165 m private submersible superyacht

https://www.migaloo-submarines.com/m5-1-of-1/

by bookofjoe • 2 years ago

103 119 2 years ago

throwup238• 2 years ago

There's also the Nautilus "Luxury Yacht Submarine" from U-Boat Worx [1].

I don't think either of them have ever been built, they're basically just Kickstarters for ultra-rich people.

Edit: There's a link for Migaloo NFTs on OpenSea in the footer and a fanciful floating habitat that looks like a seasteaders wet dream. This does not look like a serious project. The entire site is nothing but renderings. U-Boat Worx at least ships the NEMO submersible so they kinda know what they're doing.

[1] https://nautilus-submarine.com/

corndoge• 2 years ago

Do you have a link to anything about one of the Nautiluses being shipped? I can't find anything.

the__alchemist• 2 years ago

Design student project maybe?

sovok• 2 years ago

There seem to be a few fancy boat projects that turn out to just be renderings and NFT scams.

Like https://www.pangeosyacht.com/projects, an $8 Billion „Terayacht“ maybe launching in 2033. Until then they sell NFTs for a place in the virtual Unreal Engine version of this (also still to be built).

The design studio behind that (https://www.lazzarinidesignstudio.com) has many renderings of vehicle concepts, but nothing realized yet.

Except for one thing, the Songball https://www.lazzarinidesignstudio.com/the-songball. A little plastic speaker that plays back one song you can record yourself, starting at 20€ (https://www.songball.com/?lang=en).

archsurface• 2 years ago

Once ordered this will take years to build. I don't see a figure, but would guess 5+ years...?

hinkley3• 2 years ago

I'm sure that's so they can keep from reducing the life expectancy of the owners too drastically.

mrcartmeneses• 2 years ago

Build faster

aussieguy1234• 2 years ago

Well, it is another billionare's sub after all. They need to make sure the contracts are all paid out and the PS4 controller is in place before it goes under.

CoastalCoder2• 2 years ago

Once ordered this will take years to build. I don't see a figure, but would guess 5+ years...?

As an early funder of Star Citizen, I cannot feel superior about this.

throwaway11460• 2 years ago

I donated when I was in 1st year of high school. I have kids now...

ocdtrekkie2• 2 years ago

This is when you know the wealthy are too wealthy.

stevenAthompson2• 2 years ago

It's beautiful engineering (if real), but all I can think about is the number of people that could be fed, housed, and educated for that amount of money.

The world could be made a permanently (slightly) better place instead of building this.

synack• 2 years ago

The people building it will be fed, housed, and their children educated with that amount of money. Jobs are what the world gets out of this sort of thing.

oh_sigh• 2 years ago

Well, the world is a better place for all the shipbuilders who work on this project. And a better place for their families. And all the businesses that they spend money in. And the communities that collect tax from them, isn't it?

FooBarBizBazz• 2 years ago

Money flows, it doesn't disappear, and if it isn't spent it might as well not exist -- but the spending affects the allocation of real resources, like steel, batteries, and shipbuilders' time.

It's ok if there's an excess of materials and the shipbuilders have nothing better to do.

More likely it will slightly drive up the prices of batteries, etc. And maybe the yacht builders would have otherwise gone to work making sailboats for normal-rich people, or gone into defense, driving down the price of labor there, and allowing taxpayers to get their next destroyer for a hair cheaper.

Or, worst case, there'd be no demand for these shipbuilders, and they'd have to reskill as something else. Maybe they know how to do fiberglass layups and would try making surfboards, I don't know.

In short, I don't worry so much about wasting money per-se, as about luring people and resources away from better uses.

Kind of like VC's role for the last 20 years. "Greatest minds of my generation", etc.

lmm• 2 years ago

Meh, this is at least something new and interesting. Better this than yet another garage full of supercars or whatever.

Sporktacular3• 2 years ago

Ooh, great idea! A supercar garage pressure hull.

kazinator• 2 years ago

Perfect escape fantasy for the tech billionaire who grew up reading Jules Verne.

trevyn• 2 years ago

MIGALOO luxury submarine? Those Chinese Amazon brands are really stepping up their game.

htatche2• 2 years ago

Why is that?

cdchn• 2 years ago

I think what the commenter is trying to get at is the name sounds like something that would brand a powerbank you'd buy on Amazon.

pants2• 2 years ago

I think you mean MIGALOO Luxury Submersible Submarine Yacht 165m 550ft Underwater Compatible With IPhone 14 15 - High Quality - NEW

propmaster2• 2 years ago

I think it's a fantastic ship to smuggle drugs and weapons, so every high profile crime organisation on the planet will desire one, maybe yours, gratis ... admitting they can really deliver the ships without going out of business.

twism2• 2 years ago

Yup ... it's not lost on folks where the original design came about

twism2• 2 years ago

Correction: this one actually goes to 250m depth. The one I was referencing just goes beyond the surface

sublinear• 2 years ago

Smuggling will always be a job for those low on the totem pole. It's dangerous and needs to be inconspicuous.

