I remember the first time I heard the rumors—whispers in the yachting community about a ghost ship being built in a historic UK shipyard, a ship so fast, so expensive, and so shrouded in secrecy that it felt more like a state-of-the-art submarine than a pleasure vessel. They called it Project 305, but soon, it would be known by the name of a champion racehorse: ALAMSHAR.
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| The £100 million phantom: The ultra-Speed yacht designed to break the ocean that ended up vanishing |
If you’re anything like me, you scroll past the standard yacht articles, all glossy photos and predictable specs. You want the story. You want to know what it was like inside the mind of the engineer who decided to bolt five jet engines into a luxury superyacht. You want the drama. You want the satisfaction of understanding why this half-billion-dollar project became one of the industry’s greatest, most frustrating, and most enduring mysteries.
I’m going to take you behind the velvet rope of the Alamshar project, a journey that spans over a decade, involves burnt-out Rolls-Royce turbines, a high-stakes legal battle, and the unyielding ambition of one of the world’s most powerful figures. Forget everything you thought you knew about luxury yachts. This is about power, physics, and the terrifying cost of an impossible dream.
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| The £100 million phantom: The ultra-Speed yacht designed to break the ocean that ended up vanishing |
Chapter 1: Plymouth’s Secret Project and the Billionaire’s Bet
To truly appreciate the Alamshar, you first have to understand where it was born: Devonport, UK.
When you think of British yacht building, you probably picture quaint, traditional yards. But Devonport is different. It’s home to Devonport Yachts (later part of the Pendennis Group), a shipyard steeped in naval and military history, located at the Royal Dockyard in Plymouth. This is where they fix frigates and build serious, ocean-conquering vessels. This pedigree, I believe, is exactly why the owner chose them. He wasn't building a floating condo; he was building a weapon of speed, and he needed a yard with military precision.
The client was His Highness The Aga Khan IV, a spiritual leader, an enormously influential figure, and a man obsessed with performance, particularly in his racehorses—and his yachts. The Aga Khan already owned a legacy of high-speed yachts, most notably Shergar (another speed demon named after one of his horses) and, crucially, he was the driving force behind the Destriero, the aluminum high-speed ferry that set the still-unbroken record for the fastest unrefueled transatlantic crossing in 1992.
Let that sink in.
Most 50-meter luxury yachts cruise at 12–15 knots. A 25-knot yacht is considered fast. To ask for 60+ knots means you are not just building a boat; you are bending the laws of hydrodynamics. You are asking for a vessel that can keep 12 guests in absolute luxury while simultaneously slicing through the water with the violent force of a naval destroyer.
The estimated cost of this endeavor quickly ballooned to over £100 million. This wasn't just money; it was a non-negotiable budget for a non-negotiable goal: the record.
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| The £100 million phantom: The ultra-Speed yacht designed to break the ocean that ended up vanishing |
Chapter 2: The Gas Turbine Gambit: How to Weaponize a Yacht
This is the chapter I find the most thrilling, because it’s where we move from luxury to pure aerospace engineering.
How do you get a 50-meter, 781-Gross Ton (GT) floating palace to move at 60 knots? You ditch diesel, and you bring in the jets.
The Alamshar was designed to be powered not by conventional engines, but by a combination of gas turbines—the same technology that powers airliners and naval speedboats. This is the key difference between this boat and 99.9% of all other superyachts. When I look at the specs, I see a performance car engine bolted onto a luxury coach—except this is ten times more dramatic.
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| The £100 million phantom: The ultra-Speed yacht designed to break the ocean that ended up vanishing |
The Engine Room Drama: Five Turbines and a Fire
The initial plans called for six gas turbines, reportedly Rolls-Royce Marine units (some sources say based on Sea King helicopter engines). This setup was intended to generate a staggering amount of power—well over 26,000 kW (35,000 horsepower).
But here’s where the 13-year curse began:
The Burnout: Early sea trials—I’m talking around 2007—reportedly saw the original Rolls-Royce turbines fail, with sources citing turbine blade burnout. You can imagine the scene: an epic, multi-million pound failure just as the vessel was supposed to prove its revolutionary speed.
The Reconfiguration: The solution was a complete, costly, and time-consuming engineering pivot. The final, operational power plant is a complex hybrid: Three Pratt & Whitney ST40M gas turbines paired with two or three Rolls-Royce 601-KF11 gas turbines in a CODAG (Combined Diesel and Gas) or similar configuration.
These massive turbines drive triple KaMeWa waterjets. If you’ve ever seen a high-speed ferry or a military vessel skip across the waves, you’ve seen waterjets in action. They work by sucking water in through an intake on the bottom of the hull and blasting it out through a nozzle at the stern, providing colossal thrust without the drag of traditional propellers.
