Ships' Log: The Andrea Doria - The Pride of Italy
The luxury Italian ocean liner Andrea Doria sank after colliding with the Swedish vessel Stockholm in 1956.
The Andrea Doria: Pride of Italy
On the night of July 25, 1956, the ocean liner Andrea Doria was off the coast of Nantucket steaming towards New York. Converging on the same path but in the opposite direction was the Swedish passenger ship Stockholm. Nantucket. Thick fog blanketed the Atlantic that night. Radar showed each ship the other's blip, yet through a chain of misread signals and last-second turns, the Andrea Doria and Stockholm collided.
The Stockholm's reinforced bow tore into the Andrea Doria's starboard side, ripping open several decks and killing passengers instantly in their cabins. The Italian liner, already listing dangerously due to a design flaw in her fuel tanks, began taking on water and rolling further with every passing hour.
What followed was one of the great maritime rescues of the 20th century. Nearby ships, including the Ile de France, diverted course and worked through the night to pull survivors from lifeboats in the darkness. By morning on July 26, with more than 1,600 people safely evacuated, the Andrea Doria finally rolled onto her side and slipped beneath the waves, watched by cameras and a stunned public.
This episode traces the final hours of the Andrea Doria: the decisions on the bridge, the scramble to save lives, and the questions that still surround how two ships equipped with modern radar ever found themselves on a collision course.
My guest for this episode is wreck diver Andrea Murdoch Alpini. You can find him at https://www.phidiving.com/ and https://www.wreckdiving.it/.
This episode was originally published as Episode 4 of Shipwrecks and Sea Dogs on October 4, 2022.
Written, edited, and produced by Rich Napolitano.
All episodes, images, and sources can be found at [shipwrecksandseadogs.com](https://www.shipwrecksandseadogs.com).
Original theme music by Sean Sigfried. [](https://www.seansigfried.com)https://www.seansigfried.com
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