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. After a long lay-up at at Rotterdam - see this video @ YouTube uploaded in 2023 - Astoria was towed to Galloo Gent for scrapping.
Astoria was originally launched as Stockholm at Götaverken for Swedish America Line (SAL). In the night of July 25, 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. Follow this link to film footage of sinking Andrea Doria @ YouTube.
1959 Stockholm was sold by SAL and later 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.
Despite many claims, Astoria has at no time in her career been the oldest passenger or cruise ship in service
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)
- Article @ Wikipedia
- Astoria @ Simplon Postcards
- German NDR article on Völkerfreundschaft
- Plans at Associazione Navimodellisti Bolognesi
- Cardboard model of Völkerfreundschaft
- Video on the auction of Astoria at Rotterdam in July 2025
- Video with some aerial footage recorded during the tow of Astoria from Rotterdam to the scrapyard in Ghent
- German article @ ndr.de
- Article by Peter Knego
videos on Astoria's last journey
In July 2025 Astoria was towed from Waalhaven to Ghent for scrappging at Galloo Gent.
