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SS Andrea Doria, pronounced [an'dr?:a 'd?:rja], was an ocean liner for the Italian Line (Società di navigazione Italia) home ported in Genoa, Italy, most famous for her sinking in 1956, when 46 people were killed.

Named after the 16th-century Genoese admiral Andrea Doria, the ship had a gross register tonnage of 29,100 and a capacity of about 1,200 passengers and 500 crew. For a country attempting to rebuild its economy and reputation after World War II, Andrea Doria was an icon of Italian national pride. Of all Italy's ships at the time, Andrea Doria was the largest, fastest, and supposedly safest. Launched on June 16, 1951, the ship undertook its maiden voyage on January 14, 1953.

On July 25, 1956, while Andrea Doria was approaching the coast of Nantucket, Massachusetts, bound for New York City, the eastbound MS Stockholm of the Swedish American Line collided with it in one of history's most infamous maritime disasters. Struck in the side, the top-heavy Andrea Doria immediately started to list severely to starboard, which left half of its lifeboats unusable. The consequent shortage of lifeboats could have resulted in significant loss of life, but the efficiency of the ship's technical design allowed it to stay afloat for over 11 hours after the ramming. The good behavior of the crew, improvements in communications, and the rapid response of other ships averted a disaster similar in scale to that of Titanic in 1912. While 1,660 passengers and crew were rescued and survived, 46 people died with the ship as a consequence of the collision. The evacuated luxury liner capsized and sank the following morning. This accident remains the worst maritime disaster to occur in United States waters since the sinking of the SS Eastland in 1915.

The incident and its aftermath were heavily covered by the news media. While the rescue efforts were both successful and commendable, the cause of the collision with Stockholm and the loss of Andrea Doria generated much interest in the media and many lawsuits. Largely because of an out-of-court settlement agreement between the two shipping companies during hearings immediately after the disaster, no determination of the cause(s) was ever formally published. Although greater blame appeared initially to fall on the Italian liner, more recent discoveries have indicated that a misreading of radar on the Swedish ship initiated the collision course, leading to errors on both ships.

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History

Features

Andrea Doria had a length of 212 m (697 ft), a beam of 27 m (90 ft), and a gross register tonnage of 29,100. The propulsion system consisted of steam turbines attached to twin screws, enabling the ship to achieve a service speed of 23 knots (43 km/h), with a top speed of 26 knots (48 km/h). Andrea Doria was neither the largest vessel nor the fastest of its day: those distinctions went to the RMS Queen Elizabeth and the SS United States, respectively. Instead, the famous Italian architect, Minoletti, designed Andrea Doria for luxury.

Because it sailed the southern Atlantic routes, Andrea Doria was the first ship to feature three outdoor swimming pools, one for each class (first, cabin, and tourist). When fully booked, the ship was capable of accommodating 1,241 passengers in three different classes; 218 in first class, 320 in cabin class, and 703 in tourist class. As was the rule aboard Trans-Atlantic passenger liners, each passenger class was strictly segregated to specific parts of the ship. First class accommodations were located amidships on the upper decks, cabin class accommodations were located just aft of first class, and tourist-class accommodations were divided between the forward- and after-most ends of the ship and were connected by corridors which ran the full length of the ship. Each class had its own separate dining room, lounges, and social halls, designated areas of open deck space and enclosed promenades, and even their own swimming pools with verandas. In addition, 563 crew members were charged with operating and maintaining the ship. Over US$1 million was spent on artwork and the decor of the cabins and public rooms, including a life-sized statue of Admiral Doria, and many consider the ship to have been one of the most beautiful ocean liners ever built next to Cunard's two Queens, RMS Queen Elizabeth, RMS Queen Mary, and the French Line's SS Normandie.

Safety and seaworthiness

The ship was also considered one of the safest ships ever built. Equipped with a double hull, Andrea Doria was divided into 11 watertight compartments. Any two of these could be filled with water without endangering the ship's safety. Andrea Doria also carried enough lifeboats to accommodate all passengers and crew. She carried a total of 16 steel lifeboats, eight positioned on each side of the ship, coming in three different designs; two 58-person launches for emergency use, two 70-person motorboats with inboard radio transmitters, and 12 146-person hand-propelled standard boats. Furthermore, the ship was equipped with the latest early warning radar. However, despite its technological advantages, the ship had serious flaws concerning its seaworthiness and safety.

Confirming predictions derived from model testing during the design phase, the ship developed a huge list when hit by any significant force. This was especially apparent during its maiden voyage, when Andrea Doria listed 28° after being hit by a large wave off Nantucket. The ship's tendency to list was accentuated when the fuel tanks were nearly empty, which was usually at the end of a voyage.

This stability issue became a focus of the investigation after the sinking, as it was a factor in both the capsizing and the crew's inability to lower the port-side lifeboats. The bulkheads of the watertight compartments extended only up to the top of A Deck, and a list greater than 20° allowed water from a flooded watertight compartment to pass over its top into adjacent compartments. In addition, the design parameters allowed the lowering of the lifeboats at a maximum 15° list. Beyond this, up to half of the lifeboats could not be deployed.

Construction and maiden voyage

At the end of World War II, Italy had lost half its merchant fleet through wartime destruction and Allied forces seeking war reparations. The losses included the scuttling/bombing of the SS Rex, a former Blue Riband holder. Furthermore, the country was struggling with a collapsed economy. To show the world that the country had recovered from the war and to re-establish the nation's pride, the Italian Line commissioned two new vessels of similar design in the early 1950s. The first was to be named Andrea Doria, after the 16th-century Genoese admiral Andrea Doria. The second vessel, which was launched in 1953, was to be named Cristoforo Colombo after explorer Christopher Columbus.

