures of the crew on a two-week, 13,000-kilometre crossing from Malaysia to Spain. At 20 storeys tall, this ship is capable of carrying millions of dollars worth of cargo.

Unlike most cruise ships, the Becrux is a mighty ship made for four-legged passengers. With a capacity of nearly 20,000 cattle or 60,000 sheep, the Becrux is the largest custom-built livestock carrier in the world.

With the ability to ferry 8,000 luxury cars, heavy trucks and tractors from one continent to another, the Faust is the biggest and the newest ocean faring vehicle carrier on the planet.

Climb aboad the CGCS Henry Larsen as she does an ice patrol around the sub-zero waters of the Notre Dame Bay area of Newfoundland and Labrodore. Built for the cold, she is capable of the year-round operations in the high Arctic.

The Paul R. Tregurtha is equipped to deal with the harsh weather conditions of North America's inland seas, but her first mission of the shipping season will push the vessel, and her crew, to their limits. Hop aboard the "Queen of the Lakes" as she attempts to deliver a much-needed 55,000-ton coal supply to a generating plant in Michigan. To get there, she must break through a barricade of ice and pass a shallow passage with just two feet of water beneath her keel. If the captain and crew aren't careful, they could find themselves stopped dead cold.

Tyco Resolute has one job: to keep the world wired. She installs and maintains the undersea cables that form the backbone of the Internet, and right now she needs to connect a nation in need of a 21st-century upgrade. Hop aboard as she lays fiber optic cables off the Pacific coast of Costa Rica, a mission that's anything but simple. Malfunctioning cables and equipment, pounding surf, and low tides have put Tyco Resolute way behind schedule. If she doesn't pick up the pace, the entire mission will be in jeopardy.

In the midst of a giant offshore wind farm, a fantastical ship comes to a stop, jacks up on six enormous legs, and plants itself on the ocean floor.

Just off the coast of South Africa, a futuristic remote crawler creeps along the ocean floor. Its high tech nozzle is sucking up seabed gravel that's full of diamonds, and hoovering them up to the mother ship on the surface - MV Peace in Africa - the world's biggest underwater mining vessel.

In a country whose economy is almost 100% based on fishing, Akamalik, the high-tech star of Royal Greenland's trawler fleet, plays a critical role.

She's the biggest, meanest, most lethal weapon in the arsenal of a global power. The USS Nimitz, like the whole US Navy, has to be ready for any mission, anywhere in the world. That's why she undergoes a rigorous - and often dangerous - evaluation before every deployment.

HDMS Absalon, one of the most modern warships in the world, has set sail to stop modern-day pirates off the coast of Somalia.

If there's a muscleman among ships, then its name is MV Fairplayer. A tour of the Jumbo Fairplayer, the biggest and strongest in a new class of heavy-lift mega ships.

A tour of the Queen Mary II, the largest and most expensive ocean liner ever built, which has engines powerful enough to provide light for an entire city

Solitaire is the only ship in the world capable of laying huge 30 inch diameter pipes on the ocean floor. Her crew of 420 work 24/7 and can lay down 9km of pipeline a day. Led by a vessel management team, the crew is made up of mariners and welders from all over the world.

The Cristobal Colon dredges millions of cubic metres of sand from the seabed for a construction site in Germany.

G.O. SARS is a new generation of marine research vessel. Her vibration-and noise-damped diesel generators and propellers driven by direct current motors, emits 99% less noise than any other conventional ship. They offer scientists unprecedented access to the life in the world's oceans.

Africa Mercy is the world's largest NGO hospital ship. She travels port to port in the world's poorest regions providing medical care to people who may have never met a doctor or visited a hospital. 150m long and equipped with six state-of-the-art operating theatres, Africa Mercy can deliver medical care as good as any big city hospital in North America.

An unprecedented look at nuclear-powered submarine USS Kentucky.

The largest and most revolutionary cruise ship on Earth makes her maiden voyage.

Multipurpose Heavy Lifter

MV Beluga Bremen is the world's first multi-purpose, heavy-lift cargo carrier that can hoist more than 1,400 tons; travel with her on her maiden voyage to transport two 820-tonne mining autoclaves to the Dominican Republic.

T-AKE Military Supply Ship

USNS Robert E. Peary is a T-AKE 5 supply ship, built for 21st century warfare; join Peary on active deployment in the hot zone of the Gulf of Aden, replenishing a fleet of 20 warships.

