Le Grand Bleu was built for US telecommunications baron John McCaw and was subsequently sold to the Russian businessman Roman Abramovich, who had it refitted to his own preferences, including the addition of a 16ft swim platform at the stern. According to Internet sources, Abramovich passed Le Grand Bleu to his friend and business associate Eugene Shvidler in June 2006.

The yacht has a crew of 65 and carries a veritable arsenal of tenders and watertoys, both on her aft decks and in her extensive below-deck garage, where there is a large aquarium. Her watercraft include a 22m Dubois-designed sailing yacht, Bellatrix; a 21m Guy Couach motor yacht; two 11m, 60-knot Buzzi sports boats; and a landing craft to carry a 4x4 Land Rover used for excursions ashore.

• Builder: Bremer Vulkan
• Naval architecture / exterior styling: Kusch Yachts
• Interior design: Di Pilla

Formerly known as Project Opal, this yacht is possibly owned by Russian steel magnate Alisher Usmanov, who owned an earlier Oceanco-built Dilbar that was rumoured to have been named after his mother.

Dilbar is promoted by Lürssen as the ‘green engine concept’ whose aim is to significantly reduce emissions with a highly efficient diesel-mechanical and diesel-electric propulsion system. She is the world’s first yacht to have particle filters fitted to the main engine exhausts as well as to her generating sets. Built to the rules of Germanischer Lloyd, Dilbar has a reported top speed of 21 knots.

• Builder / naval architecture: Lürssen
• Exterior styling: Tim Heywood
• Interior design: Alberto Pinto

A sister to Dilbar, Radiant was commissioned by the Russian media tycoon Boris Berezovsky, who wanted a rival to Pelorus, owned by his arch enemy Roman Abramovich. However, he subsequently sold her to Abdulla al-Futtaim, a billionaire car dealer from the United Arab Emirates, before she was completed.

As well as the standard features for a yacht of this size - helipad, gymnasium, cinema, spa - she has one of the highest security specifications ever conceived. Berezovsky ordered a personal “escape launch” – a speedboat with turbo-charged twin diesel engines capable of exceeding 75 knots. She is also equipped with an arsenal of sonic guns that fire low-frequency sound waves that can burst the eardrums of approaching assailants, and a military water cannon capable of sinking an approaching boat at more than 100 yards.

• Builder / naval architecture: Lürssen
• Exterior styling: Tim Heywood
• Interior design: Glen Pushelberg

Lady Moura is owned by Dr Nasser al-Rashid, the billionaire founder of Rashid Engineering and adviser to the Saudi Royal Family.

Notable features include a beach resort complete with sand, a large pool with a retractable roof, a Sikorsky S76B helicopter, and a 24m-long dining table made by Viscount Linley, nephew to Queen Elizabeth II. She has six decks and carries a crew of 61. Easily recognisable and usually moored in Monaco harbour, her name and escutcheon are carved in 24 carrat gold.

• Builder: Blohm + Voss
• Naval architecture: Diana Yacht Design
• Exterior styling: Luigi Sturchio
• Interior design: Di Pilla

The Navy of the Sultanate of Oman used to operate this yacht as a Royal Yacht, until she was superseded by the new Al Saïd. She was built in 1982 by the Italian Picchiotti yard (which is now owned by Perini Navi) and she displaces some 3,250 tons at full load. Since the new version arrived, she has been renamed Loaloat al-Behar and has variously been described as being used as a navy training ship or as having been presented to the Oman Ministry of Tourism. It is believed she is still used as a state yacht on occasion.

• Builder / naval architecture: Pichiotti
• Interior design: Omani Royal Yacht Squadron

Attessa IV (originally named Evergreen) was built for Yung-Fa Chang, chairman of the Taiwan-based Evergreen Corporation, in the company’s shipyard in Nagasaki, Japan. In her original configuration there was accommodation for an owner’s party of four in the master suite, which includes an office and private sitting room, while an additional 14 cabins accommodate another 26 guests. The yacht, which has a top speed of 22.6 knots and a cruising speed of 21.6 knots, was acquired by American businessman Dennis Washington and lengthened during a refit at his Vancouver Shipyard.

