The world’s longest private yacht by any credible measurement. Commissioned by the late Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, president of the UAE, and now believed to belong to his successor Mohammed bin Zayed, Azzam represents what happens when a head of state decides to build something that simply cannot be equalled — and has the budget to back it.

What makes Azzam’s price tag credible is the engineering beneath the surface. Achieving 32 knots in a 13,000-ton vessel requires a hybrid diesel-and-gas-turbine propulsion system — a configuration more commonly associated with naval warships than pleasure craft. The hull was purpose-designed with thrust-vectoring pump-jets at the stern. Construction required around 4,000 workers over approximately three years. The interior, designed by French designer Christophe Leoni, reportedly incorporates an Empire-style aesthetic with extensive mother-of-pearl inlays — more than a year’s worth of pearl production went into the fit-out. A bullet-proof master suite and missile defense system are widely reported, though never officially confirmed.

The exterior, by Milan-based Nauta Design, is deliberately restrained — a long, clean profile that gives little away. The owner’s preference was speed to a private island near Abu Dhabi, which is why the naval architecture prioritized propulsion over sheer size.

For three years — from its delivery in December 2010 until Azzam launched in 2013 — Eclipse was the largest private motor yacht in the world. Designed by Terence Disdale, whose textural, classically-weighted aesthetic feels restrained until you look more closely and realize how much controlled detail is in every surface, Eclipse was conceived as Abramovich’s statement vessel after he sold Chelsea FC’s predecessor as a football club to… well, himself.

The price is genuinely contested. Wikipedia cites approximately €340 million at original contract. The most commonly reported figure in specialist publications is around €550 million (~$590–700M depending on exchange rates and delivery date), with post-delivery modifications pushing some estimates higher. What’s not in doubt: Eclipse carries two helicopter pads, 24 guest cabins, two swimming pools, a disco, and a mini-submarine capable of diving to 50 meters. There are also well-sourced reports — though never confirmed officially — of a missile detection system and laser-based anti-paparazzi technology.

As of August 2025, Eclipse left Turkey after two and a half years moored in Marmaris following Western sanctions on Abramovich. Its legal ownership status remains murky.

While Azzam is the longest, Dilbar holds an arguably more impressive record: largest in terms of interior volume at 15,917 gross tons, making it the most capacious private motor yacht ever built. It’s also home to the largest swimming pool ever installed on a superyacht — a 180 square meter indoor pool. Usmanov named the vessel after his mother.

The build cost sits in an unusually wide range — early reports cited around $600 million, while some later assessments placed it closer to $800 million when completed luxury fit-out is included. Exterior design is by Espen Øino (Monaco), interior by Winch Design (London). The vessel runs six power plants generating 40,000 combined horsepower and features 1,000 custom-made sofa cushions — that last detail shouldn’t make you laugh, but somehow it does.

Dilbar was seized by German authorities in Hamburg in March 2022 following EU sanctions on Usmanov after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It has remained detained since. In April 2025, Usmanov’s press service issued a statement regarding the yacht’s status — the situation remains legally unresolved.

Philippe Starck’s design for Sailing Yacht A is one of the most genuinely audacious things ever put on water. The hull isn’t a yacht hull — it’s shaped like a submarine running on the surface, torpedo-smooth and black, with three carbon fiber masts rising to 90 meters each. The sails aren’t fabric in any traditional sense; they’re DynaRig hard sails operated by computer. The overall aesthetic is somewhere between a Jules Verne illustration and a contemporary art installation.

When Italian authorities seized the vessel at the port of Trieste in March 2022 following EU sanctions on Melnichenko, Reuters reported its value at approximately €530 million (~$578 million at the time). That remains the most authoritative price figure. The yacht has sat in Trieste ever since — frozen, legally contested, deteriorating slowly despite court-ordered maintenance requirements. It’s one of the most visible symbols of the sanctions crisis in the luxury industry.

The yacht features a glass-bottomed swimming pool and what Nobiskrug describes as the world’s first retractable keel on a vessel of this size.

