Ordered October 1944 Launched 9 September 1946 Builders Gothenburg, Götaverken | Yard number 611 Beam 21 m | |
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Name 1948–1960 Stockholm
1960–1985 Völkerfreundschaft
1985–1986 Volker
1986–1993 Fridtjof Nansen
1993–1994 Italia I
1994–1998 Italia Prima
1998–2002 Valtur Prima
2002–2005 Caribe
2005–2013 Athena
2013–2016 Azores
2016 onwards Astoria Owner 1948–1960 Swedish America Line
1960–1985 VEB Deutsche Seereederei
1985–1989 Neptunus Rex Enterprises
1989–1994 StarLauro
1994–2002 Nina Cia. di Navigazione
2002–2004 Festival Cruises
2004–present Nina SpA Operator 1948–1960 Swedish America Line
1960–1966 VEB Deutsche Seereederei
1966–1985 VEB Deutsche Seereederei (summer seasons)/Stena Line (winter seasons)
1985–1994 laid up/rebuilt
1994–1995Nina Cia. di Navigazione
1995–1998 Neckermann Seereisen
1998 laid up
1998–2001 Valtur Tourist
2001–2002 laid up
2002–2004 Festival Cruises
2004–2005 laid up
2005–2013 Classic International Cruises
2013-2014 Portuscale Cruises
2015-2017 Cruise & Maritime Voyages
2017 ? Port of registry 1948–1960 Gothenburg, Sweden
1960–1985 Rostock, East Germany
1985–1989 Panama City, Panama
1989–2004 Naples, Italy
2004–present Madeira, Portugal | ||
Mv astoria world s oldest cruise ship in belfast
MV Astoria is a former ocean liner now operated as a cruise ship by Cruise & Maritime Voyages. She was ordered in 1944, and launched 9 September 1946, as Stockholm by Götaverken in Gothenburg for the Swedish America Line (SAL). During her almost seven decades of service she has passed through several owners and sailed under the names Völkerfreundschaft, Volker, Fridtjof Nansen, Italia I, Italia Prima, Valtur Prima, Caribe, Athena, and Azores before beginning service as Astoria in March 2016.
Contents
- Mv astoria world s oldest cruise ship in belfast
- Service history
- Collision with Andrea Doria
- History after the collision
- References
As Stockholm, she was best known for colliding with the Andrea Doria in 1956, resulting in the sinking of the latter ship.
With the retirement of Doulos Phos in 2010, Astoria is (as of January 2016) the world's second oldest active oceangoing passenger ship after Sea Cloud.
Service history
At 525 feet (160.02 m) with a gross register tonnage of 12,165 register tons, Stockholm was the smallest passenger ship operating on the North Atlantic route at the time. However, she was the largest passenger ship built in Sweden at the time. Originally designed to carry 395 people, a 1953 refit expanded Stockholm's capacity to 548 people.
Collision with Andrea Doria
On the night of July 25, 1956, at 11:10 pm, in heavy fog in the North Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Nantucket, Stockholm and Andrea Doria of the Italian Line collided in what was to become one of history's most notorious maritime disasters.
Although most passengers and crew survived the collision, the larger Andrea Doria luxury liner capsized and sank the following morning. Owing to the collision, 50% of the Andrea Doria's lifeboats were unusable. However, a number of ships responded and provided assistance, which averted a massive loss of life.
Five members of Stockholm's crew were killed instantly, and several more were trapped in the wrecked bow. Despite its having sunk about 3 ft (0.9 m), the crippled Stockholm helped in the rescue and ended up carrying 327 passengers and 245 crew members from the Andrea Doria, in addition to her own passengers and crew. After Andrea Doria sank, Stockholm sailed to New York City under her own power and arrived on July 27. The crushed bow portion was repaired at a cost of US$1 million three months later.
History after the collision
On 3 January 1960, Stockholm was sold to the East German government, which renamed the ship Völkerfreundschaft ("friendship between nations") and operated her as an ocean liner until 1985. In 1985 she was transferred to a Panamanian company, Neptunas Rex Enterprises. Her name was reduced to Volker, and by the end of the year she was laid up in Southampton, England. She was later used as a barracks ship in Oslo for asylum seekers in Norway under the name Fridtjof Nansen.
The ex-Stockholm was sold to Italian interests in 1989 and towed to Genoa, Italy, Andrea Doria's home port; but when she arrived, the press called ex-Stockholm the "ship of death" (La nave della morte) due to the collision with Andrea Doria. It was discovered that the Stockholm was in a very good condition. She was rebuilt from the waterline up and given a modern cruise ship design. Named the Italia I, then Italia Prima, she later sailed as Valtur Prima primarily to Cuba, and was laid up there in 2001. Acquired by Festival Cruise Line in 2002 and renamed Caribe, she continued to sail to Cuba.
In 2005 Stockholm was renamed Athena, being registered in Portugal. She was flagged out of Cyprus operating for Classic International Cruises.
On 3 December 2008 Athena was attacked by pirates in the Gulf of Aden. Reportedly, 29 pirate boats surrounded the ship at one stage until a US Navy P-3 Orion maritime patrol aircraft circled above which led some of the pirates to flee. The crew prevented the pirates from boarding by firing high-pressure water cannons at them. No one was injured and the ship escaped without damage, and continued on her voyage to Australia.
On 17 September 2012, reports announced that she and her fellow ship Princess Danae were detained in Marseille, France, for unpaid fuel bills, it was also announced that Arion was detained in Montenegro for similar issues.
Early in 2013 Athena was bought by the recently created Portuguese cruise company Portuscale Cruises and renamed Azores. As soon as her acquisition was confirmed, she was taken to a shipyard in Marseille, where she was revamped before entering Portuscale Cruises service after completing a charter to Berlin-based Ambiente Kreuzfahrten, from whom she was chartered to Classic International to join her fleetmate Princess Daphne. The charter began in March 2014 with a cruise from Lisbon, Portugal, to Bremerhaven, Germany, and concluded in November 2014 in Genoa, Italy.
In 2015 she entered service with Cruise & Maritime Voyages, operating her first voyage with the line from Avonmouth Docks to the Caribbean in January 2015. From May 2016 until March 2017, the ship is on charter to French tour operator Rivages Du Monde. In June 2016, it was announced that Astoria would be leaving the CMV fleet after her final cruise on 27 April 2017 from London Tilbury. In a U-turn decision, it was announced, in February 2017, that Astoria would remain in the CMV fleet for a further season until 2018. She will offer a mini-season from London Tilbury, before being charted by Rivages Du Monde during the summer months.