The World’s Largest Yachts—2012 

31. Tatoosh • 303’0″ 

Year Launched: 2000
Builder: Nobiskrug, Germany
Naval Architect: Studio Acht/Kusch Yachtagentur
Hull Material: steel
Engines: 2/4,448-hp Deutz-MWMs

Tatoosh has nine guest staterooms plus the owner’s suite, a pool that guarantees plenty of privacy due to the full overhang of a deck above, and a cinema. She had been listed for sale in 2010 but has since been removed from the market.

32. Nahlin • 300’0″ 

Year Launched: 1930/2010
Builder: John Brown & Co., Scotland/Nobiskrug and Blohm & Voss, Germany
Naval Architect: G.L. Watson & Co.
Hull Material: steel
Engines: 4/Brown-Curtis steam turbines

A feel-good story if there ever was one, Nahlin is one of the largest classic yachts ever restored. It wasn’t an easy course, taking five years to complete, and taking nearly two decades of research and painstaking documentation prior to that to prepare her for the work. Imagine the pride the modern-day team at G.L. Watson & Co. felt in participating, walking along the same decks that their predecessors from the 1920s drew with pencil and paper. The firm acted as the exterior and interior designer during the refit, as well as the owner’s representative. That owner, by the way, is widely believed to be James Dyson, the inventor of the Dyson vacuum.

33. Dubawi • 297’2″

Year Launched: 1989/2009
Builder: Fincantieri, Italy/Platinum Yachts, Dubai
Naval Architect: Platinum Yachts (conversion)
Hull Material: steel
Engines: 2/3,430-hp MANs

A conversion transformed a cruise ship known as Leisure World 1 into this yacht, kept in Arabian Gulf waters. She still mostly resembles a cruise ship in profile, but inside there’s wood paneling and a kaleidoscope of colors in carpeting and tile work. Forty-two people in the owner’s party can stay aboard, housed in 12 guest cabins, eight VIP staterooms, and two master suites. 

34. Phoenix² • 296’9″

Year Launched: 2010
Builder: Lürssen, Germany
Naval Architect: builder
Hull Material: steel
Engines: 2/Caterpillars, hp unknown

Phoenix² may be the successor to a same-named yacht built by the same shipyard and styled by the same designer, namely Andrew Winch Designs, but her owners proudly state that she’s better and more beautiful. Step inside, and you feel as if you’re stepping back in time, to the 1930s. Art Deco elements are everywhere, including the two-level owner’s suite. Other highlights are an outdoor cinema and a mini armada of watertoys, including a 33-foot custom limo tender, custom surfboards, SeaBob watersleds, and PWCs.

35. Nero • 295’6″

Year Launched: 2007
Builder: Yantai Raffles Shipyard, China
Naval Architect: builder
Hull Material: steel
Engines: 2/2,333-hp Caterpillars

She may look like a restored classic, but Nero was simply built to resemble one. Specifically, her owner was inspired by J.P. Morgan’s Corsair. She even totes a 31-foot tender that resembles a classic launch. Just like any proper modern yacht, Nero has a hot tub on her uppermost deck. She also has a pool on her foredeck, an unusual location, but one that affords privacy particularly at anchor or at the dock. Our favorite feature: “the snug,” a cozy room tucked into the structure forward of her funnel. 

36. Ice • 295’3″ 

Year Launched: 2005
Builder: Lürssen, Germany
Naval Architect: builder/ Tim Heywood Design
Hull Material: steel
Engines: 2/2,500-kW ABB azipods

Hats off to the crew of the rugged-looking Ice, as they helped save eight people in February in Mexican waters. The eight had been passengers aboard a dive boat that sank off the coast, and they were drifting for about four hours, according to news reports. Ice’s crew picked up the distress signal and determined where the passengers were likely to be. 

37. Lauren L • 295’3″

Year Launched: 2002/2004
Builder: Cassens Werft, Germany
Naval Architect: builder
Hull Material: steel
Engines: 2,500-hp MAK

If the grand piano in her saloon doesn’t do enough to entertain charter guests, maybe the private cinema is more their speed. Lauren L is one of a few super-size megayachts that caters to extra-large parties: upwards of 40 onboard guests. Speaking of parties, if one is hosted aboard, guests can indulge in the yacht’s sauna and services of the beauty salon, too.

38. Nirvana • 290’4″  

Year Launched: 2012
Builder: Oceanco, Holland
Naval Architect: Azure Naval Architects/Sam Sorgiovanni Design
Hull Material: steel
Engines: 2/4,830-hp MTUs

Known since signing as Oceanco Y707, her hull number, Nirvana was handed over to her owner in the spring. Some yacht spotters might mistake her for another Oceanco, Anastasia, given their nearly identical profiles, right down to the faux caprail (it’s actually paint). Nirvana is capable of a reported 20-knot top end. Features include a master suite forward on the main deck with private access to an alfresco area outfitted with a pool.

39. Asean Lady • 289’2″ 

Year Launched: 2003
Builder: Yantai Raffles Shipyard, China
Naval Architect: Ian Mitchell
Hull Material: steel
Engines: 1/2,000-hp Caterpillar

Here’s something no other megayacht can claim. Asean Lady is designed to resemble a proa, an outrigger canoe commonly seen in South Pacific waters. It’s a fact we’ve mentioned many times over the years, with good reason. Her owner, Brian Chang, who also founded the shipyard that built her (since renamed CIMC Raffles Singapore), was inspired after a rough-weather incident more than a decade ago. While onboard his previous megayacht in choppy seas, which had her as well as commercial ships on the horizon rolling, he marveled as proas navigated the seas with relative ease. Unlike those proas, however, Asean Lady’s outrigger has accommodations.

40.  Fountainhead • 287’10”

Year Launched: 2010
Builder: Feadship/Royal De Vries, Holland
Naval Architect: De Voogt International
Hull Material: steel
Engines: 4/3,650-hp MTUs

If you see a resemblance between Fountainhead and Musashi (see next listing), you’re not alone. Why would two megayachts built at the same yard and launched around the same time look the same in styling—and be the same size? It can’t be coincidence, can it? In a word, no. Some people have speculated that they’re both owned by the same person, but we don’t think so. The reason: The first name we heard associated with one of the yachts was Larry Ellison, the founder of Oracle Corporation and an admirer of nearly all things Japanese…which explains Musashi’s name. (Read about her below to learn more about the origin.) This yacht’s name, on the other hand, isn’t Japanese. It’s the same as the title of a famous Ayn Rand novel…which leads us to billionaire Mark Cuban. Cuban, the owner of the Dallas Mavericks and a technology investor, has given interviews stating that the Rand novel had a tremendous influence on him. Oh, and Fountainhead has a basketball hoop on her aft deck.