MV Savarona

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The MV Savarona (also sometimes M/Y, for motor yacht) is a luxury yacht. It was the largest in the world when launched in 1931, and remains one of the world’s longest. It is owned by the government of Turkey and leased by Turkish businessman Kahraman Sadıkoğlu.

Contents

[edit] History

Named for an African swan living in the Indian Ocean, the ship was designed by Gibbs & Cox in 1931 for American heiress Emily Roebling Cadwallader, granddaughter of John A. Roebling, engineer of the Brooklyn Bridge. The ship was built by Blohm & Voss in Hamburg, Germany. It cost about $4 million ($53 million in 2006 dollars).[1]

In 1938, the Turkish government bought the yacht for ailing leader Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who spent only six weeks aboard before dying a few months later.

Throughout World War II, the ship lay idle in Kanlica Bay on the Bosporus. In 1951, she was converted to the training ship Gunes Dil. In October 1979, the ship was gutted by fire at the Turkish Naval Academy off Heybeliada Island in the Sea of Marmara. She lay virtually abandoned for ten years.

In 1989, she was chartered for 49 years by Turkish businessman Kahraman Sadıkoğlu. Over three years, his firm completely refurbished her for about $25 million, removing the original steam turbine engines and installing modern diesel engines. The ship was rebuilt at Tuzla Shipyards in Tuzla, a suburb of Istanbul.

[edit] Features

Savarona features a swimming pool, a turkish bath, a 282-foot (86 m) gold-trimmed grand staircase that survived from the her original construction, a movie theater, and a library suite dedicated to Atatürk, which is furnished with many of his personal artifacts.

[edit] Charter

The yacht is available for charter for $200,000 to 400,000 per week, which includes the crew but not provisions.

[edit] Specifications

  • Length: 408 ft. (124 m) waterline – 446 ft. (136 m) stern to bowsprit
  • Beam: 53 ft. (16 m)
  • Draft: 20 ft. (6.1 m)
  • Displacement: 4,646 tons
  • Engines: 2 × 3,600 HP (2.7 MW) diesel
  • Cruising speed: 15.5 knots cruising, 18 knots maximum
  • Crew: 44
  • Staterooms: 17 double

[edit] External links

Note: Some of the below sites are commercial yacht-charter sites; however, they provide pictures and the history of the yacht.
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