Both bow and stern were modified and major changes introduced, including ‘pop-out’ deck extensions and a new top deck. The interior renovations were equally extensive, including the installation of a full spa on the lower deck and a new uppermost deck that features a large hanging glass sculpture by Dale Chihuly. She was a winner at the World Superyacht Awards in 2011 in the rebuild category.

Evergreen was featured in volume 13 of The Superyachts book.

• Builder: Hayashikane Zosen
• Naval architecture: Diana Yacht Design
• Exterior styling / interior design: Glade Johnson (Refit)
• Former name: Evergreen

Christina O is the largest North American-built yacht in existence. Perhaps fortunately, little remains of her original structure as she was built in Canada as HMCS Stormont, an escort frigate for North Atlantic convoys during World War II. She was subsequently purchased by Greek shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis, who, in 1954, converted her into the most spectacular yacht of the era, renaming her Christina after his daughter.

Onassis used his yacht to entertain many of the world’s rich and famous, including his mistress, the opera diva Maria Callas, and Sir Winston Churchill. Purchased by a consortium that includes an Irish bank and Greek interests and renamed Christina O, she was comprehensively rebuilt in Croatia in 2001. The yacht retains many of her original features, including the swimming pool with a copy of the Minoan mosaic from the royal palace at Knossos at the bottom. The yacht is available for charter and was featured in volume 15 of The Superyachts book.

• Builder: Canadian Vickers (1943) / HDW (1954)
• Designer: Cesar Pinnau (conversion)
• Former names: Argo, Christina, HMCS Stormont

Considerable secrecy masked the construction of Carinthia VII, a hallmark of her builders, Lu?rssen of Bremen. Even today, few outsiders have visited her interior, but it is generally known that the yacht is owned by Heidi Horten, the widow of an Austrian supermarket owner who sold his chain to the German Kaufhof group in 1996.

With styling and interior design by Tim Heywood, a pupil of Jon Bannenberg, this long, lean and low yacht is an elegant and worthy successor to the Bannenberg-designed Carinthia VI, which, following her sale, was renamed The One. Her four 9,925hp MTU diesels are reported to drive the yacht to a maximum speed of 26 knots.

• Builder / naval architecture: Lürssen
• Exterior styling / interior design: Tim Heywood

When stockbroker and yachtsman Edward F Hutton married heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post in the 1920s, he introduced her to yachting aboard his three-masted schooner Hussar. Post and Hutton later built an even larger yacht, Hussar II, which was designed by Cox & Stevens and built by Friedrich Krupp in Kiel, Germany. Launched in 1931, it had panelled saloons and seven lavish cabins.

When the couple divorced Marjorie kept the yacht and renamed her Sea Cloud. She served as a patrol vessel for the US Coast Guard during World War II and in 1955 was sold to the Dominican Republic dictator Rafael Trujillo, who renamed her Angelita. After his overthrow, she was acquired by Clifford Barbour, who renamed her Antarna. New German owners rescued her from neglect in 1978, returned her name to Sea Cloud, and rebuilt her in Bremerhaven.

The yacht now charters in the West Indies during winter and in the Mediterranean in summer, operating with 60 crew and offering 34 cabins. She is featured in volume 3 of The Superyachts book.

• Builder: Friedrich Krupp Germaniawerft
• Naval architecture: Cox & Stevens
• Former names: Angelita, Antarna, Hussar II, Patria

Owned by Leslie Wexner, head of the American lingerie chain Victoria’s Secret, the ABS-classified Limitless was launched by the Lu?rssen Shipyard in Germany in 1997. Her name is presumably a play on the name of Wexner’s first company, The Limited, founded in 1963 with $5,000 borrowed from his aunt.

Unusually, Limitless is powered by a hybrid diesel and diesel-electric propulsion package that allows her conventional diesels to be boosted a further 6,607hp by a pair of 16-cylinder Caterpillar 3516 and two 12-cylinder Caterpillar 3412 diesels that power electric motors. This combination gives her a top speed of 25 knots. She remains the largest American-registered yacht.

• Builder / naval architecture: Lürssen
• Exterior styling: Jon Bannenberg / Tim Heywood
• Interior design: Catroux