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The Italia Line lost many of their finest
ships during World War Two, including
their two largest liners, Rex and
Conti di Savoia.
They began rebuilding their fleet after
the war by placing an order for two mid
sized ships, Andrea Doria
and Cristoforo Colombo.
Andrea Doria entered
service first setting out on her maiden
voyage from Genoa - Cannes and New York
January 14th 1953. On one of these
voyages July 25th 1956, she encountered
fog when approaching New York. At that
time, the Swedish America Lines
12,165-ton cargo/passenger liner
Stockholm had just set out from
New York.
The Stockholm and Andrea
Doria picked each other up on
their radars around 11 pm.
Stockholm was traveling under a
clear moonlit sky while Andrea
Doria continued through the
fog. By the time both ship made
visual contact, it seemed they were going
to pass dangerously close, this leading
to each captain altering coarse. After
both officers realized they had turned
towards each other, Andrea
Doria’s captain made a turn
hard to port while Stockholm was
put into reverse. These maneuvers failed
to prevent a collision as the Swedish
ships bow cut into seven of the
Andrea Doria’s decks,
just aft of the bridge, killing 46
passengers. Stockholm survived the
collision, as damage to her bow never
acceded the first watertight compartment.
The less fortunate Andrea
Doria soon showed signs she was
going to sink. This forced the crews of
the French Lines Ile de
France and Stockholm to
waste no time in rescuing Andrea
Doria’s surviving passengers
and crew before she sank bow first into
250 feet of water. Her near identical
sister ship Cristoforo
Colombo was sold to Venezuela in
1977 to be used as a workers
accommodation ship at Puerto Ordaz. Her
demise came in 1982 after being towed to
the Taiwanese ship breakers at
Kaohsiung.
Below, the Stockholm soon
after the collision
Below, Andrea Doria as
she disappeared beneath the sea
Below, Andrea Doria
soon after sinking
Below, the wreck of Andrea
Doria a few years later
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