SS Leonardo da Vinci
Encyclopedia
SS
Ship prefix
A ship prefix is a combination of letters, usually abbreviations, used in front of the name of a civilian or naval ship.Prefixes for civilian vessels may either identify the type of propulsion, such as "SS" for steamship, or purpose, such as "RV" for research vessel. Civilian prefixes are often...
Leonardo da Vinci was an ocean liner
Ocean liner
An ocean liner is a ship designed to transport people from one seaport to another along regular long-distance maritime routes according to a schedule. Liners may also carry cargo or mail, and may sometimes be used for other purposes .Cargo vessels running to a schedule are sometimes referred to as...
built in 1960 by Ansaldo Shipyards, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
for the Italian Line
Italian Line
The Italian Line or Italia Line, also known as the Italia di Navigazione S.p.A., was a passenger shipping line that operated regular transatlantic services between Italy and the United States, and Italy and South America...
as a replacement for their SS Andrea Doria
SS Andrea Doria
SS Andrea Doria[p] was an ocean liner for the Italian Line home ported in Genoa, Italy, most famous for its sinking in 1956, when 46 people died. 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...
that had been lost in 1956. She was initially used in transatlantic service alongside SS Cristoforo Colombo
SS Cristoforo Colombo
SS Cristoforo Colombo was an Italian ocean liner built in the 1950s, sister ship of the famed and tragic .-Origins and construction:The origins of the Cristoforo Colombo lie in the situation of the Italian Line at the end of World War II. The war had been devastating to them, as two of their newest...
, and primarily for cruising after the delivery of the new SS Michelangelo
T/S Michelangelo
SS Michelangelo was an Italian ocean liner built in 1965 for Italian Line by Ansaldo Shipyards, Genoa. She was one of the last ships to be built primarily for liner service across the North Atlantic. Her sister ship was the SS Raffaello....
and SS Raffaello
T/S Raffaello
SS Raffaello was an Italian ocean liner built in 1965 for Italian Line by the Cantieri Riuniti dell'Adriatico, Monfalcone. She was one of the last ships to be built primarily for liner service across the North Atlantic. Her sister ship was the SS Michelangelo.-Design and construction:Italian Line...
in 1965. In 1976 the Leonardo da Vinci became the last Italian Line passenger liner to be used in service across the North Atlantic. Between 1977 and 1978 she was used as a cruise ship by Italia Crociere, but was laid up from 1978 onwards until 1982 when she was scrapped.
Named after the famous Italian inventor Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian Renaissance polymath: painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist and writer whose genius, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance...
, the ship featured numerous technological innovations, including provisions for conversion to run on nuclear power
Nuclear power
Nuclear power is the use of sustained nuclear fission to generate heat and electricity. Nuclear power plants provide about 6% of the world's energy and 13–14% of the world's electricity, with the U.S., France, and Japan together accounting for about 50% of nuclear generated electricity...
.
Concept and construction
The Italian LineItalian Line
The Italian Line or Italia Line, also known as the Italia di Navigazione S.p.A., was a passenger shipping line that operated regular transatlantic services between Italy and the United States, and Italy and South America...
lost most of its passenger liners during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, including the prestigious SS Rex
SS Rex
The SS Rex was an Italian ocean liner launched in 1931. It held the westbound Blue Riband between 1933 and 1935. Originally built for the Navigazione Generale Italiana as the SS Guglielmo Marconi, its state-ordered merger with the Lloyd Sabaudo line meant that the ship sailed for the newly created...
and SS Conte di Savoia
SS Conte di Savoia
SS Conte di Savoia was an Italian ocean liner built in 1932 at the Cantieri Riuniti dell'Adriatico, Trieste.Conte di Savoia was originally ordered for the Lloyd Sabaudo line, however, after a merger with the Navigazione Generale Italiana, the ship was completed for the newly formed Italia Flotte...
