al-Mansur (ship)
The al-Mansur , 1982
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The al-Mansur (in German : "The winner") was a mega-yacht that belonged to the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein .
Construction and operation
The ship, with a displacement of 7,359 tons, eight decks and a length of 120 meters, was delivered on March 26, 1983 from the Wärtsilä shipyard in Finland . The crew were 120 men on board. The central hall could be used for celebrations with up to 200 people, one of the main tasks of the ship. However, there were only ten double cabins for guests on board. A submarine rescue capsule (mini submarine) was built in to give Hussein an escape route in an emergency.
destruction
After the beginning of the Iraq war , Hussein ordered the relocation of the yacht from the southern port of Umm Qasr to the inner port facilities of Basra .
The al-Mansur was in attacks of American air forces of several smaller US Navy made bombs. Their upper deck and large parts of the superstructure were almost completely destroyed by the explosions and the fires that were triggered. The burned out and capsized wreck is still in the urban area of Basra in the Shatt al-Arab (position 30 ° 31 ′ 38 ″ N , 47 ° 50 ′ 25 ″ E ).
Web links
- BBC article (Engl.)
- Series of pictures of the destroyed yacht
- Dario Leone: Ten years ago today: the US Navy F-14 Tomcat's attack on Saddam's yacht. The Aviationist, March 27, 2013
- Mark Duell: The Top Gun-style raid to destroy Saddam Hussein's private yacht: Incredible story of how despot's £ 25m ship was blown up by F-14 Tomcat pilots. Daily Mail Online, March 30, 2013