Struggling to find a present for the eccentric billionaire in your life? Here’s a luxurious 100m sub

Submarine expert and author H I Sutton has revealed concept art for Nautilus-2020, a luxurious 100-metre (328-foot) submarine replete with superyacht features and innovative details drawn from classic literature.

An accompanying release describes the project as “exactly what you need if you are a reclusive billionaire with a secret island lair and feel that the megayacht scene is a bit too pedestrian.”

Check out the detailed concept artwork.

Partly inspired by Jules Verne’s classic novel 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea – as well as the aura of “Bond Villains” – the vessel is designed to test the limits of normality and bring a sense of wonder and discovery back to its guests. For example, large portholes throughout the Nautilus-2020 allow for undersea sightseeing like never before.

Sutton’s concept, “a proper submarine that has some of the trappings of a megayacht rather than vice versa”, has space for up to eight guests across four deluxe cabins. There are quarters for up to 16 crew members, including a captain’s cabin with accompanying library and en-suite bathroom.

The bow hosts plentiful diving transportation, with space for up to two three-person submersible canoes.

Other decadent features on board the Nautilus-2020 include a grand saloon, an in-built pipe organ (as an homage to Verne’s original Nautilus and her grizzled captain, Nemo), a hydroponic garden, dining areas and much more.

Technical specifications include a pair of rim-drive pumpjets on each side of the hull. These are manoeuvrable, something impossible with standard shaft-driven pumpjets, and spatially economical: In place of a traditional propeller (“screw”) in the tail, a minisub hangar can be found instead.

The luxury compartments aft are separate from the crew and engineering areas, the latter of which has a bank of fuel cells for Air-Independent Power (AIP) and diesel generators, which would be used to charge the gargantuan lithium-ion battery. These sources are designed not only for safety and comfort, but also for extended underwater voyaging.

A main control room below the sub’s main entrance is split across two levels, and borrows stylings from Star Trek and NASA; a range of large screens allow you to, according to the designer, “issue your demands to the United Nations.”

It might not be close to being realised just yet, but with superyacht form and convention being increasingly twisted, perhaps this is a glimpse into the future. Maybe in the years to come we’ll see Lürssen opening a new submarine division… or even the launch of Feadsub?

Sign up to our newsletter to get the best of Yachting Pages delivered direct to your inbox every month.