Construction of Andrea Doria started as Yard No. 918 at Ansaldo Shipyard in Genoa. On February 9, 1950, the ship's keel was laid on the No. 1 slipway, and on June 16, 1951, Andrea Doria was launched. During the ceremony, the ship's hull was blessed by Giuseppe Siri, Cardinal Archbishop of Genoa, and christened by Mrs. Giuseppina Saragat, wife of the former Minister of the Merchant Marine Giuseppe Saragat. Amid reports of machinery problems during sea trials, Andrea Doria's maiden voyage was delayed from December 14, 1952, to January 14, 1953.

During the ship's maiden voyage, she encountered heavy storms on the final approach to New York, listing a full 28°. Nevertheless, Andrea Doria completed her maiden voyage on January 23, only a few minutes behind schedule, and received a welcoming delegation which included New York Mayor Vincent R. Impellitteri. Afterwards, Andrea Doria became one of Italy's most popular and successful ocean liners, and always filled to capacity. By mid-1956, she was making her 100th crossing of the Atlantic.

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Final voyage

A collision course

On July 17, 1956, Andrea Doria set sail from her home port of Genoa on what should have been a routine nine-day crossing between Italy and the United States. It was to be her 51st westbound crossing. Before setting course for the open Atlantic, she made stops at three ports where the Italian Line had established passenger terminals to pick up more passengers. She first stopped at the French port of Cannes, then returned to the southeast to Naples on July 18 before making her last stop at Gibraltar on July 20. After leaving Gibraltar, she had a total complement of 1,134 passengers aboard, barely 100 shy of her passenger capacity of 1,241. They consisted of 190 first class passengers, 267 cabin class passengers and 677 tourist class passengers, which along with her crew of 572 came to a total of 1,706 people aboard.

On Wednesday, July 25, just before noon, MS Stockholm, a passenger liner of the Swedish American Line, departed New York Harbor on her 103rd eastbound crossing across the Atlantic to her home port of Gothenburg, Sweden. At 12,165 tons and 525 feet in length, roughly half the size of the Andrea Doria, the Stockholm was the smallest passenger liner on the North Atlantic run during the 1950s. Completed in 1948, the Stockholm was of a much more practical design compared to the Andrea Doria. Originally built to accommodate only 395 passengers in two classes, the Stockholm was designed more for comfort than the luxury and opulence found aboard the Doria. The main reason for this was that the Swedish-American Line was aware that the age of Trans-Atlantic passenger travel was coming to an end with the rapid growth of air travel. However, what they did not envision was the massive surge in tourism which arose during the 1950s. This resulted in the Swedish-American Line's decision to withdraw the Stockholm from service in 1953 for an overhaul which included an addition to her superstructure to provide space for accommodations for an additional 153 passengers, increasing her maximum passenger capacity to 548. This proved to be a successful move, as by 1956 the Stockholm had gained a worthy reputation on the North Atlantic. On that voyage, she left New York almost booked to capacity with 534 passengers and a crew of 208, which totaled to 742 people aboard. She was commanded by Captain Harry Gunnar Nordenson, though Third Officer Johan-Ernst Carstens-Johannsen was on duty on the bridge at the time. Stockholm was following its usual course east to Nantucket Lightship, making about 18 knots (33 km/h) with clear skies. Carstens estimated visibility at 6 nautical miles (11 km).

As Stockholm and Andrea Doria were approaching each other head-on, in the heavily used shipping corridor, the westbound Andrea Doria had been traveling in heavy fog for hours. The captain had reduced speed slightly from 23.0 to 21.8 knots (42.6 to 40.4 km/h), activated the ship's fog-warning whistle, and had closed the watertight doors, all customary precautions while sailing in such conditions. However, the eastbound Stockholm had yet to enter what was apparently the edge of a fog bank and was seemingly unaware of it and the movement of the other ship hidden in it. The waters of the North Atlantic south of Nantucket Island are frequently the site of intermittent fog as the cold Labrador Current encounters the Gulf Stream.

As the two ships approached each other, at a combined speed of 40 knots (74 km/h), each was aware of the presence of another ship, but was guided only by radar; they apparently misinterpreted each other's course. No radio communication was made between the two ships, at first.

The original inquiry established that in the critical minutes before the collision, Andrea Doria gradually steered to port, attempting a starboard-to-starboard passing, while Stockholm turned about 20° to its starboard, an action intended to widen the passing distance of a port-to-port passing. In fact, they were actually steering towards each other - narrowing, rather than widening, the passing distance. As a result of the extremely thick fog that enveloped the Doria as the ships approached each other, the ships were quite close by the time visual contact was established. By then, the crews realized that they were on a collision course, but despite last-minute maneuvers, they could not avoid the collision.

In the last moments before impact, Stockholm turned hard to starboard and was in the process of reversing her propellers, attempting to stop. Andrea Doria, remaining at her cruising speed of almost 22 knots (41 km/h) engaged in a hard turn to port, her captain hoping to outrun the collision. Around 11:10 pm, the two ships collided, Stockholm striking the side of Andrea Doria.

Impact and penetration

When Andrea Doria and Stockholm collided at almost a 90° angle, Stockholm's sharply raked ice breaking prow pierced Andrea Doria's starboard side about one-third of her length from the bow. It penetrated the hull to a depth of nearly 40 feet (12 m), and the keel. Below the waterline, five fuel tanks on Andrea Doria's starboard side were torn open, and they filled with thousands of tons of seawater. Meanwhile, air was trapped in the five empty tanks on the port side, causing them to float more readily, contributing to a severe list. The ship's large fuel tanks were mostly empty at the time of the collision, since the ship was nearing the end of her voyage, but all the empty fuel tanks did was further increase the list.

