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Comment by jakedata | Hacker News Reader

My takeaway from this story is that as an (aspiring) billionaire I can buy an awesome Swedish submarine for less than the cost of a crazy megayacht.

Unfortunately, skull shaped volcano islands are harder to come by.

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You would also need to find a crew to run it. Which requires either a) ex military dudes with direct experience b) extremely talented engineers who can reverse engineer stuff and make it work.

For either, you are going to have to spend basically close to 5 mill a year just on salaries.

That's the same ballpark as running a mega yacht. So instead of cruising into the Monaco Harbour to watch an F1 race, you get to park yourself on the seafloor just outside the harbour and single handedly blockade a sovereign nation.

Why not both?

Geez, you non-supervillain-aspiring types are so ... mid.

> You would also need to find a crew to run it. Which requires either a) ex military dudes with direct experience b) extremely talented engineers who can reverse engineer stuff and make it work.

If you're buying a submarine, I'd assume the manufacturer would provide crew training on how to operate it. It's be kinda dumb if they didn't.

Yes but how many people do you know that are willing to live in a claustrophobic space to partake in a billionaires fever dream.

> Yes but how many people do you know that are willing to live in a claustrophobic space to partake in a billionaires fever dream.

Probably enough. I'm surprised anyone would want to be a billionaire's personal assistant, yet those jobs get filled.

You also need a construction team to insulate the lair and install trap doors over the lava.

Given how the last Nordic submarine adventure by some tech moron ended I think we can do without that.

For those that miss the reference:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Kim_Wall

Billionaires don't exactly have a great track record in submarines. A crazy megayacht, or even a regular yacht, might serve you better!

Is there something inbetween ? A yacht with optional submerging feature ? May be just 100 feet ?

All yachts can be optionally submerged. Once. Surfacing afterwards is the tricky bit.

"Anything is amphibious if you can get it back out of the water." (Schlock Mercenary Maxim #32)

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