One of the more striking superyachts to emerge from Italy this year has touched the water. CRN, part of the Ferretti Group, launched its latest full-custom steel and aluminium displacement motor yacht in Ancona on June 4, with the 70-metre Project Thunderball completing her first launch in front of the owner and their family.
The yacht is a collaboration between three specialist design houses. Dutch studio Vripack handled the exterior design, preliminary naval architecture, and general arrangement, while Italian firm Nauta was responsible for the interiors and outdoor living areas. CRN brought its own naval architecture and engineering expertise to the build, with Y.CO acting as owner’s representative and project manager throughout construction.
At 70 metres LOA with an 11-metre beam and 1,100 gross tons, Thunderball carries 12 guests across an owner’s suite and five VIP cabins, supported by 15 crew in nine crew cabins across four decks.
The exterior silhouette takes its cues from sailing rather than power, with a classic elongated bow, a sleek profile, and gently curved bilges giving the hull a clean, uninterrupted surface. Vripack has carried that language through to the interior, with Nauta developing spaces where the geometry and proportions of the outside echo through the rooms within, playing out across different materials and scales.
The build includes an Energy Storage System designed to manage onboard energy flows, enabling peak shaving and silent operation at anchor, with a meaningful reduction in fuel consumption compared to conventional arrangements.
Thunderball is now entering the outfitting phase, with sea trials and final testing scheduled ahead of handover to the owner in summer 2026.
Boating New Zealand has asked the team at CRN for interior photos; they are not available – yet – but will be coming up later in the year. We wait eagerly to see if she is as smooth on the inside as the outside.
