Andrea Doria (steamer)

For the Admiral which gave his name to the boat, to see the article Andrea Doria.

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The Andrea Doria was a Transatlantic liner of the Italian Société of navigation based with Genoa. It bore the name of a admiral génois of the 16th century. The Andrea Doria had a port in heavy total of 29.100 tons and counted 500 team members for a capacity of approximately 1.200 passengers.

Whereas the country endeavoured to rebuild its economy and its reputation after the Second world war, the Andrea Doria had become the symbol of the Italian national pride. It was the largest building of the Italian fleet of the time, fastest and it was the also supposed surest being. Launched the June 16th 1951, the boat undertook its first travels the January 14th 1953.

The July 25th 1956, whereas it sailed along the American coast between Nantucket and New York, the Andrea Doria entered in collision with the Stockholm , linership américano-Swedish, in what was going to become one of the most famous maritime disasters of the history. Although the majority of the passengers and the members of the crew survived the Collision, the ship capsized and ran the next morning. The shock had made unusable the half of the life rafts of the Andrea Doria , and that could have involved important losses in human lives. But thanks to progress of the communications and with the rapid intervention of other ships, a Tragédie similar to that of the Titanic forty years earlier could be avoided.

The disaster was largely covered by the Média S. As for the Andrea Doria , it was one of the last steamers victims of a collision before the Avion S do not supplant the maritime transport in the transatlantic connections.

Characteristics

The Andrea Doria was 212 meters long, 27 meters broad, and its gross tonnage was of 29.100 barrels. The system of propulsion was composed of Turbine S with vapor actuating two Hélice S, making it possible the boat to reach a block speed of 23 node S, with a maximum speed of 26 knots.

The Andrea Doria was not the largest ship, nor fastest, of its time. These distinctions went respectively to the Queen Elizabeth and to the United States . On the contrary, it had been conceived for the Luxe. As it was intended to sail on southernmost Atlantic routes, the Andrea Doria was the first boat to count three external swimming pools, for each class. It was able to take on board 218 passengers of First class, 320 passengers of second class, and 703 of economy class. More than one million dollars had been spent for the design of the cabins and the public rooms and them decoration which included/understood in particular a Statue life size of the admiral Doria. Many regarded this steamer as one of most beautiful ever launched.

He was also regarded as one of surest of his time. Equipped with a double hull, the Andrea Doria moreover was subdivided in eleven tight compartments. It had enough boat S rescue for all the passengers and integrality crew. Moreover, it was equipped with the very last thing as regards Radar. But in spite of these technical advantages, the Andrea Doria encountered serious difficulties related on stability and safety, difficulties envisaged as of the design of the ship. By its design, it had a strong tendency to lodging when it was subjected to significant forces. It was particularly obvious at the time its first voyage, when the Andrea Doria counted twenty-eight degrees of lodging after having met a large vagueness on the side of Nantucket. This tendency, particularly dangerous, was due to the fact that the compartments with fuel were most of the time empty, which was however normal at the end of a voyage. The stability of the ship was one of the principal points of investigation at the time of the investigation which followed the collision. It is indeed this factor which explained the incapacity of the crew to use the life rafts. Indeed, starting from 20 degrees of lodging, approximately the half of those could not be overflowed.

History

Construction and inaugural voyage

At the end of the Second world war, Italy had lost half of its merchant fleet because of the destruction and of the requisitions by the Allies. The losses included the Rex , former holder of the blue Ruban. Moreover, the economy of the country was devastated. To show in the world which the country had recovered of the war, and to restore the national pride, the Italian company of navigation ordered two new ships of design similar to the beginning of the Années 1950. The first was to be called Andrea Doria and the second ship, launched in 1953, Cristoforo Colombo in reference to Christophe Colomb. The construction of the Andrea Doria began with the shipyard from Ansaldo with Genoa. February 9th, 1950, the skittle of the boat was posed on the hold of launching number 1, and on June 16th, 1951, the Andrea Doria was launched. During the ceremony, the hull of the boat was blessed by the Cardinal Siri, Archevêque of Genoa, and was baptized by Signora Giuseppina Saragat, wife of the former minister for the merchant navy. However, taking into account the problems of machines met during the tests at sea, the first voyage of the Andrea Doria was pushed back from December 14th, 1952 to January 14th, 1953. During the first voyage, the boat sailed in large storms with the final approach of New York and was delayed. Nevertheless, it arrived at New York on January 23rd and received an important delegation of welcome. This delegation included/understood in particular the mayor of New York, Vincent R. Impellitteri. Thereafter, the Andrea Doria became in Italy one of the most successful most popular deck chairs and, and it always sailed to the maximum of its capacity.

