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October 16, 2008

No, Mr. Bond. I want you to get by on a UK civil servant's salary.

A.jpg

Yes, I would like to travel more and - given I have a week off for the first time in two years coming up in a few days - a little more time to pursue my various hobbies. As a general rule, however, I do not have ambitions to fantastic, unearned wealth and a life of sybaritic ease.

Which is just as well because if I did aspire to such a thing I would want to do it properly; no half measures. Mega-yachts are for the weak: I will have a giga-yacht.

Introducing “A” - the most recent member of the giga-yacht club, and to put things in perspective, the fuel tank is 757,000 liters. Diesel fuel costs around €1.40 per liter currently, so it would cost just over €1 million to fill the fuel tank. $1.4 million US just to fill the tank. That amount of fuel will last 15.5 days at cruising speed. So the cost of building the ship becomes a little academic when the running costs are taken into consideration. I am exaggerating slightly as I have no doubt they are not paying retail for the fuel, but you get the idea. Seeing as the owner also owns one of the largest coal companies in the world, I very much doubt the cost of fuel is an issue. ...

You could hear the sound of penises shrinking from as far away as San Remo when “A” dropped anchor in the bay of Cannes recently. You could hear the sound of Billionaire’s accountants calculating the cost of building a more spectacular boat about thirty seconds later.

I will have an Aston Martin One-77 too, thank you very much.

Update: YouTube video of Blohm + Voss' monster creation.

Posted by Ghost of a flea at October 16, 2008 07:27 AM

Comments

A certainly has some very sleek lines and the hull form is generally reminiscent of the planned Zumwalt-class destroyers... But if I had scads of money to spend on maritime craft, I think I would opt for the Bond-villain stylings of US Submarines' Phoenix 1000. Three decks, carries a mini-sub tender, diver lockout chamber, 3500nm range and 16kts submerged speed. Plus an optional Stirling rebreather for the diesels, allowing extended submerged range. Not bad at all for a civil sub.

Posted by: Chris Taylor [TypeKey Profile Page] at October 16, 2008 09:08 AM

Posted by: Ghost of a flea [TypeKey Profile Page] at October 16, 2008 10:42 AM

Built by a Russian billionaire, eh?

Amazing what they can make out of dead bodies these days, isn't it?

Posted by: Lickmuffin [TypeKey Profile Page] at October 17, 2008 09:58 AM