Nobody expected the world’s second-richest person to order a sailing yacht. That was the mild shock of early 2021 when word got out that Jeff Bezos had commissioned something from Oceanco in Alblasserdam. When the vessel emerged from the shed — all glossy black hull, three masts reaching 70 meters into the Dutch sky, with a carved wooden figurehead at the bow — it turned out to be unlike anything else in the billionaire fleet.

Koru means “new beginnings” in Māori. The yacht’s design was reportedly influenced by Barry Diller’s 93-meter EOS and Black Pearl, the remarkable sailing superyacht built for Russian billionaire Oleg Burlakov. Building it created at least one remarkable cultural moment: Oceanco initially requested Rotterdam’s historic 1927 Koningshaven Bridge be partially dismantled to let the 70-meter masts through. Citizens planned egg-throwing protests. Oceanco backed down and towed the vessel to another yard for mast installation.

Bezos also operates Abeona, a 75-meter support vessel built by Damen Yachting, reportedly costing around $75 million — a chase boat with a helipad since Koru has none. Together, the two vessels cost upwards of $575 million and run at roughly $30 million+ per year combined.

Dubai has a strange origin story. Construction actually began for Prince Jefri Bolkiah of Brunei in the mid-1990s, under the name Platinum. Then Brunei’s finances imploded — the prince was accused of diverting billions in state funds — and the half-finished hull sat in a German shipyard. In 2001, Platinum Yachts in Dubai acquired it, the name changed, and the vessel that eventually emerged is now one of the most magnificent ever completed.

Wikipedia cites the cost at US $400 million. Other sources, including SuperyachtFan, cite closer to $500 million when accounting for the full decade of construction and fit-out. The interior, designed by Andrew Winch, features a color-changing glass staircase, handmade mosaic tiles in the swimming pool, and what Winch describes as a bold, immersive approach to color and material — quite different from the beige-and-cream aesthetic that dominates many yachts of this era.

Flying Fox is the world’s largest yacht available for charter, and it operates at the very top of the private hire market — weekly charter rates exceeding $1 million are not unusual. The owner’s identity has never been confirmed; the vessel is managed through a Luxembourg-registered company. What’s not anonymous is the yacht itself: two helicopter pads large enough for sizeable aircraft, a spa with 12-meter pool, a professional dive center, and five sprawling decks.

The build cost is typically cited in the $400 million range, consistent with Lürssen’s pricing for vessels of this length. Flying Fox frequently appears in the Mediterranean, and occasionally the Caribbean charter market, making it unusual among ultra-luxury yachts in that it regularly earns revenue for its owner.

Before Melnichenko commissioned his sailing masterpiece, he built Motor Yacht A — and it remains one of the most divisive designs in the superyacht world. Philippe Starck’s hull is impossibly angular: a razor-sharp bow, a polished surface that reflects the water below, windows cut at odd angles that look like the eyes of something decidedly non-maritime. Whether it’s beautiful or deeply strange probably depends on how much you love conventional yacht design.

Internally, A has a 2,500-square-foot master bedroom, a glass-bottomed pool, a helicopter hangar, and a separate speedboat dock. The name itself was chosen strategically: it ensures the vessel appears first in alphabetically sorted shipping registers. In 2013, Melnichenko’s company sued Akzo Nobel for $100 million over what it alleged was an unsatisfactory paint job — suggesting that even at $300 million, some things still go wrong.

Topaz is owned by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan — yes, the same man who owns Manchester City Football Club. At 147 meters and reportedly costing in the $500 million range, it features a clean, muscular exterior profile by Tim Heywood, with ample space across multiple decks for the 26 guests it can accommodate. It regularly features at the Monaco Yacht Show and is one of the most recognizable yachts in the Gulf fleet.

Rising Sun was built by Oracle’s Larry Ellison specifically to out-measure Paul Allen’s yacht — a classically billionaire motivation. The late Jon Bannenberg, widely considered the father of modern superyacht design, created the exterior. Eighty-two rooms across five decks include a basketball court (doubling as a helicopter pad), a wine cellar, private cinema, and spa. By the time it was finished, Ellison found it too large — one friend memorably described moving through it as “like walking in an empty mall.” Ellison sold it to music mogul David Geffen in 2010 for a reported $590 million (likely reflecting upgrades and appreciated value). The original build cost in 2004 was approximately $200 million.