Andrea Doria was designed with her hull divided into 11 watertight compartments, separated by steel bulkheads which ran across the width of her hull, rising from the bottom of the ship's hull up to A Deck. The only openings in the bulkheads were on the bottom deck, where watertight doors were installed for use by the engine crew and could be easily closed in an emergency. Her design specified that if any two adjacent compartments out of any of her 11 watertight compartments were breached, she could remain afloat. In addition, following the rules and guidelines set by the International Conference for Safety of Life at Sea of 1948, Andrea Doria was also designed to take a list, even under the worst imaginable circumstances, no more than 15°. However, the combination of the five flooded tanks on one side and the five empty tanks on the other left Andrea Doria with a list which within a few minutes of the collision exceeded 20°. While the collision itself penetrated only one of Andrea Doria's watertight compartments, the severe list would gradually pull the tops of the bulkheads along the starboard side below the level of the water, allowing seawater to flow down corridors, down stairwells, and any other way it could find into the next compartment in line. In addition, the collision had also torn into an access tunnel which ran from the generator room, which was located in the compartment directly aft of where the collision had happened, to a small room at the forward end of the tank compartment which contained the controls for the pumps for the tanks. It was here that there was a fatal flaw in Andrea Doria's design, as at the point where the tunnel went through the bulkhead separating the two compartments, no watertight door was present. This allowed the generator room to flood rapidly, contributing to not only an increase in flooding, but also to a loss of electricity to the stricken liner.

Initial radio distress calls were sent out by each ship, and in that manner, they learned each other's identities. Soon afterwards, the messages were received by numerous radio and Coast Guard stations along the New England coast, and the world soon became aware that two large ocean liners had collided.

This was the SOS sent by Andrea Doria:

"SOS DE ICEH [this is Andrea Doria] SOS HERE AT 0320 GMT LAT. 40.30 N 69.53 W NEED IMMEDIATE ASSISTANCE"

Assessing damage and imminent danger

Immediately after the collision, Andrea Doria began to take on water and started to list severely to starboard. Within minutes, the list was at least 18°. After the ships separated, Captain Calamai quickly brought the engine controls to "all stop". One of the watertight doors to the engine room may have been missing, though this issue was later determined to be moot. Much more importantly, however, crucial stability was lost by the earlier failure, during routine operations, to ballast the mostly empty fuel tanks as the builders had specified. (Filling the tanks with seawater as the fuel was emptied would have resulted in more costly procedures to refuel when port was reached). Owing to the immediate rush of seawater flooding the starboard tanks, and because the port tanks had emptied during the crossing, the list was greater than would otherwise have been the case. As it increased over the next few minutes to 20° or more, Calamai realized no hope was left for his ship unless the list could be corrected.

In the engine room, engineers attempted to pump water out of the flooding starboard tanks to no avail. Only a small amount of fuel remained, and the intakes to pump seawater into the port tanks were now high out of the water, making any attempt to level the ship futile.

Aboard Stockholm, roughly 30 feet of her bow had been crushed and torn away. Initially, the ship was dangerously down by the bow, but emptying the freshwater tanks soon raised the bow to within 4 inches (10 cm) of normal. A quick survey determined that the major damage did not extend aft beyond the bulkhead between the first and second watertight compartments. Thus, despite being down at the bow, and having its first watertight compartment flooded, the ship was soon determined to be stable and in no imminent danger of sinking.

Casualties

The area of Andrea Doria's hull where Stockholm's bow penetrated encompassed five passenger decks. On the uppermost of these decks, the Upper Deck, at least eight first class cabins were destroyed. In all, six first class passengers lost their lives. In cabin 46, Colonel Walter Carlin had been in the bathroom brushing his teeth at the time of the collision and miraculously survived, while his wife Jeanette was killed. In direct line of Stockholm's bow on the upper deck were cabins 52 and 54, which were occupied by Camille Cianfarra, a longtime foreign correspondent for The New York Times, his wife Jane, their eight-year-old daughter Joan and 14-year-old Linda Morgan, Jane's daughter from her previous marriage to American journalist Edward P. Morgan. Joan was killed instantly, while Camille died from severe injuries moments after the collision. Jane was seriously injured, but was rescued by some other passengers, among them Dr. Thure Peterson, who had been next door in cabin 56. He sustained only minor injuries, while his wife Martha was gravely wounded and was trapped along with Jane Cianfarra. After a long struggle to free her, largely on the part of her husband, Martha succumbed to her injuries a few hours after the collision. One deck below on the Foyer Deck, near the first class entrance, Ferdinand Melly Thieriot, circulation director of The San Francisco Chronicle, along with his wife Frances, were killed, as their suite was in direct line of the Stockholm's bow. Their 13-year-old son Peter, who occupied a cabin further down the corridor, survived.

On the decks below, titled A, B and C Decks, the loss of life was greater, as it was the location of several sections of tourist-class cabins. On A-Deck, eleven passengers, consisting of ten women and one elderly clergyman, were all killed. On B Deck, the Doria's 50-car garage was penetrated, but with no reported loss of life as no passenger cabins on that deck were penetrated. On C Deck, the worst loss of life occurred. A total of 26 people were killed in the collision section there, mostly Italian immigrant families.

Among the most heart-wrenching of the losses was that of Maria Sergio and her four children, 13-year-old Giuseppe, 10-year-old Anna Maria, seven-year-old Domenica, and four-year-old Rocco, who occupied a cabin on the starboard side of C Deck which was in direct line of the collision. She was traveling aboard Andrea Doria with her children on her way to South Bend, Indiana, where her husband, Ross Sergio, and their 17-year-old son Anthony, were waiting for them. Anthony Sergio had in fact sailed to the United States from Italy aboard the Andrea Doria the previous April. Also traveling with them were Maria's sister Margaret and her husband Paul Sergio, who also happened to be Ross Sergio's brother. Paul and Margaret had emigrated to the U.S. prior to the voyage and had returned to Italy for a visit and to accompany Maria and the children back to Indiana. Both Paul and Margaret survived the sinking, and for years after the disaster, Paul was haunted by the memory of his four-year-old nephew Rocco, the youngest of his brother's children, who just prior to the collision had asked if he could spend the night with his uncle.

