Part 2 of my little history of italian ocean liners on this forum
Tonnage: 33,340 gross register tons (GRT)
Displacement: 5,641 metric tons deadweight (DWT)
Length: 232.60 m (763.12 ft)
Beam: 28.10 m (92.19 ft)
Draught: 9.55 m (31.33 ft)
Installed power: 4 × Ansaldo steam turbines
combined 38792 kW
Propulsion: Twin screws
Speed: 23 kn (42.60 km/h) (service speed)
25.5 kn (47.23 km/h) (maximum speed)
Capacity: 1326 passengers (413 first class, 342 cabin class, 571 tourist class) in liner service
984 passengers in cruise service
The Leonardo da Vinci was built in 1958 and was in service on the Genoa-Naples-New York express route from 1960 to 1976.
Her birth was actually not intended: the LdV project was born in 1957 after the sinking of the Andrea Doria.
After that tragic event, there was a gap in the Italian Line fleet: they had lost their largest and most modern ship and now the only ocean liner in service to NY was the Doria's sister ship, the Cristoforo Colombo. She obviously couldn't sustain the great number of passenger alone ... that's why a brand new ocean liner was ordered to the Sestri Shipyard.
During her construction, the Italian Line temporarily replaced the Doria with the Giulio Cesare, Augustus and Conte Biancamano. Those ship were slower, smaller and less refined than the Andrea Doria:they were usually sailing the Genoa-South America route.
The Leonardo was launched in 1958: she wasn't built as a new sister ship to the Cristoforo Colombo but as a brand new liner, although inspired in her lines to the predecessors... in fact, she was like a "bigger copy" of the Doria and Colombo (20 meters longer).
Here she is: a truly magnificent liner. She was so modern, that there were rumours that her gas turbine engines would have been replaced by nuclear reactors (like the USS Enterprise aircraft carrier!) and one of the swimming pools was heated by infrared rays!
The Leonardo da Vinci first arrived in New York in 1960: it was a good year for the Italian Line, that was proud to have built a new liner only 4 years after the Doria sinking. That tragic event persuaded the engineers to adopt exceptional safety measures: the lifeboats were all motorized and could be lowered even in case of a 25° list.
During her speed trials, however, the ship had revealed some stability problems: her hull was reinforced to compensate this issue and the ship became perfectly fit and strong for her service on the North Atlantic but those modifications resulted in higher fuel consumption.
In 1965 she made a promotional cruise on a rather unusual itinerary.
Even "Life" magazine celebrated the Leonardo da Vinci with this beautiful shot, featuring the liner at full speed in the Atlantic.
The interior was luxurious, respecting the tradition of italian liners.
In 1965 the entire Italian Line fleet (LdV included) was painted in white to conform the colours of the new Michelangelo and Raffaello.
The new sister ships were so big that four ocean liners on the north atlantic route were considered excessive. The Leonardo da Vinci was therefore frequently used for cruises: here she sails through the Panama Canal.
The Leonardo da Vinci was the last italian ocean liner to serve on the North Atlantic: she made her final crossing in 1976 but the lack of fundings had showed lack of maintenence even in the years before, as shown here.
She was used as a cruise ship for a couple of years but the extreme consumption made her inappropriate for the role. The Leonardo da Vinci was therefore put on sale and laid up in the gulf of La Spezia. While waiting for some buyers, a fire (probably fraudulent) started on board in July 1980. She burned for four days and then capsized.
Her burnt hull was towed up to a scrapyard and that's another inglorious end of a beautiful liner.
The Doria was famous for her sinking, the Rex was famous for winning the blue riband, the Michelangelo and Raffaello were famous because they were the last... the Leonardo da Vinci is the most forgotten italian liner of all times!
Thanks for reading!
A mid-ocean encounter between the fast Leonardo da Vinci and the Cristoforo Colombo.
