The sinking
On 25 July 1956, the Andrea Doria, commanded by Captain Piero Calamai Superior, traveled to New York from from Genoa. At the same time, a ship of the Swedish nationality MN Stockholm, an ocean liner for mixed transport of goods and passengers, was heading towards Gothenburg. The Stockholm was commanded by Captain Gunnar Nordenson, the Third Officer Johan-Ernst Carstens-Johannsen, however, was in command guard on the bridge when the accident happened. at 23.10, both ships were about to cross a busy corridor, covered by a thick blanket of fog. The original investigation determined that the Andrea Doria tried to avoid the collision by tacking to the left, instead of following the tradition of boat to starboard, or right, while the Stockholm did not turn. Hidden by the fog, the vessels approached, guided only by mutual visions and radar information, which were not sufficient to prevent the tragedy. There was no radio contact, and when you get to be able to see with the naked eye, it was too late to practice contromanovre to avoid the impact. The violent collision took place at a point coordinates 40 ° 30'N 69 ° 53'W / 40.5, -69,883. The Andrea Doria and Stockholm collided with an angle of almost 90 degrees: the reinforced bow (depending on whether it could act as ice breakers), the Stockholm crashed through the side of the Andrea Doria and ripped for almost all its length (since the Andrea Doria continued to run along its route perpendicular to the bow of Stockholm) where the background under the bridge of 'Andrea Doria to a height of three bridges, which for more than 12 meters, killing many passengers already withdrawn to the late hour for the night in their cabins. In addition, breaking many watertight bulkheads and drilled five fuel depots, that acted as an accidental shipment of sea water of about 500 tons, which can not be balanced in a very short time of the collision produced the dangerous and immediate crash of the ship heeling to starboard to over 15 degrees.
of 1706 Forty-six passengers were killed in the one moment of impact, along with five men in Stockholm. After the collision the crew was on the deck of the Stockholm a 14 year old girl who was housed in the cabin 52 of the Andrea Doria, was Linda Morgan, without serious injury. She had survived the impact, while his sister had died in the cab crushed the bow of the Stockholm. The daughter was lucky Linda Morgan a well-known American reporter who, during the same night, never to appear to be affected by reason of a personal nature, and extend a chronicle directed with great clarity and professionalism.
Immediately after the collision the Andrea Doria began to take on water and increased the slope exceeds 18 degrees in minutes. Many people felt that was missing one of the doors of the compartments of the engine rooms, but was later determined as this item was unfounded. One of the causes that brought about the sudden tilt of the Italian ship was determined by the inability of velocity-dependent sequence of events, you can make the filling with sea water deposits fuel side of the left box empty, as indeed suggested by the manufacturers. Following this practical and proven impossible in a short time the ship passed the 20 degrees of tilt, and Captain Calamai was realized that there was no more hope.
dawn, everyone had been evacuated by '
Andrea Doria and the ship was towed into shallow water at the beginning of the investigations. However it was clear that the ship continued to tilt until it sank, 11 hours after impact, at 10:09 am on 26 July.
(Excerpt from Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia)