Dilbar (yacht)

History
NameDilbar
OperatorUnknown , Germany
Port of registryCayman Islands Cayman Islands
BuilderLürssen
Launched14 November 2015
In service2016
Identification
General characteristics
Class & typeDisplacement yacht
Tonnage15,917 GT
Length156 m (511 ft 10 in)
Beam23.5 m (77 ft 1 in)
Draft6 m (19 ft 8 in)
PropulsionDiesel electric
Speed
  • 22.5 knots (41.7 km/h; 25.9 mph) (maximum)
  • 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph) (cruising)
Capacity40 passengers
Crew80+ crew members

Dilbar (Persian: دلبر, literally "Beloved") is a super-yacht launched on 14 November 2015[1] at the German Lürssen shipyard and delivered in 2016.[2][3] She was built as Project Omar. The interior design of Dilbar was designed by Andrew Winch and the exterior by Espen Oeino.[4]

As of 2022, Dilbar is the sixth longest yacht in the world. At 15,917 gross tonnage (GT), she is the third largest yacht by volume, after Fulk Al Salamah and REV Ocean.[5][6]

The yacht is owned by a company held in a trust settled by Uzbek-Russian billionaire oligarch[7][8][9] Alisher Usmanov.[10] The yacht is reported to have cost $600 million,[11] employ 84 full-time crew members, and contain the largest indoor swimming pool installed on a superyacht at 180 cubic metres.[12] Usmanov previously owned, another, smaller yacht also named Dilbar (renamed Al Raya in 2018).[13][14][15]

History

In 2016, the German shipyard Lürssen built the Dilbar yacht. The yacht was included in the irrevocable discretionary trust The Sister Trust, which Alisher Usmanov established for estate planning. Since then, the yacht has been owned and controlled by an independent trustee of this trust.[16]

In 2017, Alisher Usmanov left The Sister Trust. His sister, Gulbakhor Ismailova, remained the only beneficiary of the trust.[17]

At the start of hostilities in Ukraine, the Dilbar yacht was undergoing maintenance at the Lürssen shipyard in Hamburg. On March 2, 2022, Forbes reported that German authorities allegedly "seized" Dilbar as a yacht belonging to Alisher Usmanov. [18]

On April 8, 2022, the EU included Gulbakhor Ismailova in the sanctions list, citing an investigation by the Federal Criminal Police Office of Germany, which allegedly established that Usmanov "transferred assets", including the Dilbar yacht, to Ismailova. The following was stated in the EU sanctions rationale: "Since 2017, Usmanov has no longer been a shareholder of this trust company. As a result, his sister, Ms. Gulbakhor Ismailova, has remained the sole beneficial owner of the  Dilbar yacht".

The charter of the trust in which the yacht is held contained a clause on the automatic removal of any person from the list of beneficiaries immediately after being sanctioned. In this regard, after the imposition of sanctions, Ismailova was automatically excluded from the list of beneficiaries of the trust.[19]

In March 2024, the statement by the Federal Criminal Police Office of Germany including the publications on X in which it was stated that Ismailova was the "owner" of the Dilbar yacht were removed. The agency officially undertook to no longer disseminate those statements.[20]

During the same period Ismailova signed an official waiver of receiving benefits from the trusts. That meant that she would not be able to restore her right to receive benefits from the trusts, including the trust in which the Dilbar yacht is held, even after lifting the sanctions.[21]

In February 2025, Germany's largest news agency Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA) officially retracted its piece of news dated 2022, in which Ismailova was referred to as the owner of Dilbar. The agency recommended that all its media partners remove those publications to avoid legal claims.[22]

On June 11, 2026, the court of Frankfurt am Main upheld the claim of the Lürssen shipyard and ruled that the Dilbar yacht could not be considered frozen under the EU sanctions regime, and the authorities failed to prove that Usmanov or his sister have any influence over the trust in which the yacht is held. [23]

Ship and design

Dilbar in Port Hercules, Monaco, in 2017 with a helicopter on board

In April 2022, Dilbar was considered by Lürssen to be the largest motor yacht in the world by gross tonnage, measuring some 511 feet and 15,917 tons. She has two helipads and "one of the biggest indoor pools ever installed on a yacht." She was named after Alisher Usmanov's mother.[24]

