THE personal armada of Roman Abramovich, the billionaire owner of Chelsea football club, is poised to get a stunning new flagship: the largest privately owned yacht in the world.

The Eclipse, currently taking shape in a shipyard in Hamburg, Germany, is expected to boast two helicopter landing pads, three launches, several hot tubs, a private cinema, a swimming pool and a submarine. It will require a crew of at least 50.

Some of these features appear on the yachts of other billionaires, but the size of the Eclipse is unprecedented. Informed sources say it will be 550ft long — edging out what is currently the world’s biggest yacht, Dubai, the 525ft floating pleasure palace, owned by Sheikh Maktoum, the emirate’s ruler.

Security measures planned for Eclipse — including bullet-proof glass and motion sensors — might allay the fears of any high-profile Russians worried by the recent poisoning of the former KGB spy Alexander Litvinenko in London. It has been rumoured that the yacht may be fitted with a missile detection system, although this could imply that it needs to be fitted with weapons to shoot it down.

Private security sources said Abramovich’s yachts carry armed squads of former Special Air Service and ex-Special Boat Service personnel, ready to deal with unwelcome visitors. The Eclipse is expected to carry a miniature submarine, which could be an escape vehicle for Abramovich and his wife Irina in the event of onboard danger.

When Eclipse is completed it will raise the size of Abramovich’s private navy — measured by the vessels’ combined length — close to that of Ireland, and beyond that of the Albanian navy and coastguard.

Diane Byrne, executive editor of Power & Motoryacht magazine, said: “The advantage of having so many yachts is that he can keep them stationed in different areas and he can fly from one to the other whenever he feels like it.”

Abramovich already owns the 377ft Pelorus, the 370ft Le Grand Bleu, the 282ft Ecstasea and the Sussurro, a comparative tiddler at 160ft, which is used to host “spill-over” guests from parties aboard his larger yachts. The Chelsea players John Terry and Frank Lampard holidayed on the Sussurro in 2005.

Abramovich is believed to have put Le Grand Bleu — which has an aquarium, private cinema and 75ft sailing boat stowed on deck — at the disposal of his business lieutenant, Eugene Shvidler. When Le Grand Bleu docked in Monaco in 2004, Dame Shirley Bassey said it was so large it ruined the view from her Monte Carlo flat.

The largest yacht not owned by a head of state belongs to Larry Ellison, the American computing tycoon. His Rising Sun, at 420ft, is followed by the 390ft Octopus of Paul Allen, the co-founder of Microsoft. However, if Eclipse were afloat today, it, Pelorus and Le Grand Bleu would be three of the 10 largest privately owned yachts in the world.

Ecstasea and Pelorus reportedly cost over £72m each. Eclipse is expected to cost as much as £200m. Abramovich’s spokesman, John Mann, said, “Mr Abramovich doesn’t comment on his personal property.”

At the headquarters of Blohm & Voss, the German company which is building the Eclipse, a spokesman would only say: “We do not talk about our projects.”

How his fleet compares

Although Abramovich lacks an aircraft carrier, frigate or destroyer, his “fleet” of five yachts is comparable in size to the navy of some sovereign states.

The nation of Cambodia has only four vessels to patrol its coastline on the Gulf of Thailand and extensive inland waterways. Their crews are smaller than those manning the oligarch’s yachts.

Laid end-to end, the eight ships in the navy of the Irish republic, not counting auxiliary vessels, stretch to 1,832ft. The billionaire’s yachts are a combined 1739ft.

At 550ft, Eclipse is longer than any destroyer or frigate in the Royal Navy.

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