The Stockholm, driven by 14,600 horsepower, sliced through the Andrea Doria's steel hull like a dagger stabbed into an eggshell. The Stockholm's bow was constructed of two rows of extra-heavy steel plating an inch thick, separated by an air space two feet wide. It was designed not as an icebreaking bow but rather to follow an icebreaker through ice fields of the Scandinavian coast.
With the force of a battering ram of more than one million tons, the Stockholm prow plunged into the speeding Andrea Doria, crumbling like a thin sheet of tin, until her energy was spent. With the Stockholm pinioned in her, the Andrea Doria, twice her size, pivoted sharply under the impact, dragging the Stockholm along as the giant propellers of the Andrea Doria churned the black sea violently to white. The bow first cut into the Upper Deck of the Andrea Doria, slicing in at the partition separating cabins 52 and 54.
Shock waves of destruction vibrated outward from the point of contact, collapsing walls, crushing beds, hurling debris to either side, and transforming the comfortable, spacious rooms of the Upper Deck into death traps of mangled metal, splintered lumber, and flying bits of jagged glass. Disintegrating even as it penetrated, the bow smashed a hole in Upper Deck of the Andrea Doria from cabin 42 back to cabin 58, thrusting aside any obstruction and filling the deck with smoke.
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| Jamestown Marine Service: Graphic of the Stockholm penetrating a Foyer Deck deluxe suite. |
One level below on the Foyer Deck the full power of the blow hit directly on deluxe suite 180, crushing the luxury appointments of the designer rooms, and pushing the far wall of the cabin flat against the other side of the corridor. The bow of the Stockholm stopped just short of the chapel.
Just below on A Deck, the even-numbered cabins from 202 to 238 were instantly demolished, their furnishings splintered and thrown into the hallway. Load-bearing girders snapped, pulling walls out of line and jamming the doors of nearby rooms.
Down on B Deck the bow knifed into cabins 424 to 432 as well as the garage, mangling automobiles stored there, including a Ghia built Chrysler prototype car called the Norseman, and collapsing a steel bulkhead, opening two once-watertight compartments.
Though penetration was less on the lower decks, the smaller cabins on C Deck from number 642 to 670 were smashed open. And here, below the surface, salt water poured in immediately, flooding the two compartments on either side of the demolished watertight bulkhead.
Below the passenger decks, fuel tanks and deep ballast tanks ruptured, splashing hot flammable oil above into the polished hallways. Water cascaded into the electrical generating room. All along the point of impact the fire-resistant lining smoldered, sending heavy smoke through the corridors.
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| Collision Course: A diagram of the Stockholm bow, at its deepest penetration, superimposed on the Andrea Doria at the approximate place it struck. |
The tough steel skin of the Andrea Doria finally stopped the Stockholm when is was thirty feet inside her structure at the Upper Deck and less farther down - probably only 18 feet at the water level at C Deck and about seven feet at the bottom deck below the level of the sea. The V shaped gash, conforming the the cross section of the Stockholm's bow, was fifty feet wide at the Upper Deck and narrowed to a point deep below in the water. Tremors shook the ship and disrupted the electrical connections to the ship's whistle and from the bridge a long, involuntary shriek of agony screamed across the ocean.
With the forward motion stopped, the Stockholm's engines, set in reverse, immediately pulled her back out to the sea, revealing a dark, open wound in the side of the Andrea Doria. The forward motion of the Andrea Doria continued to force the side of the ship against the broken bow of the Stockholm. The Stockholm bumped hard a few more times against the side of the Andrea Doria, shattering windows on the Promenade Deck and sending showers of sparks into the night.
The Stockholm's bow had been smashed and water began pouring into the front of the ship. The water freed from the ruptured pipes in the bow flowed rapidly through the corridors of A-Deck and Main Deck. The water flowed toward the rear of the ship against an uphill incline, reaching about the midway point of the ship before leveling off. The Stockholm was down by the bow three feet seven inches and listing four degrees to starboard. Would the Stockholm survive?
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| Jamestown Marine Service: Graphic of impact and deep water tank flooding. | Jamestown Marine Service: Graphic of the Stockholm withdrawing after the collision. |
The sea poured into the Andrea Doria. Thousands of tons of water flowed through a hole in the right side of the ship. Within a minute the Andrea Doria leaned over on her right side. Built to the standards of the International Conference fo the Safety of Life at Sea of 1948, the Andrea Doria was not supposed to list more than 7 degrees initially, and 15 degrees at the very worst. The Andrea Doria was built with a 5 degree safety margin, the ship would have to list 20 degrees before water filling any one water tight compartment would overflow into the next. The trim indicator climbed to 22 degrees. More than one watertight compartment was compromised!