This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations .(April 2009) |
SS Michelangelo docked in New York City, November 1971. | |
History | |
---|---|
Name | Michelangelo |
Namesake | Michelangelo Buonarroti |
Operator | Italia Societa di Navigazione (Italian Line) |
Port of registry | Genoa, Italy |
Builder | Ansaldo Shipyards, Genoa, Italy |
Yard number | 1577 |
Launched | 16 September 1962 |
Completed | April 1965 |
Maiden voyage | 12 May 1965 |
Out of service | 5 July 1975 |
Identification | IMO number: 5234113 |
Fate | Sold to Iran, 1977 |
History | |
Iran | |
Name | Michel-Ange |
Acquired | 1976 |
Homeport | Bandar Abbas |
Fate | Scrapped in 1991 |
General characteristics | |
Type | Ocean liner; |
Tonnage | 45,911 GRT; 9,192 tonnes deadweight (DWT) |
Length | 276.2 m (906 ft 2 in) |
Beam | Moulded 30.1 m (98 ft 9 in) |
Draught | 10.40 m (34 ft 1 in) |
Installed power | 87,000shp |
Propulsion | Geared turbines from builders, twin screw |
Speed | 26.5 kn (49.08 km/h; 30.50 mph) |
Capacity |
|
Crew | 720 |
Notes | Sister ship to SS Raffaello |
SS Michelangelo was an Italian ocean liner built in 1965 for Italian Line by Ansaldo Shipyards, Genoa. She was one of the last ships to be built primarily for liner service across the North Atlantic. Her sister ship was the SS Raffaello.
The Italian Line began planning new ships in 1958. Originally, they were to be slightly larger than SS Leonardo da Vinci, which was then being built, but jet aircraft had not yet had a notable effect on the Mediterranean area and a pair of genuine superliners seemed desirable, both from a commercial point of view and to provide jobs to sailors and shipyard workers. The new ships were to be the largest built in Italy since the SS Rex in 1932.
Accommodations aboard the ships were to be divided into three classes. For some reason, the three bottom-most passenger decks would not have any portholes. This was claimed to make the ship's sleek hull shape, but that seems unlikely to be true as ships of similar length/width ratio have been built with windows along the entire hull. Whatever the shortcomings in their initial design, though, the new sisters were advanced on the technological side. The most striking feature in the ships was their Turin polytechnic-designed funnels, which consisted of an intricate trellis-like pipework (instead of the traditional even surface) to allow wind to pass through the funnel, and a large smoke deflector fin on the top. Although criticised, the funnel design proved to be highly effective in keeping smoke off the rear decks. The smoke deflectors became popular in ship design during the 1970s and 1980s, whereas the idea of allowing wind to pass through the funnel was picked up again in the late 1980s and is almost the norm in modern shipbuilding.
The Michelangelo's interiors were designed by naval architects Nino Zoncada, Vincenzo Monaco, and Amedeo Luccichenti, who gave the ship a less adventurous, more traditional look than the designers of her sister Raffaello.
After several delays, the Michelangelo, under command of Senior Captain Mario Crepaz, was finally ready for service in May 1965. During the sea trials, some vibrations were detected on the stern of the ship. Michelangelo was drydocked in December 1965 and received new propellers and some modifications to her transmission. She clocked 31.59 knots during her post-refit trials, making her the fifth-fastest passenger ship in the world at the time.
On Tuesday morning, April 12, 1966, five days after having departed Genoa, Michelangelo, under command of Senior Captain Giuseppe Soletti, was hit by an unusually large wave during a storm in the mid-Atlantic, which caused the forward part of her superstructure to collapse, or to be pushed backwards, and killed passengers Dr. Werner Berndt of Hamburg, Germany and John Steinbach of Chicago. One crew member, Desiderio Ferrari, died a few hours later, and over 50 people were injured. Among the 1,495 passengers on board this crossing were Admiral Ernesto Giurati, president of the Italian Line and former chief of the Italian Navy, Italian Chief of Protocol Angelo Corrias, who was heading for a vacation in the States, German novelist Günter Grass and his wife Anna, and Bob Montana with his wife and four children. When repairs were carried out after the accident, the aluminum plating in the superstructure was replaced by steel plates. Similar reconstruction was carried out on the Raffaello and other contemporary ships such as SS United States and SS France. [1]
In May 1972, Alfred Hitchcock took a voyage on this ship from New York to his screening of Frenzy at the Cannes Film Festival.
During the following years, passenger numbers in the Transatlantic trade declined steadily due to competition from the air, and more and more ships were withdrawn. The Michelangelo spent more time cruising to warmer waters, but she made a poor cruise ship with her windowless cabins and three-class layout. She had large lido decks that were superior to even most purpose-built cruise ships of the time, but that was not enough to compensate for the ship's shortcomings, and Italian Line did not have enough funds to rebuild the ship to make her a more usable cruiser. Additionally, she was considered to be too large to be a cruise ship by that time's standards.