In addition to the lives lost in the collision, three more of the Andrea Doria's passengers died from injuries and ailments which occurred during and after the evacuation. Norma Di Sandro, a four-year-old Italian girl traveling in tourist class with her parents, Tullio and Filomena Di Sandro, was dropped on her head into a lifeboat by her panicked father. She was taken to the Stockholm and subsequently airlifted to Brighton Marine Hospital in Boston, where she died from a fractured cranium without ever regaining consciousness. Carl Watres, a businessman from Manasquan, New Jersey, who was traveling in cabin class aboard the Doria with his wife Lillian, died from a sudden heart attack while en route to New York aboard the Stockholm. Angelina Grego, a 48-year-old, broke her back after falling into one of the lifeboats from the Ile de France. She was taken to St. Claire's Hospital in New York City, where she lingered in an immense amount of pain and suffering until her death six months later.

After the ships had separated, as Stockholm crew members were beginning to survey the damage, a miraculous discovery was made. On the top deck of Stockholm, one of the crew came across Linda Morgan, who had been thrown from her bed on the Andrea Doria as the two ships collided and landed on the Stockholm's deck, suffering moderate but not life-threatening injuries. Others, unfortunately, were not as lucky, as five of the Stockholm's crew perished in the collision.

Rescue operations

On Andrea Doria, the decision to abandon ship was made within 30 minutes of impact. A sufficient number of lifeboats for all of the passengers and crew were positioned on each side of the Boat Deck. Procedures called for lowering the lifeboats to be fastened alongside the glass-enclosed Promenade Deck (one deck below), where evacuees could step out windows directly into the boats, which would then be lowered down to the sea. However, it was soon determined that half of the lifeboats, those on the port side, were unlaunchable due to the severe list, which left them high in the air. To make matters worse, the list also complicated normal lifeboat procedures on the starboard side. Instead of loading lifeboats at the side of the Promenade Deck and then lowering them into the water, it would be necessary to lower the boats empty, and somehow get evacuees down the exterior of the ship to water level to board. This was eventually accomplished through ropes and Jacob's ladders. In fear of causing a panic and stampeding of the starboard lifeboats, Captain Calamai decided against giving the order to abandon ship until help arrived. In the meantime, Second Officer Badano made announcements over the loudspeaker system instructing passengers to put on their lifebelts and go to their designated muster stations.

A distress message was relayed to other ships by radio, making it extremely clear that additional lifeboats were urgently needed. The first ship to respond to Andrea Doria's distress call was the 390-foot freighter Cape Ann of the United Fruit Company, which was returning to the United States after a trip to Bremerhaven, Germany. Upon receiving the message from the stricken Andrea Doria, Captain Joseph Boyd immediately set course for the site of the collision. With a crew of 44 aboard and only two 40-person lifeboats, the assistance Cape Ann could offer was limited, but within minutes, she was joined by other ships heeding to the distress call. The US Navy transport USNS Private William H. Thomas, en route to New York from Livorno, Italy, with 214 troops and dependents also responded to the signal and made immediate progress towards the site. Her captain, John Shea, was placed in charge of the rescue operation by the US Navy and readily ordered his crew to prepare their eight usable lifeboats. Also joining the rescue was the US Navy destroyer escort USS Edward H. Allen.

Forty-four miles east of the collision site, the French Line's SS Île de France was eastbound from New York en route to her home port of Le Havre, France, with 940 passengers and a crew of 826 aboard. At 44,500 tons and 739 feet in length, the 30-year-old luxury liner was among the largest passenger liners on the North Atlantic run. On that voyage, having left New York the same day as the Stockholm, she was under the command of Captain Raoul de Beaudean, a well-respected veteran of the seas who had served the French Line for 35 years. Upon hearing of the collision and the distress call, de Beaudean was at first skeptical of the thought of a modern ship like Andrea Doria actually foundering, and knew that if he did steer back to the collision site only to find that Île de France was not needed, it would mean having to return to New York to refuel and delaying her passengers, which could have been a financial disaster for the French Line. At the same time, he knew that if his services were needed, the French Line would not question his actions in that case. Captain de Beaudean made an attempt to contact Andrea Doria to learn more about the situation, which was unsuccessful, but after making contact with Stockholm, Cape Ann, and Thomas, he quickly realized the severity of the situation and that the lives of over 1,600 people were at risk. He quickly turned Île de France around and set a direct course for the stricken Andrea Doria.

On board Andrea Doria, the launching of the eight usable lifeboats on the starboard side was yet another calamity of the night, as many of the boats left Andrea Doria only partially loaded with about 200 panicked crewmen and very few passengers.

While other ships nearby were en route, Captain Nordenson of Stockholm, having determined that his ship was not in any imminent danger of sinking, and after being assured of the safety of his mostly sleeping passengers, sent some of his lifeboats to supplement the starboard boats from Andrea Doria. In the first hours, many survivors transported by lifeboats from both ships were taken aboard Stockholm. Unlike the Titanic tragedy 44 years earlier, several other nonpassenger ships that heard Andrea Doria's SOS signal steamed as fast as they could, some eventually making it to the scene. Radio communications included relays from the other ships as Andrea Doria's radios had limited range. The United States Coast Guard from New York City also coordinated on land.