Collision at sea

At the evening of the Wednesday, July 25, 1956, the Andréa Doria , under the orders of the commander Piero Calamai , travelled in the west towards New York. It transported 1134 passengers, the crew was of 572 men and women. It was to be the last day of a transatlantic voyage coming from Genoa which it had left on July 17th, accosting was envisaged the next morning. At the same time, the vapor Stockholm , a small linership to passengers which had left New York about midday, was on the way in the east bound for Gothenburg in Sweden. The Stockholm was under the orders of the commander Harry Gunnar Nordenson , and the lieutenant Johan Ernst Johannsen was of Quart to the footbridge. On the way to 18 node S by clear sky and a visibility estimated at 6 miles, the Stockholm followed a usual road towards the Bateau-feu of Nantucket. Whereas the Stockholm and the Andrea Doria did directly opposite lots of mileage, the Andrea Doria had been for a few hours in a thick fog. The commander had reduced the pace (by 23 to 21,8 node S), made hear the lawful signals of fog and had made close the tight doors, measurements of routine during navigation by fog. The Stockholm as for him, was going just to enter the bench of fog which it had not provided. One frequently meets in these trimmings, in the south of the island of Nantucket, the benches of fog caused by the meeting of the Running of Labrador and the Gulf Stream. Each ship had detected the other with the Radar, they had a speed of approach of about 40 nodes. No communication was initiated between them, and they apparently made a bad interpretation of the situation. The results of the investigation established that the Andrea Doria gradually modified its road on its Bâbord, planning to carry out a crossing starboard-starboard, while the Stockholm , had carried out to him a change of road of roughly 20° on its starboard, in the intention to deviate from the road and, to carry out a crossing Port side-port side. In fact instead of increasing the distance which separates them, the two ships were placed in situation of road of collision. Because of the thick fog which wrapped the Andrea Doria the ships could be observed visually only at the last time, the distance which separated them was then very weak. In spite of operations of last minutes, the collision could not be avoided. In the last moments, the Stockholm put the bar all on the right and ordered the machine behind all, trying to break the wanders, while the Andrea Doria , preserving its speed of 22 knots, had started a turn, the bar all on the left, its commander hoping to pass in front of the Stockholm . The ships landed with 23:10.

The Andrea Doria and the Stockholm ran up with an angle of approximately 90 degrees. The right side of the Andrea Doria was transpierced by the sharp stem of the Stockholm , and this on a depth of approximately 12 meters out of three bridges of cabins.

The collision destroyed occupied cabins passengers and bored the tightest levels of the Andrea Doria . The notch bored five ballasts with fuel of the Andrea Doria and they filled of 500 tons sea water, while the ballasts of port side remained empty, thus causing a strong list on starboard. The ballasts with fuel of the boat were then empty for the majority since the boat approached the end of its voyage.

Forty six people among the 1706 passengers and team members of the Andrea Doria were killed in the collision, against five team members only on board the Stockholm . After the collision, the team members of the Stockholm discovered Linda Morgan, young girl a 14 year old, momentary of the Andrea Doria , cabin 52. It rested in good health, on the stem of Stockholm behind the destroyed zone. She miraculeusement had survived the shock while his/her half-sister, who divided her cabin on the Andrea Doria , had, she, killed on the blow.

Just after the collision, the Andrea Doria started to take water and started with gîter severely on starboard, of at least 18 degrees. While water went up, it was discovered that one of the tight doors of the engine room missed. However, because of the filling of the ballasts starboard by sea water, the list increased during the following minutes with 20 degrees or more. The captain Calamai then realized that there was no more no hope for his boat. The two boats derived slowly in the fog.

Rescue: half-turn of the Ile-de-France called with the assistance

On the Andrea Doria , the decision to give up the boat was made 30 minutes after the impact. However the solutions of rescue were difficult to implement since the half of the lifeboats were unusable because of lodging.

