Lürssen: 150 Years of Building Beyond the Expected

Some shipyards are associated with a particular style of yacht. Others with a certain size or type of owner.
Lürssen is harder to define.

Today, Lürssen occupies a rather particular place in the superyacht world. It is not simply a builder of large yachts. It is the yard owners turn to when scale, engineering and an unusual idea have to coexist — and when there may be no existing blueprint for what they want to build.

From a small boatyard to a name that defined an industry

The Lürssen story began in 1875, when 24-year-old Friedrich Lürssen opened a small boatbuilding workshop in Aumund, near Bremen.

His early boats were light, fast and precisely built. Then, in 1886, came a project that would prove remarkably prophetic: working with Gottlieb Daimler, Lürssen built the six-metre REMS, recognised by the shipyard as the world’s first motorboat.

Innovation and speed remained recurring themes. In 1927, Oheka II became the world’s fastest commuter yacht of her time. In 1971, Jon Bannenberg’s 67.9-metre Carinthia V introduced exterior lines that helped reshape the language of large-yacht design.

By the late 1980s, Lürssen had formally expanded its dedicated yachtbuilding activities. What followed was a period in which both the dimensions and technical ambition of private yachts changed dramatically.

Lürssen was often at the centre of it.

Source: Lürssen — official history archive.

The age of the megayacht

It is difficult to discuss Lürssen without discussing scale.

The 97-metre Limitless arrived in 1997. Then came yachts including Pelorus, Rising Sun and Octopus, each representing a different interpretation of what a large private yacht could be.

In 2013, the yard delivered the 180.65-metre Azzam, still the longest private motor yacht listed in Lürssen’s portfolio. Three years later came the 156-metre Dilbar, which Lürssen describes as the largest motor yacht by gross tonnage at the time of her delivery, at 15,917 GT.

The figures are extraordinary, but focusing on length alone rather misses the point.

Lürssen’s real speciality is complexity.

Building at this scale means resolving enormous engineering challenges without allowing engineering to dictate the owner’s experience. Pools, helicopters, submarines, tenders, cinemas, spas and vast interior volumes have to work alongside propulsion, stability, range, acoustics, hotel systems and crew operations.

The achievement is not simply making a yacht bigger. It is making something exceptionally large feel effortless.

Source: Lürssen — official galleries of Azzam, Octopus and Dilbar.

Still a family business

Perhaps the more unusual part of the Lürssen story is that behind yachts of this scale sits a company that remains family-owned.

Only four generations separate Friedrich Lürssen from the family leadership of today. That continuity matters in a business where a yacht can take several years to design and construct, and where relationships with owners may continue long after delivery through maintenance, refit and subsequent builds.

The company now operates across six shipyards in northern Germany. Its Bremen facilities can accommodate superyachts above 100 metres, while Rendsburg specialises in custom yachts between approximately 55 and 110 metres as well as refit work. The acquisition of the neighbouring Nobiskrug facility in Rendsburg in 2025 added further capacity.

But despite the infrastructure, Lürssen remains resolutely focused on custom construction.

There is no recognisable “Lürssen model range”. The starting point is the owner.

Source: Lürssen — official history archive.

2026: an exceptional year for Lürssen

For a shipyard accustomed to extraordinary projects, 2026 is proving unusually significant.

By the end of June, Lürssen had already delivered six new yachts — a record year for new construction at the German yard. Among them are the 78-metre Odisea, the 117-metre Boardwalk, the 114.2-metre Nausicaä and the 102.4-metre Nixie.

Together, they provide a useful snapshot of what Lürssen represents today.

Not one house style, but the ability to execute radically different ideas at an exceptional scale.

Source: Lürssen — official galleries of Odisea, Boardwalk and Nausicaä.

NIXIE: a softer approach to 100 metres

The newest yacht currently taking centre stage is the 102.4-metre NIXIE, formerly Project JASSJ.

Delivered in June 2026, NIXIE has been designed inside and out by RWD. Rather than using scale to create an imposing profile, her architecture takes a noticeably softer approach. Broad convex surfaces, deep contours and carefully integrated glazing give the superstructure a more fluid appearance, enhanced by a bespoke warm-grey finish with a subtle pearlescent quality.

At the waterline, however, the scale becomes more apparent.

Four opening sea terraces and a flush transom create approximately 270 square metres of waterside living space, making NIXIE’s beach club one of the largest Lürssen has built. A semi-suspended glass swimming pool forms another focal point.

Below decks, the engineering is equally significant. NIXIE uses diesel-electric propulsion supported by an advanced energy-storage system, conceived to improve operating efficiency while reducing noise and vibration onboard.

