Roman Abramovich must be so upset about this. I would be. When you build yourself the biggest yacht in the world, having the biggest yacht IS a big deal. That’s how these guys work. And now Roman’s just going to have to DEAL with this beast, dubbed ‘Azzam.’

Nice – I would have probably called it Shazzam, though, rather than Azzam. Especially something that is the size of two football fields.

NYDailyNews gave us this:

The world’s longest private yacht launched into sea for the first time on Friday from a shipyard in Bremen, Germany.

Designed by Nauta Yachts in Italy and constructed by German company Lürssen Yachts, the $609 million Azzam is almost two football fields long and rivals the size of some cruise ships. It took four years to complete from concept to construction.

The Azzam’s dimensions — 590-feet long and a beam 68-feet high — overshadows previous longest superyacht, The Eclipse, by 57 feet. The Eclipse, which was launched in 2010, belongs to Russian billionaire Roman Abramovish, who is the owner of popular English soccer team Chelsea Football Club.

Though the person who commissioned the project is still a mystery, reports speculate the owner may be a member of the Saudi royal family.

I can believe it. This yacht smacks of Saudi royal family. And would you believe that they trumped Roman’s yacht by 57 feet? Wowsers. 2-10 feet I could have dealt with – then at least I could stand in the front with a pole and stretch out further. But 57? That’s just rude.

A yacht of this size did not come without challenges. This, from superyachts.com:

Closely guarded details surrounding this incredible yacht have also emerged today after the yard released a statement regarding the completion of the spectacular project:

“Eng. Mubarak Saad al Ahbabi assembled a world-class team which he personally directed in all areas of the development of this sophisticated project … His brief was to build a large luxury yacht with an innovative and timeless design that would be able to travel at high speed in warm and shallow waters, whilst providing luxurious and sophisticated accommodation to its guests … [this] is, without doubt, the most complex and challenging yacht which has ever been built.

The yacht Azzam is breaking new grounds in terms of dimension, performance and technology. In addition to being the largest yacht in the world with a length of 180 meters and with a top speed of over 30 knots she adds another record in terms of building time”

“When she will be delivered later this year, she will have been in build for only three years following one year of engineering,” comments Peter Lürssen, Lürssen Managing Partner. “She truly represents another milestone in not only our history but yachting history as well”.

There are no interior shots available yet, but we did get this insight:

The interior decoration was undertaken by the renowned French designer Christophe Leoni who is proud to have been able to realize a sophisticated and luxurious interior in a turn of the century Empire style. “Though Yachting is not my main area of business, I thoroughly enjoyed the cooperation with Nauta and Lürssen and am confident that the final yacht is everything and more the owner expects.” he said.

[more here]

At $60 million, the current US Powerball jackpot (buy tickets here) won’t buy you a yacht like this, but we assure you half a billion Rand will get you something pretty descent!

Click thumbnails to check out the gallery of Azzam, below.

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When 2oceansvibe celebrates, it’s Pierre Jourdan..

[thanks siraj]