The Largest Private Yachts in the World and the People Who Own Them
There’s a version of wealth that stays hidden — in private accounts, anonymous shell companies, and quietly transferred assets. But then there’s the kind that parks itself in a harbour and casts a shadow over everything nearby.
Private megayachts are hard to miss. They are, by design and by consequence, the most visible symbols of extreme wealth on the planet.
Some stretch longer than two American football fields. Others carry submarines, concert halls, and helipads as standard features.
The world’s largest private yachts tell you something about their owners — their appetite for engineering, their relationship with privacy, and just how far money can go when there are essentially no limits on what gets built into a vessel.
Azzam — The Longest Private Yacht Ever Built
At 180.65 meters, Azzam holds a record that has stood since 2013 and has yet to be broken. Built by German shipyard Lürssen and delivered in October of that year, she was originally designed to be 145 meters but grew considerably during the engineering process.
The result is a vessel so large and so fast — capable of exceeding 30 knots — that she remains in a category almost entirely her own. Azzam was built for Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the late President of the United Arab Emirates and ruler of Abu Dhabi, reportedly as a dayboat for accessing the region’s most prized diving grounds.
Since his passing, her current ownership remains undisclosed. The interior, designed by Christophe Leoni in a relaxed French Empire style with mother-of-pearl finishes, has been seen by very few outside the immediate circle of her guests.
Her main saloon alone covers nearly 522 square metres. She carries room for 36 guests and up to 80 crew members, a gym, a pool, and a dedicated golf training room.
On a yacht of this scale, even the details are extraordinary.
Fulk Al Salamah — Oman’s Floating Embassy
Built by Italian shipyard Mariotti Yachts and launched in 2016, the Fulk Al Salamah stretches 164 meters and belongs to the Omani Royal Family. She is rarely discussed in the press, and almost no interior details have been made public.
What is known is that she was constructed under the codename “Project Saffron” and serves an official function — less as a leisure vessel and more as what observers have called a floating ambassador for Oman. She is seen frequently accompanying Al Said, the other flagship of the Omani royal fleet, and her purpose is diplomatic as much as personal.
The exterior was designed by Studio de Jorio, and she carries a steel hull with an aluminum and teak superstructure.
Eclipse — Roman Abramovich’s Most Famous Vessel
Eclipse is a yacht that entered public consciousness not just because of its size, but because of the man behind it. Roman Abramovich, the Russian billionaire and former owner of Chelsea Football Club, commissioned Eclipse from German shipyard Blohm+Voss.
She stretches 162.5 meters and took over four and a half years to build. When she was first ordered, the estimated cost sat around £330 million.
By the time she was delivered, the figure had climbed close to £1 billion. She carries a 16-meter swimming pool — the longest on any private yacht — alongside two helipads, a submarine, and a third helicopter stored in a below-deck hangar.
Her owner’s deck runs 56 meters in length. The interior was designed by Terence Disdale Design, one of the most prolific studios in the superyacht world.
Following sanctions placed on Abramovich after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Eclipse was among several of his assets frozen or seized across European jurisdictions. Her current status and future have remained subjects of ongoing legal proceedings.
Dubai — A Yacht Named After Its Owner’s City
The yacht Dubai measures 162 meters and belongs to Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai and Prime Minister of the UAE. Originally commissioned by Prince Jefri of Brunei, she was completed for the Dubai government in 2006 by Platinum Yachts. Her interior, designed by Andrew Winch, is centred around a 21.3-meter-wide atrium — a space that sets her apart architecturally from nearly any other vessel.
She accommodates 24 guests in addition to those in the owner’s suite, with five VIP suites and six guest cabins, each with its own open balcony. A discothèque, cinema, barbecue area, and swimming pool sit on the exterior decks. Most striking of all, she carries her own submarine housed in an onboard garage and a landing platform large enough for a Blackhawk helicopter.
Blue — The Quiet Giant from Lürssen
Launched by Lürssen in early 2022, Blue stretches 160 meters and slots in just below Dubai on the length rankings. Very little was disclosed about her upon delivery, which is consistent with how her owner operates. Blue belongs to Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Vice President of the UAE — the same Mansour bin Zayed who also owns A+, another entry in this list. That a single individual holds two of the world’s largest yachts simultaneously is remarkable, even by the standards of the superyacht world.
Blue is believed to carry eco-friendly propulsion technology, making her one of the more modern vessels at this scale. Her gross tonnage is estimated at 15,320 GT, placing her among the largest yachts by interior volume as well.
Dilbar — The Largest by Volume
Dilbar holds a different kind of record. At 156 meters, she is not the longest private yacht in the world. But at 15,917 gross tons — equivalent in displacement to roughly one and a half Eiffel Towers — she is the largest by interior volume. That distinction matters because it reflects how much living space exists inside the hull, not just how much water she displaces end to end.
Built by Lürssen and launched in 2016 after four years of construction, Dilbar is widely reported to be owned by the family of Alisher Usmanov, the Uzbek-born Russian mining magnate. She carries two helipads and an indoor swimming pool that holds 180 cubic meters of water — the largest pool ever installed on any private yacht.
Like several Russian-owned vessels, Dilbar found herself at the centre of sanctions proceedings following 2022. She was detained in Hamburg and has remained subject to legal and governmental scrutiny since.
Al Said — Where a Concert Hall Fits on a Yacht
The 155-meter Al Said belongs to the Sultan of Oman and was launched in 2008 by Lürssen, marking the shipyard’s second-largest build at the time. She accommodates up to 65 guests across six decks and carries a feature found on almost no other vessel of her kind: a concert hall capable of hosting a 50-piece orchestra.
