It was a War of the Worlds-type scenario when 38-year-old Russian billionaire Andrey Melnichenko’s superyacht “A”, designed by Philippe Starck, weighed anchor off off San Diego the other day. The 119-metre craft has a distinctly sci fi submarine look about it and cost over $300 million to build to the designer’s specs at Blohm + Voss. With a crew of 35 – all outfitted in Starck-designed uniforms to run it, the “A”’s twin diesel’s kick down 24,000 hp for a maximum speed of 24 knots, impressive for a ship this size. Some of the companies involved in constructing the unique sea beast went bankrupt.
While San Diego stiffs gawked at the yacht in the dock, we can only imagine what they’d make of the interior, with its $40,000 bath faucets and $60,000 stair banisters. The all-white, 2,583-sq.-ft. master suite wrapped in bomb-proof, 44-milimeter glass is accessed by a silver-plated staircase with a fingerprint scanner at the door. Elsewhere Starck scattered Baccarat-crystal tables, alligator skin and Kudu horn chairs, stingray upholstered walls and hand-stitched calfskin panelling. Filling the gas tanks costs $500,000 and running costs top out at about $20 million a year.
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