Earlier this week the AES Yachts in Turkey launched the 71-metre superyacht Victoria, a long-awaited project with an interesting history behind her. The construction of Victoria started more than 10 years ago, with her keel laid on 30th May 2006 at the Sevmash shipyard in Severodvinsk, Arkhangelskaya, a city in Northern Russia where she was built under the Baltika Yachts brand as project Agat.
Victoria was not the only superyacht project of Sevmash at the time, as in September 2006 the Russian builders had also started work on an 82-metre project, which was later moved to Blohm & Voss and completed in 2014 as Graceful.
The story of the Agat project, however, set a different course for completion. It was put on hold around 2008/2009 and remained in Russia for several more years. There was no news until the Russian shipyard resumed construction on the yacht in November 2013.
Although it was speculated that she was nearing completion at this stage, this soon turned out not to be the case, and she was put on a dock ship and travelled 5,000 nm to Italy in December 2013. In January 2014, SuperYacht Times published the very first picture of what was to become Victoria, with the understanding that she was to be completed at ISA Yachts – though it was yet to be confirmed.
In May 2014 ISA Yachts officially announced that they had won the contract to complete the vessel. The contract included the completion of the technical areas, commissioning of the yacht’s systems, the realisation of the interior of all the guest areas and the installation of exterior furniture in aluminium and teak decks.
The work never really took off, however, and it is unknown whether or not ISA Yachts went ahead with any of the announced work, with the yard running into some problems in 2015. Later in the year, the yacht was moved to Turkey and AES Yachts was contracted for the completion of the yacht.
Ultimately launched after a decade of uncertainty, we can confirm that the interior of Victoria has been designed by H2 Yacht Design, who were also originally contracted for the exterior design. However, AES Yachts informs us that Gresham Yacht Design was also involved in the exterior design as the project progressed. Naval architecture was undertaken by Agat Design Bureau of St Petersburg, Russia.
She has a beam of 11.4 metres, a draft of 3.8 metres and a volume of 1,553 GT. Built to Lloyds Register, she has a steel hull and aluminium superstructure and complies with the MCA LY2.
Power is provided by twin 3,111hp MTU 16V 4000 M17 diesel engines, providing her with a top speed of 18 knots, a cruising speed of 14 knots, and a range of 7,000 nm at 12 knots. Accommodation is provided for 14 guests in seven cabins and 16 crew in nine cabins.
AES Yachts has also informed SuperYacht Times that the yacht will not actually be off-white as the photographs suggest, but that the effect is just a white paint cover on the hull and superstructure. She will have a metallic bronze hull and metallic grey superstructure as shown on the rendering.
Victoria will start her sea trials soon and delivery is scheduled for July 2018.
