Looking at the high-speed, ultra-modern, similar to the rockets of the yacht Palmer Johnson, it is difficult to imagine that the history of this American shipyard began more than 100 years ago with the construction of rowing wooden boats. The company was founded in 1918 on the Great American lakes in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, two shipbuilders — Hans Johnson and Herman Gmak. It was not limited to boats: by the end of the 20s the shipyard was known for the excellent construction of sailing yachts. In the" Golden age " of sailing yachts Palmer Johnson won many regattas, and during the Second World shipyard produced rescue boats and other military vessels. In the postwar years, with the departure from the arena of large sailboats, the shipyard was building a custom-made small racing and pleasure yachts.
In the sailing world, the company spent a total of several decades, gaining an impeccable reputation, until in 1961 it was bought by American entrepreneur Pat Haggerty. During his time the shipyard switched to the development of innovative sailing and motor yachts made of aluminum, and in 1979 the yacht Fortuna (30.48 m) was built for the king of Spain Juan Carlos. Able to accelerate to 46 knots, it has been named the fastest superyacht in the world for almost a decade. However, in those days the shipyard was building more quiet superyachts of classical design.
Since the beginning of 2000, completely switching to high-speed motor yachts, Palmer Johnson in 2004 presented a series of sports models with a length of 110-210 feet (38-64 m), developed in cooperation with the famous Italian design Studio Nuvolari-Lenard. In 2007, one of the most interesting superyachts of this series — Dragon (model PJ 135 SportYacht, 41.5 m) was launched. At 30 knots, it had a cruising range of 1,150 nautical miles.
In 2012, the shipyard introduced the technology of construction of high-speed superyachts no longer made of aluminum, but of carbon fiber, offering a series of SuperSport models. The first model PJ 48M SuperSport, Khalila, launched in 2015 and developing a speed of 32 knots, is considered the largest ever built carbon yachts.
In addition to high-speed yachts, Palmer Johnson has more than 20 years building a steel exploreri up to 80+ m. in Addition to the opportunity to go on this ship in any waters of the planet and to keep on Board a spectacular "garage" — from helicopters to submarines, the owner receives the level of comfort of the best superyacht in the world. For example, the area of the master apartment with panoramic views of the 80-meter PJ World Explorer is 225 m2. A built Palmer Johnson in cooperation with Vripak in 1996 46-meter Explorer Pioneer (formerly Petty IV and Turmoil) has passed around the world for more than 200 000 miles. It became the first motor yacht to circumnavigate the North American continent without external support, including the Northwest passage-the sea route through the Arctic ocean along the coast of North America.
In 2015, the company decided to curtail construction in the US and move to Europe, where it has long had a representative office in Monaco. The shipyard in Sturgeon Bay was closed, and a new production of Palmer Johnson opened in Holland.