Arriving at the scene less than three hours after the collision, as he neared, Captain de Beaudean became concerned about navigating his huge ship safely between the two damaged liners, other responding vessels, lifeboats, and possibly even people in the water. Then, just as Île de France arrived, the fog lifted, and he was able to position his ship in such a way that the starboard side of Andrea Doria was somewhat sheltered. He ordered all exterior lights of Île de France to be turned on. The sight of the illuminated Île de France was a great emotional relief to many participants, crew and passengers alike.

Île de France managed to rescue the bulk of the remaining passengers by shuttling its 10 lifeboats back and forth to Andrea Doria, and receiving lifeboat loads from those of the other ships already at the scene (as well as the starboard boats from Andrea Doria). Some passengers on Île de France gave up their cabins to be used by the wet and tired survivors. Many other acts of kindness were reported by grateful survivors.

In all, 1,663 passengers and crew had been rescued from Andrea Doria. The badly damaged Stockholm, through the use of both her own lifeboats and those from the stricken Andrea Doria, took on a total of 545 survivors, of whom 234 were crew members from the Andrea Doria; 129 survivors had been rescued by Cape Ann, 159 by Pvt. William H. Thomas, 77 by Edward H. Allen, including Captain Calamai and his officers, and one very fortunate American sailor who slept through the entire collision and evacuation had been lucky enough to be rescued from the abandoned, sinking liner by the tanker Robert E. Hopkins. Île de France undoubtedly played the largest role in the rescue, having taken on a total of 753 survivors.

Shortly after daybreak, the little girl and four seriously injured Stockholm crewmen were airlifted from that ship at the scene by helicopters sent by the Coast Guard and U.S. Air Force. A number of passengers and some crew were hospitalized upon arrival in New York.

Andrea Doria capsizes and sinks

Once the evacuation was complete, Captain Calamai of Andrea Doria shifted his attention to the possibility of towing the ship to shallow water. However, it was clear to those watching helplessly at the scene that the stricken ocean liner was doomed.

After all the survivors had been transferred onto various rescue ships bound for New York, Andrea Doria's remaining crew began to disembark--forced to abandon the ship. By 9:00 am, even Captain Calamai was in a rescue boat. The sinking began at 9:45 am and by 10:00 that morning Andrea Doria was on its side at a right angle to the sea. The starboard side dipped into the ocean and the three swimming pools were seen refilling with water. As the bow slid under, the stern rose slightly, and the port propeller and shaft were visible. As the port side slipped below the waves, some of the unused lifeboats snapped free of their davits and floated upside-down in a row. It was recorded that Andrea Doria finally sank 11 hours after the collision, at 10:09 am on July 26, 1956. The ship had drifted 1.58 nautical miles (2.93 km) from the point of the collision in those 11 hours. Aerial photography of the stricken ocean liner capsizing and sinking won a Pulitzer Prize in 1957 for Harry A. Trask of the Boston Traveler newspaper.

Return to New York; families

Because of the scattering of Andrea Doria passengers and crew among the various rescue vessels, some families were separated during the collision and rescue. It was not clear who was where, and whether or not some persons had survived, until after all the ships with survivors arrived in New York. In all, six different ships had participated in the rescue of the passengers and crew of the Andrea Doria, including the heavily damaged Stockholm, which was able to steam back to New York under its own power with a United States Coast Guard escort, but arrived later than the other ships.

During the wait, ABC Radio Network news commentator Edward P. Morgan, based in New York City, broadcast a professional account of the collision, not telling listeners that his 14-year-old daughter had been aboard Andrea Doria and feared dead. He did not know that Linda Morgan, who was soon labeled the "miracle girl", was alive and aboard Stockholm. The following night, after learning the good news, his emotional broadcast became one of the more memorable in radio news history.

Among Andrea Doria's passengers were Hollywood actress Ruth Roman and her three-year-old son, Richard. In the 1950 film Three Secrets, Roman had portrayed a distraught mother waiting to learn whether or not her child had survived a plane crash. She and her son were separated from each other during the collision and evacuation. Rescued, Roman had to wait to learn her child's fate which resulted in a media frenzy for photos as she waited at the pier in New York City for her child's safe arrival aboard one of the rescue ships. Actress Betsy Drake, wife of movie star Cary Grant, also escaped from the sinking liner, as did Philadelphia mayor Richardson Dilworth and songwriter Mike Stoller (of the team Leiber and Stoller).

Assisted by the American Red Cross and news photographers, the frantic parents of four-year-old Norma Di Sandro learned that their injured daughter had been airlifted from the Stockholm to a hospital in Boston, where the previously unidentified little girl had undergone surgery for a fractured skull. They drove all night from New York to Boston, with police escorts provided to their convoy in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. When they arrived, the child was still unconscious and the doctors said all that could be done was wait to see if she woke up. The little girl never regained consciousness, and succumbed to her injuries.

Other families also had their hopes of seeing loved ones again dashed, especially those who were meeting members of several young families immigrating to the United States in hope of new lives.

The pier in New York where the Stockholm was heading was packed with newsreel photographers and television crews. All the major department stores and shoe stores had booths set up to give the arriving survivors clothing and shoes. Not many of the newspeople spoke Italian, so confusion occurred when the survivors were asked to take off the clothing they were just given, to be photographed putting the clothes on. But after just a few minutes, everyone was clothed and had shoes to wear.

The sinking produced a footnote in automotive history, as it resulted in the loss of the Chrysler Norseman, an advanced "one-off" prototype car which had been built for Chrysler by Ghia in Italy. The Norseman had been announced as a major attraction of the 1957 auto show circuit. However, it had not been shown to the public prior to the disaster, and was lost, along with other cars in Andrea Doria's 50-car garage.

