So dramatic was the collision and ensuing rescue effort, that it overshadowed such events as President Eisenhower�s reelection campaign and the Suez Canal crisis. The world sat rivited to television sets, listening intently to radio broadcasts, as the drama of a sinking vessel was beamed directly into living rooms around the world.
anatomy of a disaster
On 25 July 1956 in heavy fog, 60 miles off Nantucket Island at 11:10 p.m., the reinforced ice-breaking bow of the Swedish-American liner Stockholm tore into the starboard side of Andrea Doria. The effects of the collision were swift and disasterous. At the moment of impact Andrea Doria listed 18� to starboard, with the list growing as sea water continued to spill into the fatal gash. The disaster was compounded by a missing watertight door in the engine room, and stability was diminished by the failure to ballast the empty fuel tanks. At the moment of collision, tons of sea water poured into Andrea Doria�s still full starboard fuel tanks. With water pouring into her starboard tanks, the empty port side tanks acted in a sea-saw like manner, creating a dangerous starboard list that doomed the liner. Within moments of impact it was realized the Andrea Doria was doomed, help was summoned, and the order to abandon ship was given. The ever-increasing list made it impossible to launch half of the life boats, creating a critical rescue situation. Despite the badly battered bow, Stockholm would survive the ordeal and aid in the rescue attempt, taking on a number of Andrea Doria�s passengers. Responding to the SOS signals, a small flotilla of rescue craft, most notably the famed Ile de France of the French Line, arrived and provided the necessary lifeboats to complete the evacuation of Andrea Doria
At 6:05 a.m., July 26, the last of Andrea Doria�s 1,662 passenger and crew had been evacuated. The primary rescue vessel Ile De France circled the Andrea Doria one last time, dipping her colours three times in a farewell salute, then steamed back to New York. At 10:09 a.m., with news cameras rolling, the Andrea Doria gracefully slipped beneath the waves of the Atlantic. The grand dame of the sea went down in 225 feet of water with a loss of 52 lives - all of whom died as a result of the collision.
aftermath
Inquiries would later determine officers aboard Andrea Doria had used improper radar procedures, and turned to the left at in the moments prior to the collision rather than to the right - the proper Rule of the Road for a head on crossing at at sea. In the end no one, except the fog, was specifically faulted. The Swedish-American Line agreed to cover the $1 million replacement of the Stockholm�s bow, and Italia absorbed the loss of the $30 million Andrea Doria. While the exact cause of the collision was never fully determined, the Atlantic had once again proven it could claim man�s finest creations.