. All of the ships that did survive the war dated from the 1920s. In 1949 the company received subsidies from the Italian government to build two new liners of approximately 30,000 gross register tons
Tonnage
Tonnage is a measure of the size or cargo carrying capacity of a ship. The term derives from the taxation paid on tuns or casks of wine, and was later used in reference to the weight of a ship's cargo; however, in modern maritime usage, "tonnage" specifically refers to a calculation of the volume...
for the transatlantic service to New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. These were delivered in 1953 and 1954 as SS Andrea Doria
SS Andrea Doria
SS Andrea Doria[p] was an ocean liner for the Italian Line home ported in Genoa, Italy, most famous for its sinking in 1956, when 46 people died. 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...
and SS Cristoforo Colombo
SS Cristoforo Colombo
SS Cristoforo Colombo was an Italian ocean liner built in the 1950s, sister ship of the famed and tragic .-Origins and construction:The origins of the Cristoforo Colombo lie in the situation of the Italian Line at the end of World War II. The war had been devastating to them, as two of their newest...
, respectively, re-establishing Italy in the transatlantic service business with the finest ships to serve on the New York—Mediterranean run. But the Andrea Doria sank after just three years of service on 25 July 1956 after colliding with the Swedish American Line
Swedish American Line
Swedish American Line was a passenger and cargo shipping line. It was founded in December 1914 under the name Rederiaktiebolaget Sverige-Nordamerika, beginning ocean liner service from Gothenburg to New York in 1915...
ship . This left the Italian Line in need of a second ship on the North Atlantic run.
Nuclear power
Nuclear power is the use of sustained nuclear fission to generate heat and electricity. Nuclear power plants provide about 6% of the world's energy and 13–14% of the world's electricity, with the U.S., France, and Japan together accounting for about 50% of nuclear generated electricity...
.
Construction of the new ship was awarded to the Ansaldo Shipyard at Genoa
Genoa
Genoa |Ligurian]] Zena ; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria....
, where on 7 December 1958 she was launched and christened by Carla Gronchi, the wife of Giovanni Gronchi
Giovanni Gronchi
Giovanni Gronchi was a Christian Democratic Italian politician who became the third President of the Italian Republic in 1955, after Luigi Einaudi...
, the President of the Italian Republic
President of the Italian Republic
The President of the Italian Republic is the head of state of Italy and, as such, is intended to represent national unity and guarantee that Italian politics comply with the Constitution. The president's term of office lasts for seven years....
. The ship was delivered during the first half of 1960. Like the Andrea Doria and Cristoforo Colombo, the Leonardo da Vinci proved to be a tender ship (prone to instability) in rough weather. But the Leonardo da Vinci's stability problem was greater because of her larger size, and as a result 3000 metric tons of iron were fitted along her bottom to improve stability. This made the ship excessively heavy for the power of her engines and led to extremely high fuel expenses.
Service history
On 30 June 1960, under the command of the Italian Line 's Senior Captain, Com.te Sup. Armando Pinelli, the Leonardo da Vinci set out on her maiden voyage from GenoaGenoa
Genoa |Ligurian]] Zena ; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria....
to New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, where she received the traditional festive welcome accorded liners arriving in the city for the first time. Soon after she entered service, the Italian Line announced that by 1965 at latest the ship would be refit to run on nuclear power. This however did not come to pass, and anyway at the time of the announcement it was already known to executives of the company that by 1965 the Leonardo da Vinci would be supplanted on the North Atlantic service by the new SS Michelangelo
T/S Michelangelo
SS Michelangelo was an Italian ocean liner built in 1965 for Italian Line by Ansaldo Shipyards, Genoa. She was one of the last ships to be built primarily for liner service across the North Atlantic. Her sister ship was the SS Raffaello....
and SS Raffaello
T/S Raffaello
SS Raffaello was an Italian ocean liner built in 1965 for Italian Line by the Cantieri Riuniti dell'Adriatico, Monfalcone. She was one of the last ships to be built primarily for liner service across the North Atlantic. Her sister ship was the SS Michelangelo.-Design and construction:Italian Line...
, the planning for which already had started in 1958.