A distress message was transmitted to other boats by radio, and of the passengers unable to use the lifeboats on the Andrea Doria were saved thereafter by the Stockholm and other small ships.

An important turning in this disaster was the decision taken by the captain of the steamer '' Île-de-France '', a French boat that the Andrea Doria had crossed a few hours earlier and who made half-turn to come to assistance of the survivors. The Île-de-France managed to save the major part of the remaining passengers by making the shuttle with its ten lifeboats. Some passengers of the Île-de-France gave up their cabins to help the wet and tired survivors. Several smaller boats also answered.

Consequently, the human losses were limited to those killed at the time of the collision - and to a child killed during the operations of abandonment.

The Andrea Doria finally capsized and ran eleven hours after the collision, with 10:09 on July 26th. The event was largely covered by local mediums. The spectacular air photography of the deck chair in distress, capsizing and running, was worth the Prix Pulitzer of 1957 in Harry A. Trask (of the newspaper of the traveller of Boston).

Edward P. Morgan, commentator radio operator of ABC, based in New York, when he announced the collision, does not say anything about his/her daughter of 14 years who was on board the Andrea Doria . It did not know that Linda Morgan, “miraculée”, was alive and was on board the Stockholm - strongly damaged, but which could however join New York by its own means. After the advertisement of the good news, its emotion was such as it became one of the most memorable moments of the history of the radio.

Among the passengers of the Andrea Doria were the actress Ruth Roman, of Hollywood, and his/her four years old son. In a film of the years 1950 Three Secrecies , Roman had interpreted a mother in waiting to know if his/her child had survived an air crash. Saved, but separated from his/her son during the collision and the evacuation, Roman had to wait during several hours of the news of his/her child. This situation caused a frenzy of the media, which took quantities of photographs of it awaiting his/her son on a pontoon of New York.

The shipwreck had also a small consequence in the automobile history, because of loss of a prototype, Norseman of Chrysler which had been built by Ghia in Italy for the account of Chrysler. This prototype, which had been presented never in public before the catastrophe, was announced like the principal attraction of the automobile exposures of year 1957 to the United States.

Consequences

Litigation and determination of the faults: 1956

During the time which followed the collision, hearings lasted several months in front of the judicial bodies of New York. Tens of lawyers represented the owners of the ships on the one hand and the victims and their families on the other hand. The officers of the two ships had to testify, in particular those which were with the orders of the ships at the time of the accident, without counting complementary hearings at the time of the transactions which followed.

The two maritime companies had to contribute to a bottom of investment of the victims and their families, and to support moreover their own damage. For the Swedish company, the damage was estimated at two million dollars, of which the half for repairs of the stem of the Stockholm . For the Italian company, the loss of the Andrea Doria was estimated at 30 million dollars.

In the final analysis, the thick Brouillard which reigned on the spot would be the primary reason of the accident. However, other factors were quoted by various observers:

1. The officers of the Andrea Doria had not followed the suitable procedures for the use of the radar or had not used the graphic equipment available in the adjacent Salle of the charts to the footbridge. Thus, they could not appreciate exactly the speed nor the road of the Stockholm .

2. The Andrea Doria had not followed the rules of road to be respected to avoid the Abordage S. Indeed, a boat must according to the rules avoid coming on its left in this situation (rule 19 currently, this rule carried at the time another number). However, while the Stockholm came on the right, the Andrea Doria came on its left, closing the circle instead of opening it. The collision was then inevitable.

3. The captain Calamai ordering the Andrea Doria sailed deliberately at speed high in a thick fog, practices commonly allowed on the transatlantic lines. But in the event of limited visibility, the rules of navigation required that speed be reduced (rule 19 currently). In practice, it would have been necessary to decrease even if it means speed much to stop the ship until the risk of boarding passed.

4. Immediately before the accident, the Stockholm had met different atmospheric conditions. The collision occurred in an area of the North Atlantic, off the coast of the Massachusetts, where benches of the thick and intermittent fog are frequent. Whereas the Andrea Doria had been absorbed in the fog for several hours, the Stockholm hardly there had just entered and the crew had not been accustomed yet there. The officer responsible for the Stockholm supposed wrongly that his incapacity to see the other ship was not due to the fog but to other causes as the small size of the target (if it had been about a small fishing vessel). It did not suspect that it was a steamer which sank towards him in the fog.