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Aftermath

Litigation and determination of fault: 1956-57

Several months of hearings were held in New York City in the aftermath of the collision. Prominent maritime attorneys represented both the ships' owners. Dozens of attorneys represented victims and families of victims. Officers of both ship lines had testified, including the officers in charge of each ship at the time of the collision, with more scheduled to appear later until an out-of-court settlement was reached, and the hearings ended abruptly.

Both shipping lines contributed to a settlement fund for the victims. Each line sustained its own damages. For the Swedish-American Line, damages were estimated at $2 million, half for repairs to the Stockholm's bow, and half for lost business during repairs. The Italian Line sustained a loss of Andrea Doria's full value, estimated to be $30 million.

A U.S. Congressional hearing was also held, and provided some determinations, notably about the lack of ballasting specified by the builders during the fatal voyage and the resulting lack of seaworthiness of Andrea Doria after the collision.

While heavy fog was given as the primary cause of the accident, and it is not disputed that intermittent and heavy fog are both frequent and challenging conditions for mariners in that part of the ocean, these other factors have been cited:

1. Andrea Doria's officers had not followed proper radar procedures or used the plotting equipment available in the chartroom adjacent to the bridge of their ship to calculate the position and speed of the other (approaching) ship. Thus, they failed to realize the Stockholm's size, speed, and course.
2. Andrea Doria had not followed the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea, in which a ship should turn to right (to starboard) in case of a possible head-on crossing at sea. As Stockholm turned right, Andrea Doria turned left (to port), closing the circle instead of opening it. Beyond a certain point, it became impossible to avoid a collision.
3. Captain Calamai of Andrea Doria was deliberately speeding in heavy fog, an admittedly common practice on passenger liners. The navigation rules required speed to be reduced during periods of limited visibility to a stopping distance within half the distance of visibility. As a practical matter, this would have meant reducing the speed of the ship to virtually zero in the dense fog.
4. Stockholm and Andrea Doria were experiencing different weather conditions immediately prior to the collision. The collision occurred in an area of the northern Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Massachusetts, where heavy and intermittent fog is common. Although Andrea Doria had been engulfed in the fog for several hours, Stockholm had only recently entered the bank and was still acclimating to atmospheric conditions. The officer in charge of Stockholm incorrectly assumed that his inability to see the other vessel was due to conditions other than fog, such as the other ship being a very small fishing vessel or a 'blacked-out' warship on maneuvers. He testified that he had no idea it was another passenger liner speeding through fog.
5. Andrea Doria's fuel tanks were half empty and not pumped with seawater ballast to stabilize the ship, in accordance with the Italian Line's procedures. This contributed to the pronounced list following the collision, the inability of the crew to pump water into the port fuel tanks to right the ship, and the inability to use the port lifeboats for the evacuation.
6. Also, a watertight door may have been "missing" between bulkheads near the engine room, which was thought to have contributed to Andrea Doria's problems.
7. The Stockholm's navigating officer misread his radar thinking he was on a 15-mile setting when in reality the radar was set for 5 miles. Thus, he thought he was farther from the Andrea Doria than he actually was. He also failed to consult his captain as was required by regulation.

Both lines had an incentive to limit the public discussion of Andrea Doria 's structural and stability problems. Stockholm's owners had another new ship, the Gripsholm, under construction at Ansaldo Shipyard in Italy. Andrea Doria's designers and engineers had been scheduled to testify, but the hearings were abruptly concluded before their testimony could be heard due to the settlement agreement.

Resulting reforms

The Andrea Doria-Stockholm collision led to several rule changes in the immediate years following the incident to avoid a recurrence. Since this was essentially a radar-assisted collision event, in which over-use was made of poorly handled technology, shipping lines were required to improve training on the use of radar equipment. Also, approaching ships were required to make radio contact with one another. Both ships saw each other on their radar systems and attempted to turn. Unfortunately, one of the radar systems was poorly designed, resulting in the collision. Marine craft today are required to turn to starboard (right) in a head-on situation, a crossing situation, or a passing situation.

Later investigations and study

Unanswered questions about the tragedy, and questions of cause and blame, have intrigued observers and haunted survivors for over 50 years. The fact that Andrea Doria and Stockholm were speeding in heavy fog (21.8 knots and 18.5 knots, respectively, at the collision) and questions about their seaworthiness arose at the time. Captain Calamai never assumed another command because the Italian Line feared bad publicity. However, largely because the out-of-court settlement agreement between the two shipping companies ended the fact-finding which was taking place in the hearings immediately after the disaster, no resolution of the cause(s) was ever formally accomplished. This has led to continued development of information and a search for greater understanding, aided by newer technologies in over half a century since the disaster.

Recent discoveries using computer animation and newer undersea diving technology have shed additional light on some aspects.

• Many years later, scientific study of the actions of the two crews indicated a probability that the third mate on the Stockholm misinterpreted his radar in the minutes prior to the impact. Recent studies and computer simulations carried out by Captain Robert J. Meurn of the United States Merchant Marine Academy and based on the findings of John C. Carrothers suggest Stockholm Third Officer Carstens-Johannsen misinterpreted radar data and badly overestimated the distance between the two ships. The poor design of the radar settings, coupled with unlighted range settings and a darkened bridge, makes this scenario possible. Some critics have suggested that a simple and available technology, a small light bulb on the radar set aboard Stockholm, might have averted the entire disaster. Instead, he may have unintentionally steered the Swedish ship into a collision with the Italian liner.
• Studies of the actions of each ship confirm another factor which was long suspected, that once sight contact was established, the SS Andrea Doria took an evasive action which increased the likelihood of a collision and worsened the situation. In other words, the Italian ship turned to its left, and subsequently the Swedish turned to its right, which in the case of an impending collision meant that they turned towards each other. The best way to avoid a collision is for both parties to turn away, by both going to their "left" or both going "right." Hence, the rules of the road specify the direction a ship should turn; if both ships follow the same avoidance rules, then they minimize the chance of a collision.
• Exploration of Andrea Doria's impact area revealed that the Stockholm's bow had ripped a much larger gash in the critical area of the large fuel tanks and watertight compartments of the Italian liner than had been thought in 1956. The question of the "missing" watertight door, although still unanswered, was probably moot: Andrea Doria was doomed immediately after the collision.

