Motor Yacht Eclipse, the new toy for Roman Abramovich
M/Y Eclipse Eclipse is under construction by ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems at Blohm & Voss in Hamburg, Germany. The construction is taking place on a dock hidden from public view and there are still no definitive statements about size as there is a ‘race against the meters’ betwwen some megayacht owners. It is said that there is another megayacht project awaiting to rise its size when Eclipse’s is known.
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The yacht is expected to be delivered to Roman Abramovich in 2010 and will be not less than 160 meters, with all kind of eccentricities and some known features.
Eclipse will have at least three helicopter pads, several hot tubs, two pools, three launch boats, and a private submarine.
But the most ‘strange’ extras will be the radar designed specifically to warn of incoming rockets. There will also be armored protection around the wheelhouse and the billionaire’s cabin – along with bullet proof windows.
There will also be a surveillance system, with movement sensors and infra-red cameras all around the perimeter of the boat, and in case that someone do breach the security cordon and climb on board the beautiful superyacht, Abramovich, 41, and his girlfriend, Daria Zhukova, 26, a former model, can escape through secret corridors to a submarine that is launchable underwater and can dive away to 160ft in depth.
She is designed to be run with 50 crew, and the total cost of the project will round the €300 million. When Eclipse launches, Mr. Abramovich will own more than 1,100 feet of yacht — the approximate length of the Queen Mary 2. Exact prices for his boats aren’t known, but industry experts estimate they range from about €20 million for his smallest to more than €300 million for Eclipse. Annual overhead for the boats is more than €15 million, industry experts say, and it costs him €90,000 just to fill up the tanks of his current largest boat, Pelorus.
This will be the 5th yacht owned by Mr. Abramovich, as well as ‘Pelorus’ (114 m), ‘Le Grand Bleu’ (112 m), ‘Ecstasea’ (85 m) and the tiny one, the ‘Susurro’, which is only 45 meters long.
ROMAN ABRAMOVICH: born on 24 October 1966 in Saratov, Russian SFSR, USSR) is a Russian billionaire and the main owner of private investment company Millhouse LLC. According to Forbes magazine, as of 5 March 2008, he has had a net worth of US$23.5 billion. However, his wealth declined to $3 billion, so he hast lost most of his fortune due to the worldwide financial crisis. In 2008 Forbes magazine ranked him as the fifteenth richest person in the world. He was also considered to be the second richest person currently living within the United Kingdom