It is a good example of where large-yacht design is heading: less interested in sheer visual dominance and increasingly concerned with connection to the sea, silence, space and how a yacht actually feels to live aboard.

Source: Lürssen — official NIXIE gallery.

And there is a particularly good reason to focus on her now.

NIXIE will make her global debut at the Monaco Yacht Show 2026.

Lürssen has officially confirmed that the yacht will be presented at Port Hercule from 23–26 September, at berth R03. Models of a selection of Lürssen’s other 2026 deliveries will also be displayed at the shipyard’s stand JS8.

For anyone attending Monaco this year, NIXIE will therefore offer a rare opportunity to see one of the yard’s latest 100-metre-plus projects at close quarters.

NAUSICAÄ: designed to go almost anywhere

If NIXIE is about contemporary living at scale, the 114.2-metre NAUSICAÄ takes Lürssen in a rather different direction.

Designed by Marc Newson, the yacht was conceived for genuine world cruising and delivered in May 2026. Her hull is reinforced to Ice Class 1D, allowing operation in light ice conditions and giving her the ability to move between tropical cruising grounds and more remote polar environments.

The design is unconventional even by large-yacht standards.

Among its defining features is the Skydome, a seven-pane glass structure; a dry dock capable of accommodating a 12.5-metre sportsfishing tender; and a two-level atrium whose main-deck level functions as an art gallery. A continuous glass band wraps around the upper deck before reaching an observation lounge positioned beneath the forward helipad.

It feels less like a conventional superyacht specification and more like an owner asking what would be possible if the normal rules were removed.

That, in many ways, is exactly the sort of project Lürssen has built its reputation on.

Source: Lürssen — official NAUSICAÄ gallery.

BOARDWALK: another expression of scale

Delivered shortly before NAUSICAÄ, the 117-metre BOARDWALK offers yet another interpretation.

Where NAUSICAÄ is overtly exploratory and futuristic, BOARDWALK takes a more classical approach. Her exterior is by Frank Woll, while the interior was developed in collaboration with the late Amy Halffman, Suzanne Glover and Teresa Francis.

She carries 11 guest cabins, several pools integrated into her Tesumo timber decks, a cinema, spa and gym, a putting green and two helipads.

One particularly unusual piece of engineering is a retractable section of deck that opens to reveal an exterior staircase — a first for Lürssen.

It is a small detail on a very large yacht, but one that says quite a lot about the yard.

At Lürssen, innovation is often not about creating a visible piece of technology. It is about finding an engineering solution that allows an architect or owner to do something that previously wasn’t possible.

Source: Lürssen — official BOARDWALK gallery.

From speed to sustainability

There is another thread connecting today’s Lürssen with Friedrich Lürssen’s workshop of 1875: experimentation with propulsion.

In 1886 it was Daimler’s internal-combustion engine.

Today, the challenge is very different.

Lürssen has been developing alternative propulsion and energy systems through its Innovation Lab, including work on fuel-cell technology using methanol reforming. In 2022, the yard presented what it described as its first viable fuel-cell solution for yachts. The same year, it delivered BLUE, incorporating hybrid diesel-electric propulsion, an electric azimuth pod drive and advanced exhaust-treatment technology.

NIXIE’s diesel-electric architecture and battery-supported energy system continue that progression.

For yachts exceeding 100 metres, where hotel loads alone can be substantial, efficiency is no longer a peripheral engineering conversation. It is becoming central to how the next generation of large yachts will be conceived.

Sources: Lürssen — official BLUE gallery and Lürssen — official history archive. Innovation Lab photograph: Christiane Nicely.

What Lürssen represents today

Lürssen celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2025.

The numbers surrounding the company are inevitably impressive: more than 13,000 boats and ships built since 1875, six shipyards across northern Germany and a yacht portfolio that includes some of the largest private vessels ever constructed.

But numbers alone don’t quite explain its position in yachting.

What makes Lürssen interesting is the absence of a formula.

A Lürssen can be the 180.65-metre Azzam, the explorer-minded Nausicaä, the radical Philippe Starck-designed A, the 126-metre expedition yacht Octopus, or the contemporary, almost sculptural NIXIE.

They do not need to look alike.

The common ground is elsewhere: German engineering, custom construction and an ability to turn unusually ambitious ideas into functioning yachts.

Source: Lürssen — official galleries of Dragonfly and Azzam. Dragonfly photograph: Klaus Jordan.

Friedrich Lürssen reportedly set the standard for his young company in 1875: it should be known for quality and performance.

A century and a half later, the meaning of performance has changed considerably.

The ambition has not.