Saddam Hussein’s former superyacht becomes unlikely picnic spot

The 121-metre superyacht al-Mansur, commissioned by former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein in the 1980s, has been lying capsized in a river in southern Iraq for years.

While the wreck serves as a reminder of the dictator’s rule, which ended after the controversial US-led invasion two decades ago, it has also become a popular spot for sightseers and even fishermen, who use the rusting hulk as a spot to enjoy picnics and drink tea.

al-Mansur, one of three yachts owned by Saddam, was built by the former Wärtsila shipyard in Finland and was delivered in 1983, becoming one of the largest yachts of its kind in the world when delivered.

Capable of hosting up to 20 guests in 10 cabins, with a crew of 60, it also boasted a helipad as well as a mini-submarine rescue pod. When the US-led invasion of Iraq began on March 20, 2003, Saddam issued orders for the yacht to leave its mooring at the Umm Qasr port for safekeeping.

Despite being targeted and destroyed by American planes later the same year, al-Mansur didn’t immediately sink, and was eventually scuttled some three years later. It has been lying on its side — capsized in the Shatt Al Arab waterway outside the southern city of Basra — ever since.

Saddam Hussein’s former 121m super yacht 'Al-Mansur' still sitting unrecovered in a waterway in Basra. pic.twitter.com/W9qVPwRorN

— Dane (@UltraDane) March 29, 2023

“This yacht is like a precious jewel, like a rare masterpiece you keep at home,” Zahi Moussa, a naval captain who works at the Iraqi ministry of transport, told Australia’s ABC.

“We feel sad that it looks like this.”

The vessel was swiftly looted for anything valuable that could be stripped — from furniture and chandeliers to elements of the metal structure — and is now little more than a rusting hull. However, in recent years, the shell of al-Mansur has evolved into an unlikely destination for sightseers and fishers, who clamber aboard the structure to eat, drink and relax.

Saddam Hussein's presidential yacht,the Al-Mansur,was destroyed by F-14A fighters (2x500lb Mk82 bombs)during the 2003 war.The sister yacht is now known as BASRAH BREEZE and serves the Iraqi government as a research vessel collecting data on marine science.#yacht #gulfwar #USNavy pic.twitter.com/9j1KG0CZJb

— BoxShipCaptain (@boxshipcaptain) October 1, 2019

“When it was owned by the former president, no one could come close to it,” fisherman Hussein Sabahi, who enjoys ending a long day on the river with a cup of tea aboard the wreck, told Reuters in March 2023.

“I can’t believe that this belonged to Saddam and now I’m the one moving around it,” he adds.

In 2003, US officials estimated that Saddam and his family had amassed up to $US40 billion in ill-gotten funds. Saddam had two other superyachts — al Mansur‘s sister ship Basrah Breeze, a four-storey megayacht — ended up becoming a sailors’ hotel in Basra, Reuters uncovered in 2018.

Capsized hull of the Al Mansur, a private yacht of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, in the Shatt al-Arab waterway in Basra, Iraq. It capsized 20 years ago after it was struck during the 2003 US-led invasion that ended Saddam’s rule.
Photo: Hussein Faleh/AFP/Getty Images pic.twitter.com/kiJoaRnCYr

— Christian Guthier (@oxford_guthier) March 30, 2023

Meanwhile, the Danish-built Ocean Breeze, which Saddam ordered in 1981 but was never delivered to the president, ended up in the hands of Saudi Arabia’s royal family. It ultimately became the subject of legal wrangling between Iraq and Jordan, who claimed ownership of the vessel, and has since been sold numerous times to private buyers.

While some Iraqis have called for the government to preserve the wreck, funds have never been allocated to raising al-Mansur from the riverbed. It therefore seems destined to remain there, offering a perch for weary fishermen, for the foreseeable future.