Lifestyle-aspirational

Roman Abramovic’s latest baby is the Eclipse, a 557-footer reported to have cost a staggering £300million. It will become the largest privately owned yacht in the world. There is also a private submarine, which doubles as an escape pod. It is the biggest private yacht in existence and comes with a missile-detection system, two helipads, a luxury spa, swimming pool and a miniature submarine.

At 550ft long – almost twice the length of a football pitch – and 70½ft wide, weighing 12,000 tons, the M/Y Eclipse will be the largest privately owned yacht ever built. The builder, Blohm + Voss, in Hamburg, is testing the yacht’s 20,000-horsepower turbocharged engines, as well as everything from its walk-in humidor to the escape submarine concealed in the hull, in trials off the German Baltic island of Ruegen. The tests are being conducted at night to avoid spy shots.

The yard refuses to discuss its covert commission. “Our contract with the owner says we can cannot say anything about this. It’s top secret,” said a spokeswoman who did not even give her name.

But there is little doubt that 40-year-old Abramovich who already owns four luxury vessels, is the proud owner.

According to industry experts, the Eclipse has been specifically designed to overshadow the world’s current largest private yacht, a 525-footer owned by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai.

Tagged as: billionaires, Lifestyle Yachts, Lifestyle-aspirational, Roman Abromovich

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