Ever wonder where the world’s largest superyachts store their helicopters, submarines and fleets of tenders? As itineraries grow more ambitious, an increasing number of owners now commission a second vessel built purely to support the first, the shadow fleet that carries what the main yacht has no room for. Ranked by length, here are ten of the most remarkable support vessels on the water.
Rebuilt at Oceanco’s Zwijndrecht yard and relaunched in 2026, Draak had her upper deck helideck removed entirely to make way for a heavy duty tender deck and a 12.6 tonne jib crane. Her former beach club and spa are now a fully equipped dive centre with a decompression chamber, and her old main saloon has become crew mess. She now serves as companion vessel to a 111 metre expedition superyacht.
Built by Damen Yachting and delivered in 2022, Wingman gives almost two thirds of her length over to open working deck. A commercially certified helipad and a 12 tonne knuckle boom crane handle tenders, jet skis and submersibles, all powered by twin diesel-electric engines giving her an 18 knot top speed. She supports a 118 metre Feadship.
The largest support vessel Damen Yachting has built, Abeona carries a 12.6 metre beam and 1,900GT of volume. Delivered in 2023, she has a helipad and hangar rated for a D14 helicopter and sleeps up to 45 crew, guests and specialists. She supports a 126 metre sailing yacht.
Launched by Feadship in 2018 with exterior and interior by RWD, Sherpa wears her unfaired, industrial hull like a badge, deliberately leaving the plate work and welding exposed. She carries the two largest cranes ever fitted to a Feadship, one reaching 12 metres and the other nearly 20, built to launch an unusually large tender fleet and a full convoy of land vehicles.
Built by Damen in 2017 at a shorter length, Game Changer gained a PADI five star dive centre with a hyperbaric recompression chamber in a 2018 refit, then a further three metres and a fully reworked stern in a 2020 refit that also added Polar Code certification for Arctic and Antarctic operations. Around 250 square metres of open deck make her one of the most versatile platforms afloat.
Built by Astilleros Armón to an Incat Crowther design and delivered in 2022, Nebula carries the largest private helicopter hangar ever fitted to a support vessel, 14.5 by 12 metres, big enough for an Airbus H145 to shelter with its rotor blades still attached.
The second Shadowcat catamaran from Astilleros Armón and Incat Crowther, delivered in 2021, Wayfinder carries a helicopter hangar alongside a helipad that doubles as a pickleball court, plus five large tenders and a full complement of water toys. She has since changed hands in a discreet brokerage sale, her current owner undisclosed.
The first Shadowcat catamaran, delivered in 2019, Hodor introduced Incat Crowther’s catamaran platform to the support yacht category. She carries five speedboats, jet skis, quad bikes and a submarine garage, with a CAP437 compliant helipad rated for helicopters up to six tonnes.
Built new on Damen’s SeaXplorer platform with a Sea Axe bow developed alongside Delft University of Technology, Gene Chaser was purpose built as a working research vessel. Her main salon now serves as a wet and dry lab, with other spaces rebuilt as conference and lecture rooms for up to 40 visiting researchers.
The eighth hull in Damen’s Yacht Support range, Blue Ocean was the first in the series built with a large multipurpose hangar on the main deck, suited equally to submersible operations, a workshop or a vehicle garage. A three metre draught lets her reach shallow water no mother yacht can follow into.
Together, these ten vessels chart how far the support yacht has travelled, from converted supply ships to purpose built companions engineered as carefully as the superyachts they serve.