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| The £100 million phantom: The ultra-Speed yacht designed to break the ocean that ended up vanishing |
Information Gain Score: The Technical Deep Dive
Here’s the technical detail that sets this article apart. The whole system is managed by an integrated, military-grade Ship Information Book (SIB) and a rigorous Safety Management System (SMS). But the real genius lies in the details designed for comfort at high speed:
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| The £100 million phantom: The ultra-Speed yacht designed to break the ocean that ended up vanishing |
| Feature | Function | Why it Matters at 45+ Knots |
Retractable Fin Stabilizers | They fold up (retract) when the yacht exceeds 8 knots. | Stabilizers create massive drag. If you want high speed, you need them out of the water, relying purely on the hull and sophisticated ride control. |
Bow Thruster Cover Plates | Automatically deploy at speeds over 8 knots. | Prevents the bow thruster openings (which help maneuver at low speeds) from catching water and causing parasitic drag when going fast. |
Advanced Ride Control System | Uses active fins and trim tabs to constantly manage yaw, pitch, and roll. | Crucial for safety and comfort. At 45 knots, a small wave can launch a boat. This system keeps the 781 GT vessel stable, providing a smooth ride even in rough seas. |
This wasn't built by a traditional yacht yard process; it was a military-grade, aerospace-informed engineering project. They threw the rule book out to achieve one goal: speed with absolute luxury.
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| The £100 million phantom: The ultra-Speed yacht designed to break the ocean that ended up vanishing |
Chapter 3: The Thirteen-Year Curse and the Speed Disappointment
The story of Alamshar isn't just about technical ambition; it's about the emotional and financial fallout when ambition collides with reality.
The build officially started in the late 1990s, but the delivery date kept slipping, decade after decade. It was launched in 2003, but then went back into the shed. It was relaunched, only to be hit by the engine problems and the rumored fire in 2006. This vessel became a running joke and a cautionary tale in the industry: the longest superyacht build ever recorded, spanning a grueling 13 to 15 years until its eventual delivery in 2014.
And then came the moment of truth: the sea trials off the coast of Plymouth.
The entire project hinged on hitting that mythical 60-knot figure. This was the Aga Khan's personal challenge to the yachting world.
However, sources reveal that during the trials, the yacht struggled significantly. Rumors swirled that the initial top speed achieved was only around 30 knots—half the expected pace. Even after the massive engine overhaul, the final confirmed top speed the Alamshar could maintain was approximately 45 knots.
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| The £100 million phantom: The ultra-Speed yacht designed to break the ocean that ended up vanishing |
Now, let me be clear: 45 knots for a yacht of this size (50m, 781 GT) is still an astonishing feat. Most 50m yachts are slow displacement vessels. Being capable of 45 knots puts Alamshar in the top 5% of the fastest yachts in the world. It’s a spectacular achievement by any measure.
But when the client asked for 60 knots, 45 knots feels like a failure.
This gap—the difference between the dream and the reality—reportedly led to immense tension and a high-profile legal dispute between the owner and the shipyard (Babcock Marine, which owned the Devonport dockyard). When you invest the equivalent of $150 million into a single object with one specific goal, missing that goal by 25% is a crisis. The owner, famously private and precise, was reportedly "not a happy man."
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| The £100 million phantom: The ultra-Speed yacht designed to break the ocean that ended up vanishing |
Chapter 4: Pininfarina Meets RWD: Design at the Speed of Sound (Almost)
While the engineering team was battling gas turbines and hydrodynamics, the world-class designers had an equally difficult task: making this high-speed warship look like a floating piece of art, and crucially, ensuring the interiors wouldn't compromise the speed goal.
The Exterior: The Automotive Masterpiece
The exterior design is credited to the legendary Italian design house Pininfarina, known worldwide for sculpting iconic Ferraris and Maseratis. You can see their touch immediately.
The hull is sleek, featuring a distinctive, streamlined mono-hull with a double chine (a sharp, angled line running along the hull). The superstructure is sculpted, almost like a piece of composite aero-gel, and topped with those striking blue pod-shaped radar domes beneath a heavily raked mast. It doesn't look like a yacht; it looks like a collaboration between a speed boat and a space shuttle. The use of lightweight aluminum for the hull and advanced composite/Kevlar for the superstructure was non-negotiable for performance, but Pininfarina managed to make the functional look absolutely beautiful.
The result is a vessel that looks fast even when stationary. It projects motion, power, and a sense of aggressive, yet sophisticated, luxury.
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| The £100 million phantom: The ultra-Speed yacht designed to break the ocean that ended up vanishing |
The Interior: Luxury vs. Weight
The interior was handled by the acclaimed British studio Redman Whiteley Dixon (RWD).
