Built in 1951 to 1953, the Italian luxury liner, Andrea Doria crossed the Atlantic many times. Seven hundred feet in length, she had ten decks, with a capacity of 1241 passengers and 563 officers and crew. The
Doria was built for beauty. Capable of maintaining speeds over 25 knots, she was also able to handle stormy seas.
However, on July 25, 1956 the Andrea Doria encountered a dense fog. Although she had "state of the art" radar, while navigating through dense fog, she was hit broadside by the freighter Stockholm and began to sink. Due to the angle of the Andrea Doria (listing over 20 degrees), her
lifeboats could only be launched from one side. Yet, all the passengers (except those killed in the collision - the Stockholm penetrated about forty feet into the hull of the Andrea Doria) were rescued.
The Andrea Doria now rests on the bottom of the Atlantic, in about 240 feet of water. Although diving to the ship for artifacts is legal, the danger associated with diving to this depth has restricted the participants to
the professional diving groups.
