Motor Yacht A – The Bombproof Superyacht
Motor Yacht A is one of the most famous yachts in the world and the most photographed. She was built by Blohm+Voss in Hamburg, is worth £225 million and is currently for sale as the Russian billionaire owner has decided it’s time to upgrade to a new, custom-built vessel that will offer more space and will have the latest luxury and technology — Sailing Yacht A which is currently being built by Nobiskrug in Kiel, has reportedly cost the owners $450 million to build.
Andrey Melnichenko who’s fortune is £8.5 billions makes him the worlds 139th richest man according to Forbes. He has made his money from oil, coal, chemicals and now owns majority stakes in a fertiliser and coal producer. When he was 21 he co-founded the MDM Bank which soon became one of Russia’s largest private banks. He went on to chair the banks’ management board from 1993 to 1997 and earlier this year was given a special award by Vladimir Putin for good deeds and charity work. The billionaire also has a wife who is a former model and an ex pop singer and the couple also have a child.
The 21st largest yacht in the world made an appearance in London on the River Thames on the 5th of September 2016 and moored alongside the historic warship HMS Belfast which spent 33 days in Normandy and fired over 5,000 shells during the Second World War. The monumental vessel is one of the three boats remaining from the fleet which supported the D-Day landings in June 1944.
The name A was used in order to make the vessel appear first on shipping registries. She is 390ft long, is 5,959 tonnes and has 1.7in thick bomb proof windows. The vessel has a top speed of 23 knots and a 200,000 gallon diesel tank which costs around £375,000 to fill up.
Designed by Philippe Stark, it has six guest suites, can hold up to 42 crew and 14 guests, comes with a helipad, three swimming pools (one with a glass bottom) and an open air party deck.
The superyacht boasts around 24,000sq ft of living space which is more than 20 times of an average semi-detached house in the UK. The walls are covered in silver leaf and stingray, there are unique horned chairs which are covered in crocodile skin and the tails trail on to the floor. The master suite which is 2,500sq ft is all white, includes panoramic windows, requires a fingerprint scan to access it and has a king-size bed which will rotate once you press the required silver button. In addition to this, another all-white suite features a circular bed and a flatscreen which retracts itself from the ceiling.
The yacht has accompanied many celebrities, a few include Demi Moore, Snoop Dog, Enrique Iglesias, Ashton Kutcher, Whitney Huston and many more.
Would you buy this yacht? We would!