Swift 141 meter frigate converted into a superyacht?

One can only hope that this yacht turns out as well as another noted military frigate did - Christina.

Here is the mother of all yacht conversions Yas based on the hull of a former navy frigate!

I watched that same video up to last night.

As the old saying goes. Never judge a book by its cover.

Care to expand on that as far as you feel comfortable doing?

Maybe this will help: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don't_judge_a_book_by_its_cover

Thanks so much K1w1. Yes I understand the expression. I thought that with your usual insider knowledge, you'd have something that we don't know about.

YAS is based on the hull of an 1978 built Dutch Navy Ship, the HNLMS Piet Hein, a Kortenaer-class frigate of the Royal Netherlands Navy. This ship was sold in 2003 to the UAE and originally equipped with 4 Rolls Royce gas turbines (COGOG propulsion). During the conversion, the gas turbines were replaced with 2 MTU 20V 8000 diesel engines with app. 7.800 KW each. With 141 meter in length and only 15 meters in beam, a very sleek boat. The German Navy used to have several almost identical frigates, the Bremen-class. Our sailors had had a saying about that hull design, "it starts rolling already on a wet lawn". GRP for the superstructure on the yacht conversion was taken for obvious reasons. My oldest son served during his conscript time on one of this frigates. He discribes his state of health at his time of military duty as either seasick or homesick .

The conversion (which was more than complex) caused many problems (and a lot of money), not only because the base was a more than 30 year old beaten and abused military ship. Some of the problems were yard and subcontractor related. The drums in the industry are telling, they still have engine problems due to the high raw water inlet temperature in her home waters (Thats why the Navy likes Gas Turbines). Especially the MTU 8000 class engines do not like to be run outside their pretty narrow spec. (Mr. L. Allison could tell a lot about that subject).

IMHO this yacht had the wrong base to be converted from, the wrong yard for that conversion and some, lets say, less than optimum subcontractors and project management. Filler, paint and fairing allone will not turn a duck into a swan.

Just my 2 (Euro) cents

Awesome reply. Thank you. I knew it was a conversion from an old Navy ship, but I had no idea of the engines, sea-handling traits, and the rest. Sounds like a less than optimal situation. Silk purse/Sow's ear and all that.

Personal comfort of VIP guests during voyage or on the hook is definately not part of the spec of a military combat vessel . Yachts do not have to outturn torpedos or bombs and have to circle around her convoys in order to protect them from subs. Even with the stabilizers added during the conversion, YAS will not be very comfortable, when on anchor in less than calm sea. And I feel very sorry for her deckies, which have to clean her forward superstructure. Not an easy care boat.

Since we never had an official thread for the "YAS" then here is one. This is one strange vessel that has an interesting history and even more interesting period being converted from a Naval vessel (frigate) that served the Royal Netherlands Navy as well as the Abu Dhabi Navy to a one of a kind bespoke superyacht for a daring owner. For the first time we can watch a fairly in depth video regarding some of the work done and challenges encountered in making this build a reality. Pierrejean Design Studio uploaded this video a few months ago.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=559&v=T81BrMGuI9w

This is definitely a strange vessel. Either love it or hate it. The video was well done!

I like the documentary and while I had seen certain parts of "YAS" before, this video showed alot more of the interior that was never seen before.

I just merged an existing discussion from 2008 with the latest thread on YAS. Love it or hate it, you can't forget it. (no matter how hard you try!)

Great shot of 24,000 H.P. / 17,996 kw at the 9:30 mark of the video. Hopefully the 17cm diameter raw water pump inlets will do the trick and keep these beasts properly cooled. I'd love to see pics of the finished machinery space but unfortunately the interior finishes get all the press and rarely do the public get to see the "rubber band room" in all of its glory.

Video is taken down for me in the U.S., maybe everywhere. Does anybody know of an alternate location? I'd love to see it, as would many others, I'm sure.

Yes it seems that the designer was shot a message ... perhaps from the owner. Thing is, that video was up for about half of this year . I guess the exposure on YF brought it to the attention of alot of people.

I'm sure it did. YF is a great place and popular for good reason. It was bound to happen.

I too luv pictures of machinery spaces. If there is any influence here on reviews, please include more E R and bilge pictures. That's where the quality is..