The Savarona is the largest non-royal yacht ever built. Her
length overall is 446' (136m), her beam 52.6' (16m), her draft
20' (6.1m) and her maximum speed is 18 knots, cruising speed
16 knots. Her 17 luxurious suites, in addition to the master
suite, average 538 square feet (50m²) in area.
The Savarona was commissioned by Mrs. Emily Roebling Cadwallader,
granddaughter of John Roebling, the engineer who built the
Brooklyn Bridge. Mrs. Cadwallader had the Savarona built at
a cost of $4 million at the Blohm and Voss shipyards in Hamburg
in 1931.
The Savarona sailed Atlantic, Mediterranean, and South African
waters, but Mrs. Cadwallader could not take her to the United
States of America because of potentially confiscatory import
duties. She decided to sell the yacht, and in 1938, the Savarona
was bought by the Turkish Government.
The chain of events leading to this purchase is amusing. In
1936, King Edward VII visited Istanbul, and was the guest
of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk on the then state yacht, the Ertugul.
Soot
from the funnel so dirtied His Majesty's
white flannels that Atatürk sent the Ertugul to be scrapped
and ordered a search for a new presidential yacht. The
Turkish flag was hoisted on the Savarona in Southampton
in March 1938.
The yacht arrived in Istanbul two months later, after
some brief refurbishment, by which time Atatürk was
terminally ill. During the six weeks that he spent on
the Savarona, cabinet meetings were held on board, and
important guests included King Carol of Rumania and
other heads of state. Atatürk passed away on November
10, 1938 in Dolmabahçe Palaca.
The Savarona did not sail again until after World War
II, when the Turkish Navy started to use her as a training
ship. In 1989 a decision was made to scrap her, however,
Mr. Kahraman Sadikoglu obtained a last-minute stay of
execution, leased the yacht for 49 years, and begun
the arduous task of refurbishing the Savarona to more
than her former glory. For almost three years 425 men
worked to refit the yacht, whose interior was designed
by Donald Starkey. Today, the Savarona is once again
sailing the waters of the world, bringing an experience
of elegance and luxury to those who are so privileged
as to be her passengers.
