SS Andrea Doria

SS Andrea Doria was a transatlantic ocean liner of the Italian Line (Società di navigazione Italia), put into service in 1953. She is widely known from the extensive media coverage of her sinking on July 26, 1956, which included the rescue of 1,660 of her 1,706 passengers and crew.

Named after the 16th-century Genoese admiral Andrea Doria, the ship had a gross register tonnage of 29,100 and a capacity of about 1,200 passengers and 500 crew. Of all Italy's ships at the time, Andrea Doria was the largest, fastest and supposedly safest. Launched on 16 June 1951, she was home-ported at Genoa, and began her maiden voyage on 14 January 1953.

On 25 July 1956, the New York City–bound vessel was approaching the coast of Nantucket, Massachusetts, United States. There was thick fog and when Andrea Doria finally noticed the eastbound passenger liner MS Stockholm of the Swedish American Line, they were already too close to each other and on a collision course. Struck on her starboard side, the top-heavy Andrea Doria immediately started to list severely and take on water, which left half of her lifeboats unusable. The consequent shortage of lifeboats could have resulted in significant loss of life, but the ship stayed afloat for over 11 hours after the collision. The calm, appropriate behavior of the crew, together with improvements in communications, and the rapid response of other ships, averted a disaster similar in scale to that of RMS Titanic in 1912. While 1,660 passengers and crew were rescued and survived, 46 people on the ship died as a direct consequence of the collision. The evacuated luxury liner capsized and sank the following morning. This accident remains the worst maritime disaster to occur in United States waters since the capsizing of SS Eastland at Chicago in 1915.

While the rescue efforts for both ships were successful, the cause of the collision, culpability, and the loss of Andrea Doria generated much continued interest in the media and many lawsuits. No determination of cause was ever formally published, largely due to a confidential out-of-court settlement agreement between the two shipping companies signed during hearings immediately after the disaster.