Astoria
ex Stockholm, ex Völkerfreundschaft, es Fridtjof Nansen, ex Italia Prima, ex Valtur Prima, ex Caribe, ex Athena, ex Azores
Until recently, Astoria was operated by erstwhile Cruise&Maritime Voyages. She is presently laid up at Rotterdam - see this video @ YouTube uploaded in 2023. Astoria was originally built as Stockholm at Götaverken for Swedish America Line (SAL). In 1956 Stockholm collided with the mythical Andrea Doria which sank eleven hours later 50 miles south of off Nantucket. 51 people died in the course of the disaster. 1960 Stockholm was sold by SAL and became Völkerfreundschaft of GDR's Deutsche Seereederei. In the mid 1990ies, the ship underwent a drastic transformation: Driven by Italian subsidies for ship conversions an essentially entirely new ship was built on the basis of the hull launched in 1948. Re-launched as Italia Prima in 1994 the ship served for many operators under different names since then. For more information on the impressive history of Astoria visit on of the following webages:
- Astoria (Stockholm) @ thegreatoceanliners.com
- Stockholm @ www.salship.se (follow the links to the sub-pages)
- Astoria @ Simplon Postcards
- German NDR article on Völkerfreundschaft
- Plans at Associazione Navimodellisti Bolognesi
- Cardboard model of Völkerfreundschaft
- Plans of Völkerfreundschaft at Associazione Navimodellisti Bolognesi
