Launched in time for the 2010 Fort Lauderdale Boat Show from Derecktor Shipyards in Bridgeport, Connecticut, the 85.6m Cakewalk is a full displacement, oceangoing superyacht with a steel hull and aluminium superstructure designed and engineered by Derecktor with the assistance of Azure Naval Architects and BMT Nigel Gee.

By volume, she is the largest yacht ever built in the U.S. The elegant exterior styling is by Tim Heywood while the traditional cherry-lined interior is by Liz Dalton. The yacht, owned by Charles and Diane Gallagher, accommodates 12 guests on main deck with the owners seven-room suite above. She’s operated by 23 crew and carries three custom tenders each over 30 feet LOA.

Cakewalk is currently listed for sale

• Builder: Derecktor Shipyards
• Naval architecture: Derecktor / Azure Naval Architects
• Exterior styling: Tim Heywood
• Interior design: Liz Dalton

Automobile manufacturing mogul Horace Dodge named Delphine after his daughter, and his motor yacht was a familiar sight around Detroit and Chicago in the 1920s. She was equipped with an unusual quadruple steam expansion engine designed by her owner, which gave her an impressive top speed of 15 knots. During World War II she served as the flagship of Admiral King, the Commander-in-Chief of the US Fleet.

Laid up in 1962, she was bought by the Seafarers International Union for use as a headquarters ship but fell into disrepair in the early 1990s. She was later acquired by a Singapore company which planned to convert her into a mini-cruise liner for Asian waters, but this sale fell through. Happily, she was purchased by a Belgian woman, Ineke Bruynooghe, and a thorough restoration and conversion brought both the yacht and her original steam engines back to new condition. She is now available for charter. The only surviving steam-powered superyacht, Delphine is featured in The Superyachts, Volume 17.

• Builder: Great Lakes Engineering Works
• Designer: Henry J Gielow
• Former names: Dauntless, USS Dauntless

Built by Delta Marine in the Pacific Northwest, Laurel has a steel hull and composite superstructure and is the second largest yacht to be built in North America since the Great Depression. Her sun deck extends fore and aft of a central observation room, the forward part being a belvedere terrace and the aft offering a gym, spa pool and sunbathing.

Tenders are stored on the lower deck and launched through doors to port and starboard. Aft of the boats is a diving room that opens to the large bathing platform created by opening the stern door. The master suite is positioned amidships on the main deck, flanked by private side decks, and is entered through a private lobby that opens forward to the bedroom through a sitting room/office. The forward part of the main deck is devoted to a crew mess and leisure area.

The interior features a blend of anigre and is furnished in a comfortably eclectic style. Notably, the central staircase spirals around a three-storey-high glass sculpture depicting marine life by Seattle artist Mary van Cline.

Laurel is currently for sale with Fraser Yachts.

• Builder / naval architecture: Delta Marine
• Exterior styling / interior design: Donald Starkey

This vessel, described as a ‘sport utility’ vessel by the yard that converted her, owes her rugged commercial appearance to her former life as an oil rig support vessel. Allure is half yacht and half toy carrier, offering six double guest cabins with balconies, a saloon/dining room, a sky lounge with panoramic views opening to a forward observation deck, an 8m-long freshwater swimming pool, cinema, games-room/library and a full gymnasium with spa area. Her huge decks can carry, among other toys, a helicopter and its full logistical needs plus a large sport fishing vessel. She also boasts that she can host an event for 200 people in a single climate-controlled room.

• Builder: Bender Shipbuilding & Repair (1982) / Shadow Marine (2007)
• Naval architecture / exterior styling: Lay, Pittman & Associates
• Interior design: Shadow Marine / Kimberley Gonzales
• Former names: Belle, HOS Belle, Point Belle, State Belle

Golden Shadow, part of the aptly named ‘Golden Fleet’, acts as the overflow accommodation and support vessel for Golden Odyssey, whose Saudi Arabian owner, HRH Prince Khaled bin Sultan, a keen oceanographer, makes it available for scientific purposes worldwide in support of the Living Oceans Foundation, of which he is chairman.

The yacht carries Golden Eye, an amphibious 10-seater Cessna 208 with Wipair floats, as well as many specialpurpose tenders, and offers a range of scientific laboratories and accommodation for up to 11 visiting scientists and pilots. It is often seen in the company of Golden Osprey, a 29m sport fishing vessel. Golden Shadow was built in the USA by the now-defunct San Diego builder Campbell Industries to the design of Francis & Francis, and was refitted in 2006.

• Builder: Campbell Industries
• Naval architecture: Campbell Industries / Francis & Francis
• Interior design: Francis & Francis

The first Trinity designed by the Bannenberg studio, Bacarella features four very large guest staterooms on her lower deck, and a full-beam main-deck master with a large his-and-hers en suite forward. Her 1,041 tons of displacement give Bacarella her vast interior volume which is offset by a dramatic interior palette of unusual materials and pale colors.

* Builder / Naval Architecture: Trinity Yachts
* Exterior Styling: Geoff Van Aller
* Interior Design: Bannenberg Design

This vessel is the largest yacht to emerge from the Palmer Johnson yard in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. She was launched as La Baronessa for a Singaporean owner and was renamed Frequency when acquired by a Turkish businessman with interests in cell phones. Naval architecture is by Sparkman & Stephens of New York and styling and interior design by Nuvolari-Lenard of Italy. She is rumoured to have sat for years while being tied up in court cases, but is happily renamed and back on the water.

* Builder: Palmer Johnson
* Naval Architecture: Sparkman & Stephens
* Exterior Styling & Interior Design: Nuvolari-Lenard

Pangaea is an expedition yacht, originally built as Samantha Lin for an experienced US owner who then purchased another large expedition yacht, Big Roi (now Force Blue) that was built in Denmark. As a result, Samantha Lin was sold on, and was then resold to yet another American with baseball interests who renamed her Pangaea, the name of the primordial supercontinent that split to create America, Africa, and Europe. She has since been sold again and taken off the charter market. The current owner uses her to set fishing records around the world. She underwent a major refit in 2008 at Bay Ship & Yacht Co. in California, when her stern was lengthened by around 2.5m to incorporate a fishing platform.

* Builder: Halter Marine (1999) / Bay Ship & Yacht Co. (2008)
* Naval Architecture & Exterior Styling: Trinity Yachts
* Interior Design: Owner / Samantha Staats

Damaged by fire during her construction at Trinity Yachts in 2002 and subsequently rebuilt in Brisbane, Australia, Ulysses is a solidly-constructed explorer-type yacht capable of traversing the world’s oceans with ease and in the greatest of comfort. She can accommodate 14 guests and is alleged to have a range of some 8,000nm. Her New Zealand owner previously had a 160ft Feadship of the same name that is now called Teleost.

* Builder & Naval Architecture: Trinity Yachts
* Exterior Styling: Geoff Van Aller
* Interior Design: Owner / Ricky Smith / FMCA

Hasabi II is unusual in that she was built in 1950, a time when very few large yachts were constructed following the post-war economic slump. Originally built as Danginn for the Texan oil millionaire Daniel K Ludwig, she was later acquired by the renowned Greek shipowner John Latsis for use by his daughter. She underwent a major refit in 2006 and was renamed Chrysalis. She now features a contemporary interior and is reportedly available for charter.

* Builder: Welding
* Naval Architecture & Exterior Styling: John H. Wells