Decked Out for a Dictator

Saddam Hussein's old yacht, which can be yours for about $30m (£19m), stands as a testament to all that power, vanity, greed and cash could get you, circa 1981. That's when the Qadisiyah Saddam, lately rechristened the Ocean Breeze, was built by the Danish shipyard Helsingor Vaerft. Apart from the period decor - these days more reminiscent of a 1970s seaside hotel than an ocean-going seat of power - the 82m yacht also reportedly boasts bulletproof windows, gold taps, an operating theatre, a helipad, prayer room, several swimming pools and 27 bedrooms. There is also, apparently, a secret passage leading to a mini-submarine escape pod, which is the sort of luxury that never dates. One could say the same about the built-in surface-to-air missile system, but unfortunately the boat has been disarmed for sale.

If you're primarily interested in the celebrity status of the vessel, you should be warned that it seems unlikely that Saddam ever spent any time on his yacht. In 1986, in the middle of the Iran-Iraq war, the boat was moved to the Saudi port of Jeddah to protect it from attack. It remained there until a year ago, when it mysteriously turned up for sale in Nice. And anyway, Saddam had an even bigger yacht, the Al Mansur, which was bombed by US war planes in 2003.

In January, the Ocean Breeze, which was at the time being offered by a yacht brokerage firm at a price of $35m on behalf of an unnamed owner, was seized by French authorities at the behest of the Iraqi government. Since then, the courts have determined that Iraq is the rightful owner, and according to a government spokesman, it will be sold within weeks.

It may not be the mighty symbol of idiotic excess it once was - Roman Abramovich's yacht is 115m long and has two helipads (when would you ever try to land two helicopters at once?) - but the gold taps have got to be worth something. And those curtains are absolutely priceless.