Italy's flagship SS Michelangelo made her last Atlantic crossing in July 1975, under command of Senior Captain Claudio Cosulich. Afterwards, she was laid up at La Spezia alongside her sister.
Several buyers (including Knut Kloster of Norwegian Cruise Line) inspected the ships, but did not wish to buy them due to the costs required to modernise them to cruise-ship standard. One serious buyer, Home Lines, wished to buy the ships and keep them under Italian flag for cruising in the Caribbean. The Italian Line refused to sell the ships, reportedly because they felt keeping the Italian flag would have associated the "embarrassing money-losers" with them.
In 1976, a buyer was found who agreed to the terms sought by Italian Line. The Shah of Iran purchased the ships, to be used as floating barracks. The ships that had cost $45 million each were now sold at the price of $2 million per ship. The Michelangelo ended up in Bandar Abbas, where she was to spend the next 15 years.
In 1978, plans were made to reconstruct her as the luxury cruise ship Scià Reza il Grande (in honour of Rezā Shāh), but an expert team sent from Italy to inspect the ship came to the conclusion she was too badly deteriorated to make rebuilding a viable option. Similar plans were made again in 1983, but they, too, fell short.
Finally, in June 1991, she was scrapped in Gadani ship-breaking yard, Pakistan. [2]
An ocean liner is a type of passenger ship primarily used for transportation across seas or oceans. Ocean liners may also carry cargo or mail, and may sometimes be used for other purposes. Only one ocean liner remains in service today.
A funnel is the smokestack or chimney on a ship used to expel boiler steam and smoke or engine exhaust. They are also commonly referred to as stacks.
SS Southern Cross was an ocean liner built in 1955 by Harland & Wolff, Belfast, Northern Ireland for the United Kingdom-based Shaw, Savill & Albion Line for Europe—Australia service. In 1975 she was rebuilt as a cruise ship and subsequently sailed under the names Calypso, Azure Seas and OceanBreeze until 2003 when she was sold for scrap to Ahmed Muztaba Steel Industries, Chittagong, Bangladesh.
RMS Majestic was a White Star Line ocean liner working on the North Atlantic run, originally launched in 1914 as the Hamburg America Line liner SS Bismarck. At 56,551 gross register tons, she was the largest ship in the world until completion of SS Normandie in 1935.
MS Homeric was a cruise ship built in 1986 at the Meyer Werft shipyard in Papenburg, West Germany as Homeric for Home Lines, and their last newbuild to remain in active service. In 1988 she was sold to Holland America Line, renamed Westerdam, and in 1990 lengthened by 36.9 m at Meyer Werft. In 2002 she was transferred to the fleet of Costa Cruises and renamed Costa Europa. In April 2010 she was taken on a ten-year charter by Thomson Cruises, under the name Thomson Dream.
RMS Empress of Britain was a transatlantic ocean liner built by Fairfield Shipbuilding at Govan on the Clyde in Scotland in 1955-1956 for Canadian Pacific Steamships (CP). This ship — the third of three CP vessels to be named Empress of Britain — regularly traversed the trans-Atlantic route between Canada and Europe until 1964, completing 123 voyages under the Canadian Pacific flag.
SS Raffaello was an Italian ocean liner built in the early 1960s for Italian Line by the Cantieri Riuniti dell'Adriatico, Trieste. It was one of the last ships to be built primarily for liner service across the North Atlantic. Her sister ship was SS Michelangelo.
RMS Sylvania was an ocean liner built in 1957 by John Brown & Co (Clydebank), in Glasgow, for the United Kingdom-based shipping company Cunard Line. She was the last Cunard Line vessel built specifically for transatlantic crossings. The ship was later heavily rebuilt as a cruise ship, and sailed under the names SS Fairwind, SS Sitmar Fairwind, SS Dawn Princess and SS Albatros before being scrapped in 2004. She was renamed SS Genoa for her last voyage.
Home Lines was an Italian passenger shipping company that operated both ocean liners and cruise ships. The company was founded in 1946, and it ceased operations in 1988 when merged into Holland America Line. Although based in Genoa, Home Lines was an international company with ships registered in Panama, while the original company chairman Eugen Eugenides was Greek. By the time Home Lines was merged into Holland America, they were one of the most highly regarded cruise lines in the world.
SS Leonardo da Vinci was an ocean liner built in 1960 by Ansaldo Shipyards, Italy for the Italian Line as a replacement for their SS Andrea Doria that had been lost in 1956. She was initially used in transatlantic service alongside SS Cristoforo Colombo, and primarily for cruising after the delivery of the new SS Michelangelo and SS Raffaello in 1965. In 1976 the Leonardo da Vinci became the last Italian Line passenger liner to be used in service across the North Atlantic. Between 1977 and 1978 she was used as a cruise ship by Italia Crociere, but was laid up from 1978 onwards until 1982 when she was scrapped.
