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M/Y ''A'' is a luxury motor yacht designed by Philippe Starck and engineered by naval architect Martin Francis, She was built by the Blohm + Voss shipyard at the HDW deepwater facility in Kiel.〔 She was ordered in November 2004, and delivered in 2008 at a rumoured cost of US$300 million. With a length of and displacing almost 6,000 tonnes, she is one of the largest motor yachts in the world.〔 Named for the first initial of its owners, Andrey and Aleksandra Melnichenko, its provocative styling has polarized opinions since its launch. She has evoked comparisons with submarines and stealth warships, while commentators have referred to her as the "most loved and loathed ship on the sea". ''A'' can accommodate 14 guests in one owner's suite and six guest suites. She can also accommodate up to 37 crew members on board. ==Design and development== In common with many "mega yachts", little was known about ''A'' when it was first commissioned. Builder Blohm + Voss issued a press release in December 2004 identifying the vessel as ''Project Sigma'',〔 which was how it became most commonly known during its construction. Its length was given as , a metre short of its final length, while conceptual designer Philippe Starck and lead naval architect Neil Wade were credited personally.〔 Starck was alleged to have taken only three and a half hours to come up with the final shape,〔 whose reverse bow and tumblehome design has drawn parallels with the ''Zumwalt'' class of stealth destroyers designed for the US Navy.〔〔〔 It was also stated in the press release that the owner of mega yacht ''Pelorus'' — Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich — was not the customer behind ''Sigma''. Nevertheless, because ''Pelorus'' was undergoing a concurrent refit at the same shipyard, and because both projects shared the same management company, there was continued speculation that the two vessels had a common owner throughout ''As construction.〔 Melnichenko was not confirmed as the true owner until after the ship was delivered in July 2008.〔 In interviews for ''Yachts International'' and ''Die Zeit'' magazines, Starck gave details of the vessel's most innovative features. He described her as a "stealth yacht" with a very smooth hull design, which left almost no wake at . Its "purity" was, he said, a reflection of its owner, a "young and brilliant mathematician".〔 (Melnichenko is a reputed math prodigy.)〔 Martin Francis, the boat's naval architect, was also interviewed by ''Yachts International'' in 2008, and he too cited the boat's efficiency through the water and her small bow wake as a major innovation.〔 Francis explained that typically the shipyard will do the hull testing, but in ''As case a model was built and tested in the Solent estuary early in the design process, long prior to the involvement of any builders.〔〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「A (motor yacht)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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