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Raffaello was delivered to the
Italia Line one month after her near
identical sister ship
Michelangelo. Although not as
large as the Italia Line’s
Rex and Conti de
Savoia from the 1930s, these two
ships were the longest Trans Atlantic
liners ever built for the Italia Line.
Raffaello was operated on a
Mediterranean cruise before setting out
on her intended route from Genoa - New
York July 25th 1965. The Italia Line soon
realized they had made a severe
miscalculation in building two large
ships at that time as aircraft were by
then taking most of the Trans Atlantic
trade. It is thought Raffaello and
Michelangelo ran at a loss from
the day they entered service. On October
31st 1965, a major engine room fire
forced Raffaello to be returned to
Genoa driven by one propeller. Another
scare for the ship came in May 1970 when
she collided with a tanker in Algeciras
Bay.
With Raffaello continuing to
lose money on the Atlantic run and using
up subsidies from the Italian Government,
the Italia Line began operating her more
as a cruise ship from 1974. This change
came too late as the Italian Government
announced they were ending their
subsidies the following year. As that
decision had given the Italia Line
insufficient time to establish
Raffaello in this new role, she
set out on her final cruise from New York
June 6th 1975. The completion of that
cruise saw her put into La Spezia/Italy
to be laid up next to
Michelangelo. Although some cruise
lines showed an interest in these ships,
it seemed that because they never ran at
a profit, the Italia Line was keen to
avoid a rival shipping company proving
they could be operated successfully. This
led to both liners being sold to the Sha
of Iran in 1977 to serve as accommodation
ships. During the Iran/Iraq war (1980 -
1988), Raffaello was sunk in
Bushire Harbor/Iran after being targeted
by Iraqi jets in February 1983. Her wreck
has never been salvaged.
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