The length of the yacht is 156 m (511 ft 10 in), with a beam of 24 m (78 ft 9 in) and a draft of 6.1 m (20 ft 0 in). Dilbar features a steel displacement hull with an aluminium superstructure, and half teak decks. The ship is registered in the Cayman Islands.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Video of Lürssen's 156m Omar launch". SuperYacht Times. Archived from the original on 2017-08-06. Retrieved 2016-06-21.
  2. ↑ "Aerial photos of Lürssen's 156m Dilbar". SuperYacht Times.
  3. ↑ "Lürssen 156m Dilbar arrives in Gibraltar on delivery voyage". Boat International.
  4. ↑ "Lurssen confirms the delivery of 156m Dilbar - SuperyachtNews". Superyacht News. 2016-06-24. Retrieved 2021-03-19.
  5. ↑ Pearson, Oliver (2016-07-29). "Meet the New World's Largest Yacht: Superyacht 'Fulk Al Salamah'". Yacht Charter Fleet. Retrieved 2020-02-11.
  6. ↑ "A new look at the world's largest yacht: Dilbar". www.superyachttimes.com. Archived from the original on 28 October 2019. Retrieved 28 October 2019.
  7. ↑ "Ukraine: UK sanctions oligarchs Alisher Usmanov and Igor Shuvalov". 2022-03-03. Retrieved 2025-05-12.
  8. ↑ O'Keeffe, Greg (2022-03-07). "From Uzbek prison to a billionaire friend of Putin – the story of Alisher Usmanov". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2025-05-12.
  9. ↑ "Germany raids Russian oligarch's properties in money-laundering probe". Reuters. 2022-09-22. Retrieved 2025-05-12.
  10. ↑ White, Caroline (2024-02-03). "Ten of the world's biggest superyachts". ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 2024-02-03.
  11. ↑ Tognini, Giacomo. "Germans Seize Russian Billionaire Alisher Usmanov's Mega-Yacht". Forbes. Retrieved 2022-03-02.
  12. ↑ "Video: Lürssen 156m superyacht Dilbar delivered to owner". Boat International. Archived from the original on 28 October 2019. Retrieved 28 October 2019.
  13. ↑ Jefferies, Chris (22 June 2016). "Video: Lürssen 156m superyacht Dilbar delivered to owner | Boat International". Boat International. Archived from the original on 2016-05-20. Retrieved 2020-09-29.
  14. ↑ Korotaeva, Maria (3 October 2018). "Mega yacht ONA ex.Dilbar sold and renamed RAYA". CharterWorld. Retrieved July 23, 2019.
  15. ↑ "KING OF BAHRAIN • Net Worth $5 Billion • Owner of the Yacht Al Raya". SuperYachtFan. Retrieved 2021-08-31.
  16. ↑ White, Caroline (2024-01-16). "Ten of the world's biggest superyachts". Retrieved 2026-07-17.
  17. ↑ "INVESTIGATION: New evidence raises questions over the EU's decision to sanction Russian oligarch Usmanov's sister". www.intellinews.com. 2022-04-28. Retrieved 2026-07-17.
  18. ↑ Tognini, Giacomo. "Two Years After Being Hit By Sanctions, Dilbar Yacht Is Still Stuck In Germany". Forbes. Retrieved 2026-07-17.
  19. ↑ "Sanctioned sister of billionaire Usmanov waives right to benefit from family trusts". www.intellinews.com. 2024-03-28. Retrieved 2026-07-17.
  20. ↑ "Behörde kassiert Abmahnung: BKA muss Tweet gegen Russen-Tycoon löschen". bild.de (in German). 2024-03-02. Retrieved 2026-07-17.
  21. ↑ "Sanctioned sister of billionaire Usmanov waives right to benefit from family trusts". www.intellinews.com. 2024-03-28. Retrieved 2026-07-17.
  22. ↑ Stur, Beata (2025-02-19). "German news agency dpa retracts story used to justify EU sanctions against sister of billionaire Usmanov". European Interest. Retrieved 2026-07-17.
  23. ↑ ""Superyacht linked to Usmanov ruled no longer under EU sanctions"". Bloomberg.
  24. ↑ "Germany seizes the world's largest yacht (at least according to volume)", Rachel Treisman, April 14, 2022; NPR
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