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Achille Lauro
| |
History | |
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Name |
|
Namesake |
|
Owner |
|
Operator |
|
Port of registry | |
Ordered | 7 May 1938 |
Builder | KM 'De Schelde' S&M, Vlissingen |
Yard number | 214 |
Laid down | 25 January 1939[1] |
Launched | 1 July 1946[1] (Delayed due to WWII) |
Christened | by HM Queen Wilhelmina[2] |
Completed | 21 November 1947[1] |
Maiden voyage | 2 December 1947[1] |
In service | 2 December 1947 |
Out of service | 30 November 1994 |
Identification |
|
Fate | Sank on 2 December 1994 off the coast of Somalia due to fire on board. |
General characteristics | |
Tonnage |
|
Length | 642 ft (196 m)[2] |
Beam | 82 ft (25 m)[2] |
Draft | 29.3 ft (8.9 m)[2] |
Decks | 9[2] (6 passenger accessible)[1] |
Installed power |
|
Propulsion | 2 propellers[1] |
Speed | 22.0 kn (40.7 km/h; 25.3 mph)[1] |
Capacity | |
Crew | 300[2] |
MS Achille Lauro was a cruise ship based in Naples, Italy. It was built between 1939 and 1947 as the ocean liner Willem Ruys for Royal Rotterdam Lloyd. In 1965 Achille Lauro bought the ship, had it converted into a cruise ship, and renamed it after himself. In 1985 it was hijacked by members of the Palestine Liberation Front.
The ship was also involved in two serious collisions: in 1953 with the Oranje, and in 1975 with the cargo ship Youseff. It also suffered four onboard fires or explosions: in 1965, 1972, 1981, and 1994. In the last of these, in 1994, the ship caught fire and sank in the Indian Ocean off Somalia.