Rolls-Royce unveils Crystal Blue hybrid luxury yacht

Rolls-Royce has unveiled a luxury yacht concept designed to showcase the advantages of LNG fuel and battery-electric power in the marine leisure market. Designed for 12+ passengers and 12 crew, the 62m Crystal Blue is based on a composite or aluminium hull operating a powerplant based on Rolls-Royce’s hybrid LNG/battery SAVe-CUBE system configuration. The machinery consists of twin LNG-fuelled 16V4000 MTU M65-N generator sets working in parallel with a battery bank to provide 1MWh of genset-free power during port stays. Two low-weight carbon Azipull thrusters provide propulsive power to achieve maximum service speeds of 20kts. According to Oskar Levander, senior vice president for concepts and innovation at Rolls-Royce, Crystal Blue has been developed to enable new thinking in yacht propulsion by optimising the yacht’s superstructure for greater guest use and comfort. “Crystal Blue has been designed specifically to show how new technology can meet the yacht sector’s increased demand for higher performance, greater operating ranges and increased levels of guest comfort, without impacting the environment.” Among its features, Crystal Blue makes use of an intelligent dynamic positioning system that automatically controls twin azimuthing thrusters and a TT1100 bow thruster to allow the yacht to remain in the right spot on the water – without using an anchor. This innovation also enables the vessel to follow the sun across the sky to ensure sunbathers can benefit from the optimum tanning angle while lounging on deck.