TS Maxim Gorkiy was, until 30 November 2008, a cruise ship owned by Sovcomflot, Russia, under long-term charter to Phoenix Reisen, Germany. She was built in 1969 by Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft, Hamburg, West Germany for the German Atlantic Line as TS Hamburg. In late 1973 she was very briefly renamed TS Hanseatic. The following year she was sold to the Black Sea Shipping Company, Soviet Union and received the name Maksim Gorkiy in honour of the writer Maxim Gorky, renamed to Maxim Gorkiy after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. On 20 August 2008 Maxim Gorkiy was sold to Orient Lines. She was due to enter service with her new owners on 15 April 2009 under the name TS Marco Polo II, but in November 2008 the relaunch of the Orient Lines brand was cancelled. On 8 January 2009 the ship was sold for scrap, and she was beached at Alang, India on 26 February 2009.
SS Shalom was a combined ocean liner/cruise ship built in 1964 by Chantiers de l'Atlantique, St Nazaire, France, for ZIM Lines, Israel, for transatlantic service from Haifa to New York. In 1967, SS Shalom was sold to the German Atlantic Line, becoming their second SS Hanseatic. Subsequently she served as SS Doric for Home Lines, SS Royal Odyssey for Royal Cruise Line and SS Regent Sun for Regency Cruises. The ship was laid up in 1995 following the bankruptcy of Regency Cruises. Numerous attempts were made to bring her back to service, but none were successful. The ship sank outside Cape St. Francis, South Africa, on 26 July 2001, while en route to India to be scrapped.
MS Kungsholm was a combined ocean liner / cruise ship built in 1953 by the De Schelde shipyard in Vlissingen, the Netherlands for the Swedish American Line. Between 1965 and 1981 she sailed for the North German Lloyd and their successor Hapag-Lloyd as MS Europa. From 1981 until 1984 she sailed for Costa Cruises as MS Columbus C. She sank in the port of Cadiz, Spain after ramming a breakwater on 29 July 1984. The vessel was refloated later that year, but sent to a Barcelona shipbreaker in 1985 for scrapping.
MS Golden Princess was a casino cruise ship owned by Eurasia International, operated on short casino cruises out of Hong Kong. She was built in 1967 by the Wärtsilä Hietalahti shipyard in Helsinki, Finland as Finlandia for the Finland Steamship Company. In 1975 she was sold to Finnlines, who converted her into the cruise ship Finnstar in 1978. In 1982 she entered service for Pearl Cruises as Pearl of Scandinavia. In 1988 she was renamed Ocean Pearl. In 1994 she entered service with Croisières Paquet as Pearl. Between 1995 and 1998 she sailed for Costa Cruises as Costa Playa. In 1998-1999 she sailed as Oriental Pearl for Mega Wave International, and in 1999-2000 as Joy Wave for Costa Cruises. In 2000 she was sold to Eurasia International and entered service under the name Golden Princess. In 2009 she was sold for scrap to China.
MS Augustus was a 27,090 GRT, luxury ocean liner built in 1950 for Italian Line. She was the sister ship to MS Giulio Cesare that was launched in the same year. These two ships were built to the same design, with similar specifications. After the Augustus was sold to Hong Kong, she sailed under five names. The ship was later sold to Manila Hotel and renamed MS Philippines, functioning as a static hotel. As reported by both Maritimematters, and maritime, the MS Philippines was sold for scrap in September 2011. As of December 2011, she was beached in Alang for scrapping.
Sparviero was an Italian aircraft carrier designed and built during World War II of the Regia Marina. She was originally the ocean liner MS Augustus built in 1927 for Navigazione Generale Italiana, but was transferred to the new Italian Line after the merger of Navigazione Generale Italiana. The conversion was started in 1942 originally under the name Falco but was never completed, and the ship was never delivered to the Regia Marina. She began to be scrapped in 1946, a process completed by 1952.
MS Giulio Cesare was a luxurious ocean liner built for the Italian Line. She was a sister ship to MS Augustus which was launched in the same year. She was built for the South America service like her sister. These two ships' specification and design were very similar.
SS Stella Solaris was an ocean liner built for Messageries Maritimes in 1953. She mainly provided passenger service between France, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and Japan.
MS Italia was a cruise ship built in Italy in 1967. She sailed in the Mediterranean, Caribbean, and Pacific under various names and operators, and was scrapped in May 2012.
SS Atlantic was an American-built vessel that operated for 42 years in various capacities. First designated SS Badger Mariner, she was originally built as a freighter in 1953. However, her career as a cargo vessel was relatively short. In 1958, she was rebuilt as a passenger liner. Renamed SS Atlantic, this ship became familiar to many American tourists during the 1960s, making cruises to the Caribbean and Mediterranean.