5. The compartments (ballasts) of the Andrea Doria were empty instead of being ballastées with sea water, as recommended by the manufacturer. This practice was a usual measurement of saving in operation. The fact of maintaining empty the compartments after the fuel was consumed made it possible to reduce the Tirant of water, and thus to maintain speed while limiting fuel consumption. The defect of Ballastage probably worsened the behavior of the boat, which quickly capsized after the collision.

6. A tight door missed on the level Engine room. Water did not have of this fact any difficulty in invade the upper floors.

The owners of the Stockholm finally made build a new boat, the Gripsholm , in construction at Ansaldo. The originators of the Andrea Doria had to testify, but hearings were brutally stopped before their testimony can be collected.

Consecutive reforms with the accident

The collision between the Andrea Doria and the Stockholm involved modifications of the regulation to prevent that such a catastrophe is renewed:

the companies of navigation had to reinforce the staff training to the use of the radars,

The installation of separation devices of traffic was one of the means of limiting the possibilities of boarding in the attended passages, this installation appeared well a long time after the accident.

Posterior investigations and studies

The questions without answer about this tragedy, in particular those about the causes and the responsibilities, intrigued the observers and haunted the survivors during almost 50 years. The Calamai captain ensured never again the command of boats and died broken.

Recent discoveries, calling upon underwater new technologies and simulations by computers, however clarified two points:

1. The examination of the zone of impact on the Andrea Doria showed that the stem of the Stockholm had opened a notch in the critical sector of the large fuel tanks and of the tight compartments of the Italian steamer good larger than than one had thought in 1956. The question of the tight door “missing”, always without answer, was probably secondary: the Andrea Doria was condemned as of the collision.

2. Recent studies and simulations by computer realized by the captain Robert J. Academy of merchant navy of the United States, based on the results of John C. Carrothers, suggest a bad interpretation of the data radar by Carstens-Johannsen, third officer of the Stockholm , which would have over-estimated the distance between the two boats. The bad design of the adjustment of the radars, associated with a room of command darkened, make this scenario probable. Some criticisms suggested that a simple small bulb laid out on the radar of the Stockholm could have avoided all this tragedy.

Diving on the site of the wreck

Because of the relatively good state of the wreck and its situation, the top of the wreck being with 50 meters only surface, the Andrea Doria is very attended by the plungers which called it “the Everest of the diving”.

The shortly after the shipwreck, two plungers, Peter Gimbel and Joseph Fox, managed to locate the stray Andrea Doria . They took of them images for Time Magazine . Gimbel led later a certain number of forwardings of recovery on the boat, of which that of the Coffre-fort of first class in 1981.

In spite of the idea that the passengers had deposited many valuable articles in the safe, its opening on television in 1984 did not show that Italian and American banknotes. This disappointing result confirmed the assumption that the majority of the passengers of the Andrea Doria had already taken again their valuable articles before the collision, in preparation for the programmed arrival of the boat in New York the next morning.

The bell of the boat was recovered towards the end of the year 1980 and the statue of the admiral Andrea Doria, which gave its name to the boat, was removed living room of first class. After years of plundering by plungers, few valuable articles remain in place in the wreck.

The recovery of objects on the Andrea Doria was not without additional losses of life. Tens of plungers lost the life by exploring the wreck. The conditions of diving at the place where this wreck is are regarded as very bad. The high tension currents, the suspended materials (which can bring back the visibility to zero), without forgetting the Requin S, are as many risk factors. Robert Ballard, who visited the site in a nuclear submarine American in 1995, reported that thick fishing nets recovered the hull. This invisible sequence of thin lines is very dangerous for whoever there empêtre. Moreover, the wreck crumbles slowly; the top of the wreck soon will reach the 60 meters of depth, and several gangways started to crumble.

To remember

The stem of the Stockholm was repaired for total costs of a million dollars. Today, renamed Athena , it always sails like boat of cruising.

The history of the accident was told by Alvin Moscow in its book Collision Race: The Story off the Collision Between the Andrea Doria and the Stockholm, published in 1959.

A group of survivors remains in contact via an Internet site conceived by one of the survivors of the Andrea Doria . They meet at meetings and of commemorative ceremonies.

External bond

Site on the ship

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