The luxury Yas yacht “Yas”, flagged by the Cayman Islands, 141 meters long and 15 meters wide, coming from Tangier, Morocco, appeared in the port of Souda late in the afternoon today, Wednesday 4 September.

According to information from the flashnews.gr website, the Yas yacht can accommodate up to 60 guests in 30 suites, while it can carry up to 56 crew members.

Fifty-five yachts can accommodate up to 56 guests and up to 56 guests can carry up to 56 guests.

However, as the site reports, what stands out about this vessel is that it was not built as a super yacht, but as a warship.

More specifically, the “Yas” is a conversion of the Dutch frigate HNLMS Piet Hein of the Kortenaer class, a.k.a. “S Class” (like the ones that serve with the Hellenic Navy) which was launched in 1978, entered service in 1981 and was sold to the Emirati Navy in 1998 under the name “Al Emirat”.

In 2005 it was decommissioned and from 2011 to 2015 it was retrofitted, or better yet reconstructed, into a luxury yacht by Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed bin Sultan bin Sultan Al Nahyan who approached Pierrejean Design Studio who radically redesigned the superstructure of the vessel.

It should be noted that the 61-year-old owner of Yas, Sheikh Hamdan, is the son of Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, President of the United Arab Emirates and brother of both former UAE President Kalifa bin Zayed and current President Mohammed bin Zayed. He has served as deputy prime minister of the UAE government and is now the ruler’s representative in the Al Dhafra region of Abu Dhabi. He has also served as president of the Emirates Football Federation and president of the Red Crescent.

(The frigate HNLMS Piet Hein before and after the conversion)