''La Sultana'' is a yacht that has been refitted from a Soviet era

ferry A ferry is a boat or ship that transports passengers, and occasionally vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A small passenger ferry with multiple stops, like those in Venice, Italy, is sometimes referred to as a water taxi or water bus ...

. She was launched in 1962, under the name ''Aji-Petri'' and was the fifth in a series of 12 ships that were originally built for the Russian fleet. Her purpose was to transport freight and passengers between the ports of

Odessa ODESSA is an American codename (from the German language, German: ''Organisation der ehemaligen SS-Angehörigen'', meaning: Organization of Former SS Members) coined in 1946 to cover Ratlines (World War II aftermath), Nazi underground escape-pl ...

Yalta Yalta (: ) is a resort town, resort city on the south coast of the Crimean Peninsula surrounded by the Black Sea. It serves as the administrative center of Yalta Municipality, one of the regions within Crimea. Yalta, along with the rest of Crime ...

Sebastopol Sevastopol ( ), sometimes written Sebastopol, is the largest city in Crimea and a major port on the Black Sea. Due to its strategic location and the navigability of the city's harbours, Sevastopol has been an important Port of Sevastopol, por ...

and

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

between the

Azov Azov (, ), previously known as Azak ( Turki/ Kypchak: ), is a town in Rostov Oblast, Russia, situated on the Don River just from the Sea of Azov, which derives its name from the town. The population is History Early settlements in the vici ...

and

Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

seas.Alupka Class Vessels
.The Soviet Fleet. 24 December 2015. During the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

, the ship was believed to be used as a Soviet spy vessel. During the refitting process several spying instruments were discovered, including a radioactivity detector and thick aluminum insulation across the entire boat.

History

Built in 1962 for shipping and transportation services the boat was originally named ''Aji-Petri''. She could carry 102 passengers in cabins, with 110 more passengers on the deck and 46 crew members on board. In 1970, during Cold War tensions, the family of ships gradually stopped ferrying passengers in the Black Sea in order to be re-fitted for strategic purposes by the

USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. The ship was eventually sent to the North Atlantic and used for unofficial

spying Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering, as a subfield of the intelligence field, is the act of obtaining secret or Confidentiality, confidential information (Intelligence (information), intelligence). A person who commits espionage on ...

on the United States and United Kingdom by the International Organisation of Telecommunications.Take a Tour of La Sultana, the Soviet Spy Superyacht
Esquire Magazine. Jill Krasny. 19 August 2015. 24 December 2015. At the conclusion of the Cold War she was returned to a

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

n shipping company and resumed her transportation and shipping role.La Sultana Superyacht: The Spy Ship You Can Sunbathe On
Billionaire. 14 September 2015. Tara Loader Wilkinson. 24 December 2015. In 2007, she was acquired by the La Sultana Group to be re-fitted as a luxury yacht.Soviet Cold War Ship Transformed into Luxury Charter Boat
Yacht and Boating World. 25 June 2015. Isobel Smith. 24 December 2015. After undergoing a seven-year refitting, including being stripped from top to bottom,La Sultana
. Camper and Nicholsons. 24 December. the bow has been raised to create a shielded

ipe wood ''Handroanthus'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Bignoniaceae.David J. Mabberley. 2008. ''Mabberley's Plant-Book'' third edition (2008). Cambridge University Press: UK. It consists of 30 species of trees, known in Latin America by ...

deck. The yacht houses seven cabins on six floors. Part of the re-fitting included upgrading to a diesel

Mitsubishi The is a group of autonomous Japanese multinational companies in a variety of industries. Founded by Yatarō Iwasaki in 1870, the Mitsubishi Group traces its origins to the Mitsubishi zaibatsu, a unified company that existed from 1870 to 194 ...

engine that is used to drive the original propeller. Although it no longer serves as the engine telegraph, the Bulgarian language

engine order telegraph An engine order telegraph or E.O.T., also referred to as a Chadburn, is a communications device used on a ship (or submarine) for the pilot on the bridge to order engineers in the engine room to power the vessel at a certain desired speed. C ...

is still prominently displayed while the original push button steering controls are still used.Go Inside a Historic Soviet Spy Ship That Just Went on Sale for $25.5 million
Talia Avakian. Business Insider. 13 September 2015. 24 December 2015. La Sultana carries three tender boats, two Lancel boats and an XPro 490. In 2016, ''La Sultana'' was included in ''Refit'', a book published by

Boat International Media Boat International Media is a luxury lifestyle publishing company based in Wimbledon, London. The company publishes the magazines. ''Boat International'' ''Boat International US'' Edition and ''Dockwalk''. It runs the websites ''boatinternationa ...

, that highlights yacht refits, rebuilds and restorations.

References

{{reflist 1962 in the Soviet Union Auxiliary ships of the Soviet Navy Motor yachts 1962 ships