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"This is the Liparus, the latest addition to the Stromberg fleet, launched nine months ago. Over a million tons, it's the largest tanker in the world."
Naomi[src]

The Liparus was a fictional supertanker owned by shipping magnate, Karl Stromberg, who operated under the command of an unnamed captain. Surpassed in size only by the Soviet tanker Karl Marx, the ship's huge capacity was not used to transport crude oil, but rather to hunt, capture and store Western and Soviet nuclear submarines. The Liparus was destroyed during a prisoner breakout and the subsequent battle for control of the ship.

The vessel appeared in the 1977 James Bond film, The Spy Who Loved Me, and was subsequently adapted and named Lepadus for the film's accompanying novelisation, penned by Christopher Wood. The ship was also later re-imagined for the 2000 PSX video-game, 007 Racing, for multiplayer and the 2008 mobile video-game, James Bond: Top Agent.

Appearances[]

The Spy Who Loved Me (film)[]

Launched nine months before the film takes place, the Liparus was the latest and greatest addition to the Stromberg Shipping Line. With a displacement of one million tons it was surpassed in size only by the Soviet tanker, Karl Marx. The vessel was purpose-built to hunt and capture nuclear submarines, and as such was equipped with a state-of-the-art submarine tracking system and equipment capable of jamming a vessel's electromechanical systems. Enormous bow doors concealed a cavernous submarine pen, capable of mooring up to three submarines. Overlooking the lower docks was the ship's control room; capable of being fortified with reinforced steel louvres in the event of a security breach. The ship's internal CCTV system, communications and tracking systems were controlled from here. Internally, the rest of the ship comprised of compartments connected via corridors and a monorail system. These included three prisoner detention blocks and at least two armories equipped with Mk 2 grenades, M16 rifles, Sterling and Sten sub-machine guns, and flamethrowers. Other parts of the ship are not shown, but it is probably safe to assume that the rest of the ship contained living and working quarters for its 170+ guards and crew.

The Liparus is responsible for the disappearance of the British HMS Ranger and the Soviet submarine Potemkin, along with their payload of atomic intercontinental ballistic missiles. Using them, megalomaniac Karl Stromberg intends to purge the world in a nuclear war; starting a new civilisation under the ocean. Three weeks later, James Bond and his Soviet counterpart, Anya Amasova visit Stromberg's laboratory in Sardinia and learn of the mysterious new supertanker. The shape of its bow and absence of any port calls in months raises suspicions. Hunting her down with the help of the U.S. submarine USS Wayne they suffer the same fate as the others. Bond manages to escape his captors and releases the imprisoned sailors. While Stromberg departs for Atlantis, a devastating battle for control of the ship breaks out; concluding with Bond redirecting two of the hijacked subs to destroy each-other, rather than New York and Moscow. Shortly thereafter, the battle damage takes its toll on the Liparus and it begins to capsize. Bond and the remaining Submariners narrowly escape on the Wayne as Liparus explodes and sinks behind them.

Alternate Continuities[]

James Bond, The Spy Who Loved Me[]

In Christopher Wood's novelisation of his screenplay, the supertanker has been renamed Lepadus and weighs over six hundred thousand tons.[1] It was launched eighteen months prior at Saint-Nazaire, France and delivered four months later.[1] Suspiciously, since that time there was no record of her having made a commercial voyage. Anya remarks that there are only fourteen harbours in the world capable of receiving a tanker the size of the Lepadus.[1] On sighting the ship via periscope, Bond reckons she must be more than a quarter of a mile in length.[2] The ship's interior is described in very similar terms to Ken Adam's cathedralesque film set. As with the other major action sequences, the gun battle aboard the Lepadus contains numerous differences compared to the film — while the escaped sailors fight to take control of the docks, Bond himself pursues Stromberg and Anya, arriving on the upper deck just in time to see him escaping in a Bell UH-1B helicopter.[2] Before heading back below, he destroys a store of aircraft fuel as a distraction, starting a huge blaze; it is this fire that eventually spreads out of control and dooms the tanker.

James Bond: Top Agent[]

Top Agent - iOS (3)

The player's character fights a guard on top a submarine.

The 2008 mobile video-game James Bond: Top Agent pits the player's character against Stromberg and closely follows the plot of the 1977 film. Starting with the capture of the USS Wayne, the player fights turn-based, one-on-one battles with Stromberg's men - attempting to cross the submarine dock, release the prisoners and apprehend the villain before he either escapes or launches the stolen nuclear weapons. On level 9, the player confronts Jaws - the ship's boss character - in the control room. Despite its post-2006 soft-reboot launch, the game's Liparus contains much of the classic 1970s iconography, from the Stromberg fish insignia to the giant golden globe of the submarine tracking system.

Behind the Scenes[]

Tanker interior (Ken Adam concept)

Ken Adam's concept drawing of the Liparus' interior.

Prior to filming, the use of a Shell supertanker had been offered free of charge to the production who had only to pay the insurance for the ship and its crew. This still proved prohibitively expensive at $60,000 a day, dangerous and altogether impractical as the vapour from residual oil is toxic and explosive. In addition, the empty ship would sit too high in the water to look like it contained submarines weighing in at a combined tonnage of several thousand tons. It was thus decided to use model-work shot in the Bahamas by Special Effects creator Derek Meddings.[3][4]

The exterior of the Liparus was modeled on a Shell supertanker of the same name, bow and all. It was built as a catamaran in order to swallow the model submarines (like the same manner of You Only Live Twice’s Bird 1) and was provided with an Evinrude outboard motor to give it a convincing wake. According to Bond production designer Ken Adam, the model was around 80 feet long in order to create the visual illusion of size next to real waves.[4]

Filming The Liparus' cavernous interior required the construction of the now famous 007 Stage at Pinewood Studios, opened by actor Roger Moore and British PM Harold Wilson at its completion on December 5, 1976. The actual studio was designed to be part of the set and is still the largest in the world after two extensions after as many fires. While the stage was huge it was not big enough to house three life sized submarines which were therefore scaled down to “only” two thirds of their actual size.

Gallery[]

Liparus/Gallery

See also[]

Sources[]

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 James Bond, The Spy Who Loved Me, Christopher Wood, Jonathan Cape, 1977, Chapter 17: Red Roses for a Red Lady.
  2. 2.0 2.1 James Bond, The Spy Who Loved Me, Christopher Wood, Jonathan Cape, 1977, Chapter 18: Dropping in on the Navy.
  3. Inside the Spy Who Loved Me. The Spy Who Loved Me Ultimate Edition DVD, Disk 2
  4. 4.0 4.1 Frayling, Christopher (2005). Ken Adam and the Art of Production Design. Faber and Faber, p.181. ISBN 978-0-5712-2057-1. 
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