There is also a helipad, an onboard cinema, and interiors designed by Jonathan Quinn Barnett — the same designer behind Francis Ford Coppola’s winery estate in Napa Valley. The scale of Al Said is matched by the ambition of what she was built to do.
A+ — The Yacht Formerly Known as Topaz
A+ was launched by Lürssen in 2012 and stretches 147.25 meters. She belongs to Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan — the same Emirati royal and Manchester City Football Club owner who also holds Blue. Originally known as Topaz, she was renamed A+ and remains one of the most extensively appointed vessels in the fleet.
She can accommodate 62 guests and 79 crew members. Her exteriors were designed by Tim Heywood Design, and her interiors by Disdale. Four MTU diesel engines push her to a top speed of 22.9 knots. Her construction reportedly cost more than £400 million and took four years to complete.
Sailing Yacht A — A Vessel in Legal Limbo
Sailing Yacht A is not a motor yacht. She is a 142.8-meter sail-assisted motor yacht, the largest sailing vessel of her kind, built by German shipyard Nobiskrug and delivered in 2017. Her three carbon-fibre masts reach 100 meters above the waterline, and her gross tonnage of 12,558 GT is five times larger than the second-largest sailing yacht in the world.
She was built for Russian billionaire Andrey Melnichenko, with exterior and interior design by Philippe Starck — a designer known for an aesthetic that either fascinates or divides. The result is a yacht with a futuristic, almost industrial appearance unlike anything else on the water.
In 2022, Italian authorities seized Sailing Yacht A as part of international sanctions against Melnichenko. She remains one of the most high-profile cases of superyacht seizure and has not been returned to her owner.
Rising Sun — The One With a Basketball Court
Rising Sun is 138 meters long and was built by Lürssen in 2004. Originally constructed for Larry Ellison, the co-founder of Oracle, the yacht later changed hands between several prominent owners. She carries 82 rooms, including 10 guest suites, and her onboard amenities include a movie theater, wine cellar, gym, and a full-size basketball court.
The basketball court is perhaps the most American feature ever included on a superyacht — practical in almost no context a yacht usually occupies, but undeniably distinctive.
Koru — Jeff Bezos Takes to the Water
Launched in 2023 by Dutch shipyard Oceanco, Koru measures 127 meters and belongs to Jeff Bezos. Unlike most of the vessels on this list, Koru is a sailing yacht with three masts, placing her among the largest privately owned sailing yachts in the world.
She drew significant attention during construction for a peculiar reason: her size required the historic Koningshaven Bridge in Rotterdam to be temporarily dismantled to allow her passage to the sea. The bridge, known locally as De Hef, was last raised in 1993 before being preserved as a heritage monument. Its partial disassembly for Koru generated considerable public discussion in the Netherlands about the demands of private wealth on public infrastructure.
Flying Fox — Built for Charter, Refined Beyond It
Flying Fox is 136 meters long and was built by Lürssen in 2019. Unlike many of the yachts on this list, she was constructed by a serial charter yacht owner rather than a head of state or oligarch — which means she has been designed with guests in mind from the beginning.
The interiors by Mark Berryman include 11 cabins for 36 guests, all with private sea-view terraces. The standout feature is a 400-square-metre spa, the largest ever installed on a private yacht, with heated limestone floors, a hammam, and the first cryosauna ever fitted on a vessel. Her exterior profile was designed by Espen Øino, whose work also appears on Dilbar and several other Lürssen builds.
The Shipyards Behind the Superyachts
One name appears more than any other in this list: Lürssen. The German shipyard in Bremen has built more of the world’s largest private yachts than any other facility on the planet. Azzam, Dilbar, Al Said, A+, Blue, Rising Sun, Flying Fox, and several others all came out of Lürssen’s yards. Their rivals — Feadship in the Netherlands, Blohm+Voss in Germany, Oceanco, and Mariotti in Italy — have produced exceptional vessels, but none at the same volume or scale.
Building a megayacht at this level requires not just craftsmanship but an entire industrial ecosystem. The construction of Eclipse alone took over four and a half years and a dedicated team of skilled workers. Many of these projects involve years of planning before a single piece of steel is cut.
Prince Abdulaziz — A Relic with Surface-to-Air Missiles
Not every record-holder is new. Prince Abdulaziz was delivered in 1984 by Danish shipyard Helsingor Vaerft to King Fahd of Saudi Arabia and has served the Saudi royal family ever since. She measures 147 meters and has been refitted three times.
Her interior, designed by the late David Hicks, blends ancient and modern design. She carries a hospital, a mosque, a cinema, and room for 64 guests with a crew of 65. There are also credible reports of surface-to-air missiles and an underwater surveillance system on board — features that reflect both the era of her construction and the security concerns of her owners.
When the Sea Becomes a Statement
There is something particular about the relationship between megayachts and the people who own them. Heads of state use them for diplomacy. Billionaires use them for leisure and occasionally for business. A few have used them as primary residences for months at a time.
But what connects almost all of them is a desire for a kind of freedom that money alone cannot buy on land — the ability to move across international waters, to anchor in places inaccessible to most, and to exist in a self-contained world of one’s own design. Whether that is freedom, or just its most elaborate and expensive imitation, is a question the owners of these vessels are unlikely to stop and ask.
The sea, it seems, has always attracted people who want to leave something behind.
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