No, this ship is meant for crazy parties and expeditions. Amusingly, just because it may happen to contain a ton of drugs for their personal consumption doesn't mean they're trying to smuggle anything.

maxbond• 2 years ago

It can simultaneously be true that smuggling is performed by people deemed expendable, and that the kingpins behind them might purchase an extravagant vessel made for partying if they think it will improve the rate at which they successfully smuggle their illegal goods.

If you bring a submarine to market, intelligence agencies and smugglers will absolutely be interested in it.

That said, this is a submersible. If I understand correctly, that means it doesn't operate independently, but in tandem with a conventional vessel. So that may be far less useful.

lp4vn2• 2 years ago

Most of the ocean is dull and there is no much of a point in partying in the darkness of the oceanic waters.

I read that a typical load in a narcosub was worth about 100 million dollars and a narcosub itself costs 2 million dollars. Two narcotrips will not only pay for the submarine but also make a huge profit, your idea that smuggling is for those low on the totem pole and that it has to be dangerous is something that you invented.

primitivesuave3• 2 years ago

Check out narco submarines - they have people in the jungles of Columbia building submarines that they pack with tons of cocaine (literally), which are discarded after a single ocean crossing. In general, it seems to be more economical to ship illicit materials with cheap/disposable vessels and vulnerable/impoverished people, rather than risking an expensive yacht to government seizure.

propmaster2• 2 years ago

In fact, the point I was trying to illustrate is that if they steal your fancy luxury submarine is even less expensive, it's free, gratis, 100% discount. Do you really want a ship that it's seen as disposable delivery system by every single organised crime entity on the globe ?

roenxi• 2 years ago

I would find it funny if a country managed to bootstrap its way into high tech manufacturing like that. It sounds like the Columbian jungle would have a lot of demand for good engineering and machining know-how and if they are building disposable subs they'd have a lot of incentive to perfect cheap manufacturing technique.

If the drug trade doesn't work, they probably have the expertise to get involved in navel drones.

justusthane• 2 years ago

There’s a section on that page labeled “Sustainability” lol

…it’s got solar panels.

barney54• 2 years ago

I love that there is a section on “sustainability.” Who says these guys don’t have a sense of humor?

anon-sre-srm3• 2 years ago

Superyacht submarine, now titanium LEED certified and made from sustainable materials.

soul_grafitti• 2 years ago

It automatically recycles into an artificial reef.

throwawaymaths2• 2 years ago

The only way this is sustainable is if the owner goes out to where the transponderless fishing fleets are and torpedoes them to the bottom of the ocean

sgu999• 2 years ago

And tow them outside the environment

seanhunter• 2 years ago

Since it's entirely made up it's completely climate neutral[1].

[1] Other than a small amount of hot air.

bvanderveen• 2 years ago

It never fails to amaze me how tasteless and unimaginative your run-of-the-mill rich asshole is. Without even getting into housing, education, or whatever other feel-good virtue-signalling—this is seriously the coolest toy you can think to buy with 10e8-9 USD?

engineer_22• 2 years ago

Homie, it's just an advertisement

swader999• 2 years ago

Some of them have the right idea. There's one guy who built a ship to launch cars into space. He flung one that went around the sun and it was pretty funny. He likes blowing stuff up too.

rpmisms• 2 years ago

Playing Captain Nemo is honestly a pretty decent strategy. I think I'd personally go for the volcano base, but the Nautilus method is pretty epic too.

Either that or fund any FTL research I could get my hands on. I want to break that particular barrier.

pge• 2 years ago

The funny about this is that despite all the beautiful pictures, it would probably be a very unpleasant boat to ride in. Submarines by design are not very stable on the surface (think of a cylinder that rolls vs the v-shape of a surface ship that keeps it upright). But underwater, it only does 12 knots. So you have to choose between going really slow or having a smooth ride.

xattt• 2 years ago

... you have to choose between going really slow or having a smooth ride.

Life is tough when you're a multi-billionaire.

serf• 2 years ago

I guess i'd presume that with the billions of dollars someone would probably have to kick at a project like this that that'd use active stabilization[0] all over the place if the hull ended up being too rocky.

admittedly something with that kind of tonnage would have a massive flywheel, but if money isn't a hindrance..

[0] https://www.seakeeper.com/seakeeper-products/seakeeper-40/

sojournerc• 2 years ago

12 knots is in the ballpark of what a performance sailing catamaran can achieve on a crossing, so it's not exactly slow.

petre• 2 years ago

Except the performance sailing cat is a nicer experience than any sub because you get to stay on deck, even if only for watch and work.