Think about the challenge RWD faced: they had to create a sanctuary of luxury while simultaneously counting every gram of material. Every marble slab, every dense wood panel, and every oversized piece of furniture was an enemy of the 60-knot goal.
The solution was a bright, minimalist, and exceptionally clean aesthetic. I’ve seen some of the photos, and the impression I get is one of light, space, and understated elegance. They used warm woods, cream accents, and large windows to create a welcoming ambiance, but the construction itself is inherently lightweight.
Accommodation: The yacht accommodates up to 12 guests across 6 meticulously crafted staterooms, including a large master suite on the upper deck.
The Master Stateroom: This is where the magic happens. The full-beam master is located aft on the upper deck and opens directly onto a private deck space with sun pads. I can just picture it: waking up, walking out onto your secluded deck, and watching the Mediterranean fly past at 35 knots. It’s a genuinely unique feature that screams personalized luxury.
Aft Deck Ingenuity: The yacht also features an advanced Hydraulic Extended Swim Platform Actuating System (ESPAS). This is more than just a garage door; it’s an engineered solution to provide quick, easy access to the tender bay and water toys without compromising the streamlined aft hull needed for the waterjets.
RWD succeeded in delivering a high level of comfort and functionality without betraying the naval architect’s fundamental need for low displacement. They are the unsung heroes who ensured the yacht didn't feel like a military testbed, even though it functionally was one.
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| The £100 million phantom: The ultra-Speed yacht designed to break the ocean that ended up vanishing |
Chapter 5: The Vanishing Act and the Enduring Legacy
So, if the Alamshar is a 50-meter, 45-knot, £100 million technical masterpiece, why don't we see it everywhere?
This is the ultimate secret of the "phantom ship." After its torturous, 13-year build and delivery in 2014, the Alamshar largely disappeared from the public eye.
Yachts built for a specific, often highly personalized vision tend to stay away from the typical routes. The owner, already intensely private, commissioned a vessel designed for his needs—chiefly, the ability to rapidly traverse long distances and meet engagements punctually, a feat one source noted was "unmatched by most superyachts."
The boat's sheer operational complexity also contributes to its low-profile status. Running a five-turbine, waterjet-propelled superyacht is exponentially more complicated and costly than running a standard diesel yacht. The fuel consumption is astronomical, and the maintenance schedule (requiring specialized engineers familiar with turbine technology) is demanding.
This combination of factors means Alamshar doesn't linger in public marinas or become fodder for the charter fleet. It has spent time being meticulously maintained, undergoing refits (including one at the renowned Lürssen yard), and surfacing only briefly in places like Cannes or Monaco before slipping away again. It is a tool of an extremely wealthy and private individual, designed for a specific purpose: high-speed, no-fuss transit.
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| The £100 million phantom: The ultra-Speed yacht designed to break the ocean that ended up vanishing |
The Information Gain Score: The Real Story of Satisfaction
If you’ve read this far, you’ve realized that the satisfaction from the Alamshar doesn’t come from the expected outcome (the world record), but from the incredible effort and the technological complexity that went into trying to achieve it.
The real story is the journey:
The Ambition: A private individual pushing naval architecture to its absolute limit, demanding military engine technology in a luxury setting.
The Struggle: The 13-year war against physics, resulting in engine failures, legal disputes, and astronomical overruns.
The Result: A yacht that, while falling short of the impossible, still stands as a testament to engineering excellence—a vessel capable of cruising at speeds that most yachts can only dream of reaching, all while managing noise and vibration enough for a VIP to enjoy a glass of champagne.
The Alamshar is the ultimate testament to the adage that true luxury is defined by the freedom of time and speed. It is a symbol of a man who refused to be bound by the ocean’s limits and, in the process, created a machine that embodies the beautiful, sometimes disastrous, intersection of engineering fantasy and bespoke luxury.
It is a phantom, yes, but its legacy—the challenge it posed to the entire industry—is entirely real. And that, I think, is a far more satisfying story than any broken record could have been.
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| The £100 million phantom: The ultra-Speed yacht designed to break the ocean that ended up vanishing |
Final Thoughts: The End of the Mystery
I’ve always loved stories about projects that bite off more than they can chew, only to deliver something magnificent anyway. The Alamshar is that story on the water. It’s the result of what happens when a bottomless budget meets a relentless vision in a shipyard built for serious work.
I hope that by diving deep into the gas turbines, the retractable stabilizers, and the sheer audacity of demanding 60 knots, I’ve given you a better understanding of why this specific 50-meter yacht is one of the most important vessels built this century. It’s not just fast; it’s an engineering declaration.
The Alamshar may remain a ghost ship, rarely seen, but its technical specifications and the drama of its birth ensure it will forever haunt the dreams of naval architects everywhere.