Mystery Billionaire Builds World's Largest Yacht

CNBC ^ | 7/27/2012 | Robert Frank

[dr_lew]

The mega-yacht wars have escalated, with a Middle-Eastern billionaire building a 590-foot ship that’s expected to be the largest yacht in the world when it launches next year.

[dr_lew]

Loved this line:

As the battle for the largest-yacht title rages, the broader yacht market remains weak.

[dfwgator]

"You didn't build that!"

[null and void]

[dr_lew]

From Chapter 12

Here, M. Aronnax, are the several dimensions of the boat you are in. It is an elongated cylinder with conical ends. It is very like a cigar in shape, a shape already adopted in London in several constructions of the same sort. The length of this cylinder, from stem to stern, is exactly 232 feet, and its maximum breadth is twenty-six feet. ...

Verne goes on to give details, pedantic in the extreme, which enable the careful reader ( i.e. me ) to discern his very calculations to the last decimal. Somehow the genius of his imagination transcended his pedantry.

[PLMerite]

Syfy Eureka finale reference!

[Kickass Conservative]

I prefer the original from the 1953 Disney Version.

[BwanaNdege]

Longest, probably, but it might not take the “largest” as in displacement title.

This puppy looks like it may be hard to turn???

[1rudeboy]

Nowadays, all the captain has to do is type “9 feet west” onto a touch screen, and the computers and thrusters take care of the rest.

[alexander_busek]

I prefer the original from the 1953 Disney Version.

Do you mean that you prefer the original (French-language) novel to the 1953 Disney film version?

Well, I say there's really no comparing novels and the films based on them, anyway - especially in the realm of science fiction.

Regards,

[carriage_hill]

No wooden wheel or slaves down below with oars? What a ripoff! LOL.

[JoeProBono]

[BobL]

I can them with the high speed. The reason there is obviously to make it a bit more challenging for the ‘youts’ of the waterways to capture that vessel.

One can only imagine what other defenses that boat has.

[gov_bean_ counter]

One can only imagine what other defenses that boat has. Why not ask one of these quys???

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=q+james+bonc&id=D2507B3124BEA04216B975EEC642D22F00BFFAF4&FORM=IQFRBA

[Fred Hayek]

Lurssen is the builder of this yacht. This builder is also known for missile boats and other light combatants.

So, is this the Q ship to lure Somali pirates? Anything on board made by Bofors?

[Moltke]

Ah, the Lurssen shipyard. That’s where I get my yachts built as well.

[Gay State Conservative]

If I won a billion (tax free) in the lottery tomorrow I'd do the following;

1)Sell my current home and,for another $400K,buy my dream home (in New Hampshire...low taxes)

2)Trade my current car and,for another $50K,buy my dream car

3)Buy a *small* condo/coop on the Upper West Side of Manhattan for something like $600K

4)Buy a small condo on the west coast of Florida for about $200K

5)Possibly buy a small boat for something like $300K

6)Spend a couple of thousand on stereo equipment

7)Spend a couple of thousand on clothes

8)Give a couple of million to relatives

9)Keep about 5 million of what's left over for myself and then give the remainder to charity.

The world's largest yacht? Good God,I'd be too embarrassed!

[null and void]

You’d stay in the US?

[null and void]

I chose that graphic in reference to a “Middle-Eastern billionaire”.

That being said M. Vern was simply amazing!

[Gay State Conservative]

You’d stay in the US?

I think that I'm entitled to Irish citizenship...my brother has it and we have the same parents and were both born here...and if I'm correct I suppose I could go to Europe.But Europe's a foreign place to me...even the parts where English is spoken.And in terms of government I think they're at least as bad as we are...if not worse.

[Kickass Conservative]

No, not that deep. Just the design of the Nautilus Submarine itself.

Coolest Submarine ever and it reflected the engineering capabilities (limitations) of the times, except for Nemo’s power source of course.

Then again, I'm still trying to figure out how the Prometheus Spaceship that preceded the Nostromo Space Tug by 20 years had technology that was far superior to than seen in the original Alien Movie.

Can't dwell on it too much, I'll get a headache...

[dr_lew]

I chose that graphic in reference to a “Middle-Eastern billionaire”.

I took my cue from the name, "86Nautilus.jpg". A Google search only gave me a link to your post!

[Lancey Howard]

One of my favorite Law & Order episodes was the one where these guys ran a charter service for rich people who wanted to go on a yacht cruise and wait for pirates to attack. ...At which point the tarps were yanked off the 50 cal machine guns and the rocket launchers, and the passengers cheered as the pirates were blown to kingdom come.

[dr_lew]

Coolest Submarine ever and it reflected the engineering capabilities (limitations) of the times, except for Nemo’s power source of course.

In the book, it is powered by storage batteries. Cf. Chapter XI of Part I, ALL BY ELECTRICITY

"Professor," said Captain Nemo, "my electricity is not everybody's. You know what sea-water is composed of. In a thousand grammes are found 96 1/2 per cent. of water, and about 2 2/3 per cent. of chloride of sodium; then, in a smaller quantity, chlorides of magnesium and of potassium, bromide of magnesium, sulphate of magnesia, sulphate and carbonate of lime. You see, then, that chloride of sodium forms a large part of it. So it is this sodium that I extract from the sea-water, and of which I compose my ingredients. I owe all to the ocean; it produces electricity, and electricity gives heat, light, motion, and, in a word, life to the Nautilus."

In Chapter X of Part II, THE SUBMARINE COAL-MINES, The Nautilus refuels by burning coal to extract sodium. Of course, this sort of process could never account for the performance and range of the ship, which anticipates nuclear power only in retrospect.

[PapaBear3625]

Don’t think of it as a super-sized yacht. Think of it as a big escape pod that can accommodate everybody you care about on the day TSHTF, and get everybody far away from trouble, be able to stay far out at sea until things calm down, and then get everybody to wherever in the world seems safest.

[PapaBear3625]

Then again, I'm still trying to figure out how the Prometheus Spaceship that preceded the Nostromo Space Tug by 20 years had technology that was far superior to than seen in the original Alien Movie.

You can't figure out why a research vessel built by a wealthy man seems more high-tech than a freighter that may have been 40 years old at the time of it's encounter with an alien?

[Nik Naym]

“If I won a billion (tax free) in the lottery tomorrow I’d do the following;”

I would give FR a hundred grand to buy new servers.

[Kickass Conservative]

The Nostromo in Alien was 40 years old? Don't think so.

I know it's just fantasy, but even an old Ship would have been updated with newer equipment at some point. Even the Troop Ship in Aliens that was set 60 years after the original Alien wasn't that advanced.

Then again, the only person who could explain away all this would be Ridley Scott. You have to treat Prometheus as a stand alone story rather than a prequel for it to make sense.

I still enjoyed it, even though there were holes the size of Obama’s ego throughout the Movie.

Oooooh, look at the cute little snake, even though Humans had never seen an Alien life form before. Leave the weapons behind, yeah right. And don't get me started on the Abdominal Surgery. Geez...