Performance craft = stripped down to weight as little as possible, adjustable bunks, no showers, no kitchen, the toilet is usually a bucket.

https://youtu.be/T7cL3tx1voo

jacquesm4• 2 years ago

It wouldn't be because it'll never be built. This is just a fantasy project of which there are plenty in the maritime space. Remember this one?

https://www.independent.co.uk/tv/lifestyle/city-water-sea-tu...

Usually they're schemes to bilk the gullible of some $ by crowdfunding or NFT scams.

Such as:

https://opensea.io/MigalooSubmarines

ijhuygft776• 2 years ago

despite all the beautiful pictures

I don't think any of them are pictures... they look like renderings.

Perenti• 2 years ago

Named after a white whale... what could possibly go wrong?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Migaloo

hooverd• 2 years ago

Is this a Dahir Insaat subsidiary?

sellmesoap• 2 years ago

4 weeks underwater endurance, I wonder what they intend to power this with?

jtriangle• 2 years ago

Reclaimed batteries from those disposable vapes

aetherspawn• 2 years ago

I don’t think it can submerge very far below the surface because in the pictures shown the diesel is still venting to the surface via a pipe.

mkl• 2 years ago

The specs claim "Depth: approx. 250 m", but maybe it couldn't move much at that depth, just vertically.

anon-sre-srm3• 2 years ago

Diesel subs can also dive because they have batteries and electric motors.

jabl• 2 years ago

Military diesel subs have snorkels so they can run their diesels when they are at periscope depth. If they need to go deeper (or don't want a radar-reflecting snorkel sticking up over the surface) they shut down the diesels and rely on batteries. Traditionally huge banks of lead-acid batteries, not sure if newer subs use Li batteries.

simonw• 2 years ago

One small detail I enjoyed: the phone number on that page starts 0043, which is the country code for Austria - a landlocked country.

Sporktacular3• 2 years ago

It has lakes. There's no cooler way to get around one.

avar• 2 years ago

"Landlocked": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhine%E2%80%93Main%E2%80%93Dan...

hinkley3• 2 years ago

I can't recall the details, but there is precedent for someone building large vessels in a shipyard on a river and then discovering that they can't deliver the it because they fucked up their research on bridge clearances.

I think the implication was that nobody bothered to check, which is humorous and so we are willing to jump straight to it. But I suspect the truth is subtler if still as dumb. A tall vessel is likely to have a large draft, so a dry spell may mean bridge clearance but getting stuck on a sandbar (or worse, bedrock). There may be very few days a year where the water level is high enough to avoid sandbars but low enough not to clip the bridge.

Aeolun2• 2 years ago

I don’t get the idea of having a separate pressure hull for your helicopter hangar. Surely if your submarine is compromised to the point of needing the pressure hull you are long past the point where your helicopter is going to save you.

FredPret• 2 years ago

There’s an excellent documentary series about things that go wrong with superyachts called James Bond.

Having seen that, I’d certainly invest in a pressure hull hangar if I were so inclined.

stickfigure• 2 years ago

It's probably a safety concern. A helicopter hangar requires a very large watertight door. Very large doors are less safe than small doors. In the event of failure, better to lose the helicopter than the crew.

defrost• 2 years ago

Helicopter hanger has the largest door into a pressure hull area, it's the largest point of failure - if it fails, it's isolated from the living space (and other sub areas).

It's smart safety design.

MilStdJunkie• 2 years ago

Yup, yup, yup. Everything human-usable is going to be in a pressure hull, because a hundred meters of depth is going to absolutely wreck more or less everything. Especially seals. Hangar doors give me nightmares.

They might pressurize the crew spaces, a little, but it's really not possible to crank up the air pressure meaningfully for any duration, too hard on the body, and totally lethal if they come up too fast. On that subject google up "saturation diving" for some frickin' horrors. Those dudes make bank, but whew, talk about earning it.

Aeolun2• 2 years ago

I was thinking more that it didn’t need a pressure hull at all, but after your message I realized it would kinda ruin the helicopter xD

I read their adverts to mean that the ship was so expensive even the helicopter got it’s own pressure hull. But I should understand it as the helicopter can’t do without a pressure hull, and the special part is that it’s _separate_ from the human hull.

hindsightbias• 2 years ago

But how will my 10Gb StarLink work?

Which makes me wonder. After Thiel and all bug out, who is going to host the post-apocolypse internet?

What we need is a startup that will use GenerativeAI to simulate the internet and wayback, but hosted with a small nuke or maybe geothermal.

jfoutz2• 2 years ago

I would swear there was a company in the late 90's that sold luxury submarines. Not submersible super-yachts. I thought it was the neatest thing till I realized you needed like 20 close friends to crew the thing. And far more dollars than I had. But that was like a real diesel electric that could dive to avoid storms and cruise fast on the surface. Definitely smaller than this.

