Andrea Doria collides with SS Stockholm...

THE COMMERCIAL APPEAL, Memphis, Tennessee, July 26, 1956 
 
* SS Andrea Doria collides with SS Stockholm disaster 
* 1st report coverage

This 56 page newspaper has a four column headline on the front page: "2 Luxury Liners Collide in Fog; One Can't Lower Its Lifeboats; 2,000 Aboard Ships In Atlantic" with subheads. More on page 2 with related photo.

Other news, sports and advertisements of the day throughout. Some binding holes and a little wear along the spine, otherwise good condition.

wikipedia notes: On the evening of Wednesday, July 25, 1956, the Andrea Doria, commanded by Captain Piero Calamai, carrying 1,134 passengers and 572 crew members, was heading west toward New York. It was the last night out of a transatlantic crossing from Genoa which began on July 17. The ship was expected to dock in New York the next morning.

At the same time, the SS Stockholm, a smaller passenger liner having departed New York about midday, was heading east toward Gothenburg, Sweden. The Stockholm was commanded by Captain Harry Gunnar Nordenson, though Third Officer Johan-Ernst Carstens-Johannsen was in command on the bridge at the time. The Stockholm was following its usual course east to Nantucket Lightship, making about 18 knots (33 km/h) with clear skies. Carstens estimated visibility at 6 miles (11 km if they are nautical miles).

As the Stockholm and the Andrea Doria were approaching each other head-on in the well-used shipping corridor, the westbound Andrea Doria had been traveling in heavy fog for hours. The captain had reduced speed slightly (from 23 to 21.8 knots), activated the ship's fog warning whistle, and had closed the watertight doors, all customary precautions while sailing in fog. However, the eastbound Stockholm had yet to enter what was apparently the edge of a fog bank, and was apparently unaware of it.

The waters of the North Atlantic south of Nantucket Island were frequently the site of intermittent fog as the cold Labrador Current encountered the Gulf Stream. As the two ships approached each other at a combined speed of 40 knots, although each was aware of the presence of another ship, guided only by radar, they apparently misinterpreted each others' courses. There was no radio communication between the two ships.

In the critical minutes before the collision, the original inquiry established that Andrea Doria gradually steered to port (left), attempting a starboard-to-starboard meeting, while the Stockholm turned about 20 degrees to its starboard (right), an action intended to widen the passing distance of a port-to-port meeting. In fact, they were actually steering towards each other--narrowing rather than widening the passing distance. Compounded by the extremely thick fog which enveloped the Doria as the ships approached each other, they were quite close by the time visual contact had been established, and each realized the ships were on a collision course. By then, despite last minute maneuvers, they were unable to avoid the collision.

In the last moments before impact, the Stockholm turned hard to the starboard and was in the process of reversing its propellers attempting to stop. The Doria had remained at its cruising speed of almost 22 knots engaged in a hard turn to port, its Captain hoping to outrun the collision. At approximately 11:10 PM, the two ships collided.