The world’s largest Yacht

The largest and most expensive Yacht built ever – Eclipse.

The Yacht has an overall length of 170 meters (or 557 feet). This definitely now is the largest and most expensive Yacht in the world.  Its gross tonnage is around 13,000 tons and it has a maximum speed of 33 knots.

The newly built Eclipse Yacht is being constructed at Blohm & Voss Shipyard in Hamburg, Germany and was commissioned three years ago, reputedly costing around £724m.

The Yacht is property of the well-known Russian billionaire, Roman Abramovich, and just ahead in size of the worlds second largest private Yacht Dubai and thirdly Pelorus. 

Dubai is a 524ft vessel owned by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, the prime minister of the United Arab Emirates. Pelorus, also owned by Abramovich with a LOA of 377ft

The vessel supports a number of impressive luxurious extras.

It boasts two helipads, two swimming pools — the larger of which doubles up as a dance floor when drained. It also it has 6ft-wide home cinema screens in all 24 guest cabins.

Total accommodation for persons (guests and crew) on board is 112 . The master suite features a retractable roof, allowing Mr Abramovich to sleep under the stars. 

The vessel also has its own submarine and allows boarding from the bottom of the Yacht so the owner can join the vessel in complete privacy. 

The anti-paparazzi feature, reportedly doubled the cost of the Yacht. Infrared lasers detect the electronic light sensors in nearby cameras, known as charge-coupled devices. When the system detects such a device, it fires a focused beam of light at the camera, disrupting its ability to record a digital image. The beams can also be activated manually by security guards if they spot a photographer lurking!

Thought has also been given to the rise in piracy on the high seas; the Yacht has a hull and windows capable of withstanding a missile attack and of course the useful mini-submarine for emergencies.

Estimated annual running costs of £30m must be enough to make even Abramovich wince, especially after seeing his fortune dip a staggering £24bn last year. According to reports Eclipse is likely to require a crew of at least 50 people, said to include a security team of hand-picked former veterans of the French Foreign Legion.

On the 12 of June 2009 Eclipse underwent a preliminary launch at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg. The oligarch is widely expected to show off his new toy at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, docking the vessel off Cape Town and flying to matches by helicopter.

The Eclipse perfectly complements the world’s biggest private jet which is also owned by Mr Abramovich, a Boeing 767 nicknamed ‘the Bandit’.

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