photo src: www.75central.com

Wreck site

Due to the luxurious appointments and initially good condition of the wreck, with the top of the wreck lying initially in 160 feet (50 m) of water, Andrea Doria has been a frequent target of treasure divers. It is commonly referred to as the "Mount Everest of scuba diving." The comparison to Mt. Everest originated after a July 1983 dive on the Doria by Capt. Alvin Golden during a CBS News-televised interview of the divers following their return from a dive expedition to the wreck aboard the R/V Wahoo. The depth, water temperature, and currents combine to put the wreck beyond the scope of recreational diving. The skills and equipment required to successfully execute this dive, such as use of mixed gases and staged decompression, put it in the realm of only the most experienced technical divers. The wreck is located near 40°29.408?N 69°51.046?W.

After Andrea Doria sank, divers Peter Gimbel and Joseph Fox managed to locate the wreck of the ship, and published pictures of the wreck in Life.

In 1968, film director Bruno Vailati, together with Stefano Carletti, Mimi Dies, Arnaldo Mattei, and Al Giddings (an experienced U.S. diver), organized and directed the first Italian expedition to the wreck, realizing the documentary titled Andrea Doria -74. The wreck was marked with a bronze plaque with the inscription: "We came here to work because the impossible becomes possible and the Andrea Doria return to the light".

Peter Gimbel later conducted a number of salvage operations on the ship, including salvaging the first-class bank safe in 1981. Despite speculation that passengers had deposited many valuables, the safe, opened on live television in 1984, yielded thousands of American silver certificates, Canadian bank notes, American Express travellers checks, and Italian bank notes, but no other valuables. This outcome apparently confirmed other speculation that most Andrea Doria passengers, in anticipation of the ship's scheduled arrival in New York City the following morning, had already retrieved their valuables prior to the collision.

Evelyn Bartram Dudas (22) was the first woman to successfully dive onto Andrea Doria. Dudas reached the wreck in June 1967; she and her future husband, John Dudas, retrieved the ship's compass.

As of 2010, years of ocean submersion have taken their toll. The wreck has aged and deteriorated extensively, with the hull now fractured and collapsed. The upper decks have slowly slid off the wreck to the seabed below. As a result of this transformation, a large debris field flows out from the hull of the liner. Once-popular access points frequented by divers, such as Gimbel's hole, no longer exist. Divers call the Andrea Doria a "noisy" wreck, as it emits various noises due to continual deterioration and the currents' moving broken metal around inside the hull. However, due to this decay, new access areas are constantly opening up for future divers on the ever-changing wreck.

A 2016 expedition to the wreck by OceanGate revealed that the Doria was decaying rapidly. "When you look at the shape of the hull, it appears a lot has come off," Stockon Rush, OceanGate's CEO, said. One of the pieces now broken off the wreck is the ship's bow.

After years of removal of artifacts by divers, little of value was thought to remain. Significant artifacts recovered include the statue of Genoese Admiral Andrea Doria, for whom the ship was named. It was removed from the first-class lounge, having been cut off at the ankles to accomplish this. Examples of the ship's china have long been considered valuable mementos of diving the wreck. The ship's bell is normally considered to be the prize of a wreck. This ship carried three bells: one bell located on the bridge, and two much larger ceremonial bells located on the fore and aft decks. The ship's stern bell was retrieved in the late 1980s by a team of divers led by Bill Nagle. On June 26, 2010, a diver from New Jersey, Carl Bayer, discovered the bridge bell lying on the bottom at 241 feet. He recovered it with assistance from Ernie Rookey, also from New Jersey. The bell, measuring 16 inches tall and weighing 73.5 pounds, was possibly used to signal fog on the night of the collision. The forward bell remains undiscovered. It has for years been thought to be in the ship's paint locker where it was stored during ocean crossings, but recent reports indicate that that part of the ship has collapsed in on itself and the forward bell may never be found.

Deaths

Artifact recovery on Andrea Doria has resulted in additional loss of life. Sixteen scuba divers have lost their lives diving on the wreck, and diving conditions at the wreck site are considered very treacherous. Strong currents and heavy sediment that can reduce visibility to zero pose serious hazards to diving this site. Dr. Robert Ballard (the man responsible for locating the wrecks of the ocean liner Titanic, the German battleship Bismarck, and the American aircraft carrier Yorktown), who visited the site in a U.S. Navy submersible in 1995, reported that thick fishing nets draped the hull. An invisible web of thin fishing lines, which can easily snag scuba gear, provides more danger. Furthermore, the wreck is slowly collapsing; the top of the wreck is now at 190 feet (58 m), and many of the passageways have begun to collapse.