After the Michelangelo and Raffaello were delivered in May and July 1965, respectively, the Leonardo da Vinci was used almost exclusively for cruising, mostly around the Mediterranean, but also sometimes to the Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
, South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
, and North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
. The majority of her Tourist-class cabins were considered too spartan for cruise service, and remained unused when the ship was used for cruising, further cutting the profitability of the ship. In 1966 she was re-painted in the new livery of the Italian Line, a white hull with a longitudinal thin, green decorative band, instead of her original black hull with a white decorative band. In February 1970 the ship departed on her most extensive cruise, a 41-day journey from the Mediterranean to Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
via the Panama Canal
Panama Canal
The Panama Canal is a ship canal in Panama that joins the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and is a key conduit for international maritime trade. Built from 1904 to 1914, the canal has seen annual traffic rise from about 1,000 ships early on to 14,702 vessels measuring a total of 309.6...
and back again.
Jet aircraft
A jet aircraft is an aircraft propelled by jet engines. Jet aircraft generally fly much faster than propeller-powered aircraft and at higher altitudes – as high as . At these altitudes, jet engines achieve maximum efficiency over long distances. The engines in propeller-powered aircraft...
became more and more pressing on the North Atlantic service. In 1975 the Italian Line decided withdraw both the Michelangelo and Raffaello from service. But despite the withdrawal of state subsidiaries, the Italian Line did not withdraw from the North Atlantic service altogether and the Leonardo da Vinci returned to her original route for a short period until June 1976, when she too was withdrawn from service and laid up.
In 1977 the Leonardo da Vinci was brought back into service, this time for cruising under the banner of Italia Crociere (also known as Italian Line Cruises), a newly formed subsidiary of the Italian Line. The ship was used on one-night cruises from Miami to Nassau, Bahamas
Nassau, Bahamas
Nassau is the capital, largest city, and commercial centre of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas. The city has a population of 248,948 , 70 percent of the entire population of The Bahamas...
, but proved unnecessarily large and too expensive to operate on a service of that kind. On 23 September 1978 the Leonardo da Vinci returned to La Spezia
La Spezia
La Spezia , at the head of the Gulf of La Spezia in the Liguria region of northern Italy, is the capital city of the province of La Spezia. Located between Genoa and Pisa on the Ligurian Sea, it is one of the main Italian military and commercial harbours and hosts one of Italy's biggest military...
, Italy to be laid up.
Despite numerous rumors to the contrary, she never saw service again. After the ship had been laid up for two years, a fire started on board on 4 July 1980. She burned for four days and eventually capsized. The burnt-out hulk was later righted and towed to the scrapyard at La Spezia where it was scrapped in 1982.
Exterior
The exterior design of the Leonardo da Vinci was very similar to that of the Andrea Doria and Cristoforo Colombo. But she was 19 m (62.34 ft) longer, had a larger forward and aft superstructureSuperstructure
A superstructure is an upward extension of an existing structure above a baseline. This term is applied to various kinds of physical structures such as buildings, bridges, or ships...
, and a slightly different-shaped funnel that included a smoke deflector fin. Moreover, she did not have any freight handling equipment on her rear decks, resulting in a larger lido area compared to that of her older near-sisters.
Visually one of the most nicely-balanced ships of that (or perhaps any) era, she originally had identical livery to that used in the Andrea Doria and Cristoforo Colombo, with a black hull with a longitudinal thin white band painted two-thirds of the way up from the bottom of the black-painted area. In 1966 her livery (like that of all Italian Line ships) was altered to match the design used on the Michelangelo and Raffaello, with a white hull and a thin green band painted where the upper edge of the black hull colour previously ended.
Interior
Because of the provisions made for conversion to run on nuclear power, the Leonardo da Vinci had a somewhat unusual interior layout. Space for a reactor was reserved amidship, in and around the ship's steam turbine power plant. This made it necessary to locate the dining rooms and galleys one deck higher than usual, and separated from the ship's main working passage. No passenger corridors passed through the area reserved for a reactor, which meant the forward and rear passenger-accessible sections on the lowest decks were entirely separated from each other.The public spaces of the ship were designed by several Italian designers, including Vincenzo Monaco and Amedeo Luccichenti who were responsible for the ballroom and cocktail bar.