Toys are neat. I dunno, if that's what you want, go for it. I sorta feel like you can do better.

zoenolan2• 2 years ago

https://ussubs.com/ ?

jfoutz2• 2 years ago

that might be it! same flavor at least.

wsh• 2 years ago

The website claims “Design, Construction and Operation according to US SUBSAFE.” I’d want that for my submarine, of course, but I wonder if it’s realistic.

I’d understood that SUBSAFE was a comprehensive program applied to U.S. Navy submarines by the Naval Sea Systems Command, not merely a published standard with which one could comply without extensive, ongoing involvement by NAVSEA, which presumably has no mandate to support foreign yacht builders.

z_ack3• 2 years ago

It's a bad idea for many reasons: - you are spending hundreds of millions for a prototype, on paper all works but in reality to build a reliable submarine you need peoples, experience, tests etc, to avoid something like this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titan_submersible_implosion

this sub "only" reach -250m , but that it's anyway mattern of concerns;

- there are serious possibilities they don't delivery, not necessarily because it's a scam, but fore the same reasons of the previous point: technical problems requiring re-designing and re-engineering inflating the costs, burning budgets;

- the success in rescuing people trapped in a submarine is very low, because the environment, because the lack of related technology, experience, etc, see here for example:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_submarine_and_submersi...

Onestly ? If I have all that money I go "classic" : tropical island.

DrDroop• 2 years ago

Just the crew to operate the oxygen system 24/7 with burning oxygen candles and co2 scrubbers is going to be intense.

peterleiser• 2 years ago

The best part is that the first 10 customers get their very own Evil Lair! Hurry, before Volcano Lair is sold out!

torbengee• 2 years ago

Oh, to have the privilege of spending my time on a grey brutalist vessel ... all my friends on their slick yachts would be envious, I'm sure.

imgabe• 2 years ago

But can it get down to the Titanic?

Ankaios• 2 years ago

But can it get down to the Titanic?

Yep.

Getting back up to the surface might be a challenge, though.

jiggawatts• 2 years ago

Anyone else getting Subnautica vibes?

For some reason the styling reminds me of the Cyclops sub from the game: https://subnautica.fandom.com/wiki/Cyclops

ephaeton• 2 years ago

but will it say as nicely 'welcome aboard, captain' as in the early releases?

ChuckMcM• 2 years ago

My favorite in this class was the Phoenix 1000 from US Submarines[1]. As I recall (and someone has worked VERY HARD to scrub nearly every bit of information about US Submarines from the web) they has a really nasty bankruptcy with some very wealthy people upset that they had put down big deposits and ended up with zilch.

[1] https://www.2luxury2.com/phoenix-1000-the-largest-private-un...

[2] https://web.archive.org/web/20111128072852/http://www.ussubm...

iancmceachern• 2 years ago

I remember reading about them, they had some crazy features too.

ryan-allen• 2 years ago

The maintenance costs on this would be enormous! I sail regular old boring wind powered boats, and I have to admit, if I could afford this I'd probably buy it!

Saying that though, I have no idea how it would work legally in ports. I'm guessing you'd have to stay on surface in most territorial waters without some kind of crazy custom private clearance.

I live in Australia and I don't reckon authorities would be very happy if you decided to submerge in the middle of Sydney Harbour!

jacquesm4• 2 years ago

The lack of a pipe organ is a very bad oversight.

KingOfCoders• 2 years ago

perlgeek• 2 years ago

The lines between fantasy fiction, performance art and scam are getting really blurry with this one.

derelicta• 2 years ago

It's not even a nuclear submarine. The Elites are so boring.

hellonull• 2 years ago

Why is this on HN? This seems like a scam in a sense. Look at the “pressure hull” compared to the numerous openings cut into the outer hull for party decks or whatever, they don’t really connect and the interior space is made to look much bigger than it is. How are they going to constantly dewater the ship when there is water leaking in everywhere? What happens if someone forgets to close one of the 100 exterior openings?

Maybe these are just renderings to market the idea, but I would have no confidence I would get what was advertised if anything.

Then there is the practical and comfort aspect that other people have mentioned.

Is this cosplay for DrEvil?

jacquesm4• 2 years ago

You are right, it is a scam. But identifying scams is a useful skill.

not_your_mentat• 2 years ago

Gorillaz called. They want their Plastic Beach floating artificial island back.

Balgair• 2 years ago

The hilariously small whales in some of the pictures are really the best.

amai• 2 years ago

Propulsion: Diesel.

Why? The ultrarich could afford the most environmentally friendly propulsion ( e.g hydrogen for submarines ) . But as if climate change wouldn’t be a thing, the ultrarich simply don’t care about their CO2 footprints. Do they really think they can buy another planet?

165 m private submersible superyacht

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