Saturation Dive Support Ship

DSV Skandi Arctic is the biggest and newest saturation dive support ship, the mother ship for aquanauts working hundreds of metres below the surface in some of the world's most dangerous jobs; see her in action on a gas pipeline repair in the North Sea.

Super Ferry

Stena Britannica is a car carrier, passenger ferry, cargo transport and cruise ship all rolled into one; watch her as she enters active service on the busiest ferry route in the world, between Holland and England.

USCGC Bertholf was built for U.S. Homeland Security to patrol the high seas, looking for drugs, weapons, human trafficking, piracy and traditional search-and-rescue missions; join her on patrol in the dangerous waters off Colombia.

Research Icebreaker

Canadian Coast Guard Ship Amundsen is a research icebreaker who job is to battle Arctic extremes to understand how gobal warming will radically change life in the high Arctic; the crew and scientists face extreme pressure on this dangerous mission.

The Norwegian Epic is a billion-dollar showboat with more than 20 bars and restaurants and pool decks that transform into nightclubs.

The Roll-On/Roll-Off (Ro-Ro) ship North Star is one of the only links between Alaska and the continental U.S. So far this winter, her captain, Richard Cadigan, has delivered everything from food to building supplies to pickup trucks from Seattle to Anchorage on time - within a short 72-hour window.

Le Boreal is as sleek and nimble as a yacht, with the luxurious appointments and service of a cruise ship. She's also tough - custom-crafted to take on the furious weather and towering waves of the Southern Ocean

The FPSO Maersk Peregrino is the world's biggest oil production ship and is permanently hooked up at the Peregrino oil field.

Umiak I is the world's most powerful ice-breaking carrier, hauling mining equipment from Quebec City to Labrador and returning with nickel concentrate.

The U.S. Navy's newest ship, a guided missile destroyer, goes through testing with its crew in preparation for deployment.

She's brand-new and about to make history. The Dutch company Van Oord has just received its new fallpipe vessel called Stornes. She deploys a long hollow pipe that runs from the ship to the seafloor. Rocks are loaded into the pipe and "fall" down to the bottom, hence the term "fallpipe". The rocks are used to provide foundations and protection for pipelines that are then laid on the ocean floor. Stornes has been designed and built specifically for this purpose. Now, MIGHTY SHIPS follows Stornes on a project that has her working deeper than any other fallpipe vessel in history.

She's the "Swiss Army Knife" of the US Navy. Recovery of downed aircraft, towing of sunken vessels, or clearing of debris to reopen a harbor in the wake of a natural disaster... USNS Grasp has done it all. Her cranes enable deep-sea salvage of all sorts. But what makes her special is her ability to support a team of up to 14 Navy divers on dangerous mixed-gas descents to depths of more than 200 metres. She's one of only four vessels in the entire US fleet capable of doing so.

Consistently voted the world's top cruise ship by Condé Nast, Crystal Serenity is full of luxuries. She features contemporary suites, dining by the likes of Nobu, even penthouse suites with a full-service butler. And her guests keep coming back for more - half the passengers on any given sailing are repeat bookings. This cruise will take MIGHTY SHIPS into ports viewers have never seen before, including: the famous sites of Sydney harbour, the port of Melbourne, beautiful Bali and a large-scale furniture load in Semarang, Indonesia.

With 7.5 tons of steel salvaged from the wreckage of the Twin Towers forming her bow stem, USS New York is tribute to those who perished on September 11, 2001. From the images of the World Trade Center, to the banner listing the fallen, to the Broadway street sign donated by NYC's mayor, this ship is a powerful symbol. But she's more than that.

She's an all-in-one mega fishing trawler and factory. Northern Eagle can catch and package fish at the same time. She creates more profit because she doesn't waste time (and fuel) bringing her catch back to shore to be processed. In fact, once she's out to sea, Northern Eagle doesn't return to port until her hold is full of 1500 tonnes of frozen, packaged product ready for market.

Purpose-built to install the world's most powerful wind turbines. Imagine a ship that can raise herself up 15 metres (5 storeys) out of the water to create a stable construction platform in the middle of the sea. Now add a 600-ton crane ready to reach high into the sky. That's Neptune: brand-new, ready and willing to install the world's heaviest and most powerful wind turbines on Belgium's first offshore wind farm.