• 1956: William Edgerton, 23, part of an effort to photograph the recently sunken Andrea Doria, died shortly after one of the valves on his breathing apparatus became partially closed.
• 1985: John Ormsby drowned after being caught in wires.
• 1998: Craig Sicola, Richard Roost, and Vincent Napoliello all died diving on Andrea Doria.
• 1999: Christopher Murley and Charles J. McGurr both died of apparent heart attacks preparing for a second dive.
• 2002: William Schmoldt died from decompression sickness.
• 2006: Researcher David Bright died from decompression sickness.
• 2008: Terry DeWolf of Houston, Texas, died during a dive on the wreck site; the cause of death was not determined.
• 2011: Michael LaPrade of Los Angeles died during a dive on the wreck.
• 2015: Tom Pritchard, 64, is presumed dead after diving on the wreck.

photo src: suwalls.com

Legacy

MS Stockholm

Stockholm's bow was repaired at a cost of $1 million. Today, it sails as the MV Astoria and is registered in Portugal.

Survivors

Survivors went on with their lives with a wide range of experiences. Captain Calamai never accepted another command, and lived the rest of his life in sadness "as a man who has lost a son", according to his daughter. Most of the other officers returned to the sea. Some survivors had mental problems for years after the incident, while others felt their experience had helped them value their lives more preciously. A group of survivors remains in contact with each other through a web site run by the family of Anthony Grillo, an Andrea Doria survivor. Some stay in touch through a newsletter, and reunions and memorial services have been held.

In culture

Artwork

• Two bronze medallions, commissioned by survivors Pierette Domenica Simpson and Jerome Reinert and survivor's daughter Angela Addario, are in the South Street Seaport Museum of New York, and in the Museo del Mare of Genova, Italy.
• California sculptor Daniel Oberti created the two works called The Greatest Sea Rescue in History.
• A large-scale painting, The Andrea Doria Crosses the World Trade Center by Ronald Mallory, was commissioned by Port Authority of New York and New Jersey for Windows on the World at the World Trade Center. The painting hung on the 107th floor since 1982, and was lost with the destruction of the towers on September 11, 2001.

Music

In 1973, German singer Udo Lindenberg published an album titled Alles klar auf der Andrea Doria (All's Well on the Andrea Doria), containing a song of the same name.

The liner is also referenced in the Steely Dan song "Things I Miss The Most" from their 2003 album Everything Must Go.

In 1986 Brazilian rock band Legião Urbana recorded the song "Andrea Doria" in their second album Dois.

Books

Fiction

In Tom Clancy's Red Storm Rising, a Victor-class submarine stakes out a New York-to-Europe convoy to reinforce NATO against a Soviet attack by sitting next to the wreck of the Andrea Doria - hoping to confuse magnetic anomaly detector readings. USS Reuben James (FFG-57) and HMS Battleaxe (F89), working in conjunction, use their helicopters to find and destroy the submarine.

In Clive Cussler's Serpent (1999), the Andrea Doria was purposely sunk by the secret organisation called the "Brotherhood" to hide the fact of pre-Columbian contact of Mayans and Europe made by Phoenicians. The liner was carrying a large stone tablet which was essential to find out the long lost Phoenician treasure.

I Was Shipwrecked on the Andrea Doria! The Titanic of the 1950s was written by survivor Pierette Domenica Simpson.

Nonfiction

Several books have been written about the Andrea Doria. Each presented information not contained in the others, thereby providing varying perspectives.

• The story of the accident was retold by Alvin Moscow in his book Collision Course: The Story of the Collision Between the 'Andrea Doria' and the 'Stockholm, published in 1959.
• Author William Hoffer's Saved: the Story of the Andrea Doria-The Greatest Sea Rescue in History was published in 1979.
• In 2003, Richard Goldstein wrote Desperate Hours: The Epic Rescue of the Andrea Doria.
• In 2004, Shadow Divers, by Robert Kurson, provides accounts of wreckage divers at the site as a precursor to the book's main story.
• The most recent, Alive on the Andrea Doria: The Greatest Sea Rescue in History, is by survivor Pierette Domenica Simpson in 2006.

Onscreen and online

Films and videos

• Several documentaries have been produced. These include works by National Geographic Channel, PBS Secrets of the Dead, Discovery Channel, History Channel, and others.
• A seminarian from the Archdiocese of Chicago interviewed two priests and a retired bishop, survivors of the Andrea Doria, and subsequently produced an oral history presentation titled Voices from the Andrea Doria, which can be accessed online.
• On the Waterfront (1954, by Elia Kazan) is the only film in which one can see the Andrea Doria; in a scene, Terry Malloy (played by Marlon Brando) watches the ship as she descends the Hudson River.
• The 144th episode of the sitcom Seinfeld featured the Andrea Doria as a plot device when the character George goes up against an Andrea Doria survivor to become the lessee of an apartment.
• In the episode "Spanakopita" of the animated series The Venture Bros., a safe from the Andrea Doria is shown housed within a ship, owned by the villain, Augustus St. Cloud, among other various movie memorabilia such as the golden idol and stone pedestal from Raiders of the Lost Ark.
• In the episode "Lone Survivor" of the Rod Serling series Night Gallery the crew of the RMS Lusitania picks up a lifeboat from the RMS Titanic in 1915, three years after the Titanic sank. A man in the lifeboat claims to have supernaturally survived the wreck as a kind of human Flying Dutchman and tries, without success, to convince the Lusitania's captain to alter course to avoid the torpedo attack he foresees. Years later, the man is found again in a Lusitania lifeboat, this time by the crew of the SS Andrea Doria.
• The 2002 horror film Ghost Ship features the fictional Italian luxury liner Antonia Grazia, whose design was based on that of the Andrea Doria. This was mentioned in the special feature clips on the film's DVD release.

Photography

Photographer Robert F. McCrystal, from the Providence Journal, was the first to photograph the fatally struck Andrea Doria from an airplane. One of his photographs ran on the cover of LIFE Magazine. Boston newspaper photographer Harry Trask, who arrived at the scene in a small airplane after many media people had left, took a series of photographs of Andrea Doria's final moments above water, which won a Pulitzer Prize.

Source of the article : Wikipedia