The Story of The Andrea Doria, The Luxury Ocean Liner That Came Close To Being Another Titanic
On the night of July 25, 1956, a collision between the ocean liners SS Andrea Doria and MS Stockholm killed 51 people and prompted one of the largest civilian maritime rescues in history.
Though not the largest or fastest ocean liner of its era, the 697-foot Andrea Doria was widely regarded as the most beautiful. Its decks were dotted with three outdoor swimming pools, and it was dubbed a “floating art gallery” for its dazzling array of paintings, tapestries and surrealist murals. There was even a life-sized bronze statue of the ship’s namesake, a 16th-century Genoese navigator.
Equally impressive were the Doria’s safety features. It boasted two radar screens—a relatively new technology on ocean liners—and its hull was divided into 11 watertight compartments. Anxious travelers could also take solace in the presence of Captain Piero Calamai, a venerable Italian mariner and veteran of both World War I and World War II.
The Doria safely completed 100 transatlantic crossings between 1953 and 1956, and it initially seemed that its 101st would be no different. After leaving Italy on July 17, 1956, the ship stopped at three ports in the Mediterranean and then steamed into the open ocean on a nine-day voyage to New York City. Along with 572 crew members, it held 1,134 passengers ranging from Italian immigrant families to business travelers, vacationers and even a few notables such as Hollywood actress Ruth Roman.
On July 25, the Doria entered the heavily trafficked sea lanes off the Northeast coast of the United States. That same day, the 524-foot Swedish passenger liner Stockholm departed New York on a voyage to its homeport of Gothenburg. By around 10:30 p.m., the two ships were approaching one another from opposite directions off Nantucket. Neither was following the established “rules of the road” for ocean travel.
Despite sailing in heavy fog, Captain Calamai had ordered only a minor reduction in speed to stay on schedule for an early morning arrival in New York. Stockholm, meanwhile, was steaming north of the recommended eastbound route in the hope of shaving time off its journey.
Around 10:45 p.m., Calamai’s radar picked up a blip representing Stockholm. The Swedish vessel, under the watch of third officer Johan-Ernst Carstens-Johannsen, spotted the Doria on its own radar a few minutes later. It was a situation both had encountered countless times, yet on this occasion, the two ships somehow came to opposite conclusions about one another’s locations.
