CRISTOFORO COLOMBO

CARTOLINA - IN LIVREA BLU

Fonte: celeste

Name: SS Christoforo Colombo Owner: Italian Line Port of Registry: Italy Builder: Ansaldo Shipyards of Genoa, Italy Launched: 1953 Maiden voyage: 1954 Fate: Scrapped 1982 at Kaohsiung, Taiwan General characteristics Class and type: Ocean liner Tonnage: 29,191 gross tons Length: 700 feet (216.6 m) Beam: 90 feet (27.9 m) Installed power: Steam turbines Propulsion: Twin screws Speed: 23 knots Capacity: Passengers: 229 First Class 222 Cabin Class 604 Tourist Class 1,055 total The Cristoforo Colombo was built in Genoa at the Ansaldo Shipyards. She was launched in 1953 and was ready for a 1954 maiden voyage. After the Andrea Doria was sunk after a collision with the MS Stockholm in 1956, the Cristoforo Colombo was on her own until 1960 when the ship was accompanied by the Andrea Doria's replacement, SS Leonardo da Vinci. In the spring of 1964, the Cristoforo Colombo carried the Pietà from the Vatican to the 1964 New York World's Fair. Pietà was put in a crate that was filled with plastic foam, which was lowered onto a rubber base in the first class pool where the least damage was likely to happen to it. During the actual loading, the Cristoforo Colombo had been put in dry dock so that she would not move and jeopardize the crate and its content. Only easily removable snap hooks secured the crate so that it could be released easily in case of accident. In case the Cristoforo Colombo sank during the voyage, the crate had the ability to float. In New York, the crate was lifted by a heavy-lift floating crane onto a barge that was put alongside the ship. The Cristoforo Colombo and the Leonardo da Vinci were kept as the flagships and the prime Italian ships on the North Atlantic until 1965, when the new SS Michelangelo and SS Raffaello were placed into service. The Cristoforo Colombo was taken out of trans-Atlantic service and replaced the smaller MS Saturnia and MS Vulcania on the Adriatic trade. She was painted entirely white in 1966 in order to match with the other ships in the Italian Line, who had abandoned black as a hull color. In 1973, the Cristoforo Colombo was taken out of the Adriatic service. She was supposed to go on the South American run to replace the MS Giulio Cesare that had suffered serious mechanical problems. She stayed until 1977, when it became uneconomical to keep the Cristoforo Colombo running. She was sold to Venezuela, where she was used as an accommodation ship for workers at Puerto Ordaz. In 1981, the Cristoforo Colombo was sold to Taiwanese scrappers. However, upon arrival at Kaohsiung, Cristoforo Colombo was towed to Hong Kong with the hopes that someone would express interest in buying the ship. However, when no one appeared the Cristoforo Colombo was towed back to Kaohsiung in the autumn of 1982 and scrapped. Rgds