The world’s oldest cruise ship has reached the top of her storied historical past as Astoria has reached the scrapyard, the place she will likely be damaged after 77 years of service.
The 15,614-gross ton ship’s final journey has been a comparatively brief one, as she has been laid up in Rotterdam following the closing of Cruise & Maritime Voyages in 2020 – but yet another ship that fell sufferer to the pandemic.
On June 17, 2025, Astoria was lastly bought at public sale for €200,000 (roughly $235,600 USD) to the recycling firm Galloo. She is now set to be scrapped in Ghent, Belgium.
Her last journey, then, was simply over 100 miles – following a lifetime of 1000’s upon 1000’s of seagoing miles over the a long time. She left Rotterdam on Thursday, July 3, and arrived in Ghent the following day.
Some followers and maritime aficionados have been available at varied factors in her passage to bear witness to her last journey, however all in all, Astoria has quietly ended a life that had some not so quiet highlights over her greater than seven a long time of service.
The ship will now be damaged, with important elements eliminated and supplies sorted for acceptable reuse and recycling.
A Gorgeous Historical past
Initially inbuilt 1948 as Stockholm for Swedish America Line with a capability to welcome 390 visitors, the ocean liner we now know as Astoria has served varied cruise strains beneath varied names and for varied functions, together with:
As Volkerfreundschaft with an East German cruise line, she handed safely via the US blockade of Cuba through the Cuban Missile Disaster in October 1962, bringing visitors to Havana to refuel and resupply.
As Fridtjof Nansen, with a Panamanian firm, she was used as a barracks ship for asylum seekers in Oslo, Norway within the late Eighties and early Nineteen Nineties.
As Athena for Traditional Worldwide Cruises, the ship was attacked by pirates in December 2008 however staved off undesirable boarding with high-pressure water cannons.
Maybe her most notorious – and but concurrently heroic – second was on July 25, 1956, when Stockholm was crusing in heavy fog off the coast of Nantucket. At roughly 11:10 p.m., she collided with the luxurious liner Andrea Dorea.
Andrea Dorea capsized and finally sank, with half of her lifeboats rendered unusable within the collision as a consequence of itemizing. Regardless of the in depth injury to her personal bow, Stockholm remained on the website of the collision to help Andrea Dorea, finally rescuing 572 passengers and crew.
Stockholm then sailed to New York with out help and was rebuilt in three months. Her captain was discovered not responsible following an inquiry, as Andrea Doria‘s captain didn’t comply with normal procedures that may have averted the collision.
Curiously, it wasn’t till September 2020 that Stockholm‘s bow and anchors have been lastly found and confirmed close to the ultimate resting place of Andrea Doria.
Simply three months later, Astoria (previously Stockholm) was laid up and would by no means greet visitors once more.
May the Previous Ship Have Discovered New Life?
Following the worldwide cruise shutdown, it was hoped that Astoria would as soon as once more be bought and maybe transformed to be used as a lodge ship or floating maritime museum.
Learn Additionally: Cruise Ship Scrapping – Every little thing You Have to Know
Regardless of a number of promising plans, nonetheless, no agency motion ever materialized and the ship remained empty and unused for greater than 4 years.
As many ocean liner lovers have found in latest months with the disposition of the SS United States – now being prepped to be scuttled because the world’s largest synthetic coral reef – it may be excruciatingly costly to retrofit an outdated ship to fashionable security, operational, and environmental requirements.
It’s a unhappy finish to the ship’s lengthy life, however Stockholm–Astoria won’t ever be forgotten.
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