Motor Yacht A: The Prettiest or Ugliest Megayacht Ever Built? You Decide
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Depending on your point of view, and your experience and background in such matters, Motor Yacht A could be either the prettiest or ugliest megayacht you've ever seen. But, regardless of your opinion on aesthetics, you have to agree about one thing: it sure is different.
The ship is often referred to as Motor Yacht A (M/Y A), not only for convenient reference but since 2017 the name has been used to distinguish it from the 473-foot (144 m) Sailing Yacht A (S/Y A). Both use the full registered name of simply A. More on S/Y A later. For size reference, at 390 feet long (119 m), try to imagine M/Y A sitting lengthwise on an American football field. It would stick out another 25 feet beyond each end zone!
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Delivery of M/Y A was taken by Russian billionaire industrialist Andrey Melnichenko and his wife Alexandra in early 2008. At that time, it was the sixth largest privately owned motoryacht in the world. It has since slipped out of the top ten, but it is still one of the largest, and because of its extraordinary looks, so very difficult to put its size into perspective. Some have likened it to that of a nuclear submarine.
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Ordered late in 2004, it was designed by Philippe Starck who also designed Steve Jobs’ unique 260-foot superyacht Ordered late in 2004, it was designed by Philippe Starck who also designed Steve Jobs’ unique 260-foot superyacht Venus, which apparently took Starck several years to design. Whereas, for reasons unexaplained, M/Y A took him only a few hours. It is said that Melnichenko himself took only a few minutes to approve the design. It was built in the Kiel, Germany deepwater shipyard of HDW by Blohm & Voss. As an aside, Blohm & Voss, now a subsidiary of Lurssen Yachts/Rheinmetall, has been in business for almost 150 years and specializes in steel-hulled ships.
Blohm & Voss’ most famous (or infamous) build was the WWII Nazi battleship the Bismarck, the world’s largest such vessel at the time. It also built German U-Boats (submarines) in quantity and thousands of metal aircraft under license for Heinkel, Junkers, and Messerschmitt, among others. It also built the famous airship Hindenburg.
The Hindenburg / Associated Press Wikimedia Commons 
The Bismarck 1940 / Bild Bundesarchiv 
U-Boat 534 / Paul Adams
With a beam of 62 feet (19 m) and a draft of 17 feet (5 m), the estimated construction cost of M/Y A was $300 million USD. It is powered by a pair of MAN diesels developing a total of 12,000 horsepower producing a top speed of 26 mph (43 km/h) with a cruising speed of around a respectable 20 mph (32 km/h). Even at top speed, it is said to leave very little wake due to what is referred to by designer Starck as its “stealth” design. It also carries 200,000 US gallons of fuel (750,000 L) giving it a potential range of 7,500 miles (12,000 km) at cruising speed. The stabilizers provide a smooth ride when the going gets rough, while bow thrusters ease dockside maneuvering.
With seven guest cabins, it can accommodate up to fourteen guests, although that number reduces substantially as the moving walls of the guest cabins can convert the seven modest cabins into four larger cabins. Along with Baccarat-crystal tables and stemware with custom alligator hide chairs and floor to ceiling mirrors, each guest room comes with a stainless steel whirlpool bath with fixtures costing tens of thousands of dollars.
The master suite, adorned in white leather, is substantial at 2,500 square feet (230 sq m). Its king-size bed is mounted on a rotatable pedestal which, at the touch of a button, allows the bed’s occupants a revolving panoramic view through the surrounding bomb-proof windows. Some 35 to 40 crew members look after every need of the captain and guests.
M/Y A carries five tenders of various sizes and purposes, three of which are roughly 35 feet each (11 m) in length, designed by Starck, and made in New Zealand at a reported cost of $1 million each. One of the two main tenders is open while the third is enclosed to handle harsher weather and sea conditions. The tender garage doubles as a water-level lounge and games room. On the foredeck of M/Y A is of course the requisite helipad.
There are three swimming pools on board, one on each of three main decks. One pool is equipped with jet nozzles to simulate currents to act as an exercise pool, while another pool has a glass bottom and can be viewed from the lounge below. There is of course a well-equipped gym on board as well as a spa. In keeping with the open design mantra of no narrow passageways and as few tight corners as possible, the main salon is one uninterrupted open expanse from foredeck to stern. Three elevators move guests and crew between levels.
In 2022, with the outset of the war in Ukraine, international sanctions against Melnichenko and other Russian oligarchs were issued. M/Y A somehow managed to get to a shipyard in Dubai to evade being seized. It sat there for two years ostensibly undergoing maintenance work. It has apparently since been re-flagged under a different port of registry, sold, perhaps for charter purposes, and moved from Dubai. It is currently believed to be in the Maldives following a change in registration and ownership.
It is worth noting that the billionaire Melnichenko also took delivery in 2017 of another unusually-designed Philippe Starck megayacht, the Sailing Yacht A (S/Y A). At 473 feet (144 m) and costing some $600 million USD, it was the largest privately-owned sailing yacht in the world when it launched.
Sailing Yacht A / Photo - Philippe Starck Design 
Sailing Yacht A / Photo - Philippe Starck Design
Sailing Yacht A features three free-standing, rotatable carbon-fibre masts, the tallest of which is 328 feet (100 m) high. it also boasts an underwater observation pod and variable speed hybrid diesel-electric power with twin variable pitch propellers.
Same as the motoryacht, Sailing Yacht A was also placed under administrative seizure in Trieste, Italy in 2022 as a result of the war in Ukraine. It is still owned by Melnichenko
outright, although it remains seizure and at anchor in Trieste Bay as of the summer of 2026.
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