SS Michelangelo
| Industry | Shipping, Ocean liner service |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1958 (planning for Michelangelo and sister ship) |
| Headquarters | Genoa , Italy |
| Products | Passenger ocean liners (including SS Michelangelo) |
Template:More footnotes needed
SS Michelangelo was an Italian ocean liner constructed in 1965 by Ansaldo Shipyards in Genoa for the Italian Line. It was among the final vessels designed predominantly for transatlantic liner service between Europe and North America. Its counterpart was the sister ship SS Raffaello.
Design and construction
Planning for new vessels by the Italian Line commenced in 1958. Initially, these ships were intended to be marginally larger than the then-under-construction Leonardo da Vinci. At that time, jet air travel had yet to significantly impact Mediterranean routes, so commissioning two true superliners was seen as commercially advantageous and beneficial for employment at sea and in shipbuilding yards. These new ships would become the largest built in Italy since the launch of the SS Rex in 1932.
Passenger accommodations were arranged across three classes. Notably, the three lowest passenger decks lacked portholes—a design choice attributed to preserving the vessel's streamlined hull form, although this rationale is questionable given that other ships with similar length-to-beam ratios featured windows throughout their hulls. Despite any initial design limitations, these sister ships incorporated advanced technological features. The most distinctive element was their funnels, designed by Turin Polytechnic engineers, which featured an elaborate lattice pipe structure rather than a smooth surface, allowing airflow through the funnel. A prominent smoke deflector fin topped each funnel. Although initially met with criticism, this design effectively diverted smoke away from aft decks. The use of smoke deflectors gained popularity during the 1970s and 1980s, while the concept of wind-permeable funnels resurfaced in late 1980s shipbuilding and has since become a common practice.
The interior design of Michelangelo was created by naval architects Nino Zoncada, Vincenzo Monaco, and Amedeo Luccichenti, resulting in a more conventional and less experimental aesthetic compared to its sister vessel Raffaello.
Service
Following multiple delays, Michelangelo, captained by Senior Captain Mario Crepaz, entered service in May 1965. During sea trials, vibrations were detected near the stern. Subsequently, in December 1965, she underwent drydocking where new propellers were installed along with transmission adjustments. Post-refit trials recorded a speed of 31.59 knots, ranking her as the fifth fastest passenger ship globally at that time.
On April 12, 1966, five days after departing Genoa under Senior Captain Giuseppe Soletti's command, Michelangelo encountered a rogue wave amid a mid-Atlantic storm. This wave caused significant damage to the forward superstructure which collapsed or was pushed backward. Tragically, passengers Dr. Werner Berndt from Hamburg and John Steinbach from Chicago lost their lives immediately; crew member Desiderio Ferrari died hours later; over fifty individuals sustained injuries. Among the 1,495 passengers aboard were notable figures such as Admiral Ernesto Giurati (Italian Line president and former Chief of Naval Operations), Italian Chief of Protocol Angelo Corrias en route to a U.S. vacation, German novelist Günter Grass with his wife Anna, and cartoonist Bob Montana traveling with his family. Repairs following this incident involved replacing aluminum plating on the superstructure with steel plates—a modification also applied to Raffaello and contemporaries like SS United States and France.
In May 1972, filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock traveled on Michelangelo from New York en route to present his film Frenzy at the Cannes Film Festival.
Over subsequent years, transatlantic passenger volumes declined sharply due to competition from air travel leading to widespread withdrawal of liners from service. Although Michelangelo shifted focus towards cruising warmer climates, her design—featuring windowless cabins and a three-class configuration—proved unsuitable for cruising purposes. Despite possessing expansive lido decks surpassing many cruise ships of that era, these advantages could not offset her limitations. Financial constraints prevented Italian Line from undertaking costly refits necessary to convert her into an effective cruise vessel; moreover, her size exceeded typical cruise ship standards at that time.
Italy's flagship undertook its final Atlantic crossing in July 1975 under Senior Captain Claudio Cosulich before being laid up alongside her sister ship at La Spezia.
Sale
Multiple prospective buyers—including Norwegian Cruise Line's Knut Kloster—evaluated these vessels but declined purchase due to prohibitive refurbishment expenses required for cruise ship conversion. Home Lines expressed serious interest intending to operate them under Italian registry for Caribbean cruises; however, Italian Line rejected this offer reportedly because retaining the Italian flag would associate them with what they considered financially unsuccessful assets.
In 1976, an agreement was reached with a buyer who accepted Italian Line’s conditions: Iran’s Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi acquired both ships for use as floating barracks. Originally costing $45 million each, they were sold at approximately $2 million apiece. The Michelangelo spent about fifteen years stationed at Bandar Abbas.
Plans emerged in 1978 to transform her into a luxury cruise vessel named Scià Reza il Grande (honoring Rezā Shāh), but an expert delegation from Italy determined her condition too degraded for economical refurbishment. A similar initiative arose in 1983 but likewise failed.
Ultimately, she was dismantled for scrap at Gadani ship-breaking yard in Pakistan during June 1991.
References
Further reading
- S. Bandini, M. Eliseo, Michelangelo e Raffaello La fine di un'epoca, Hoepli, 2010, ISBN 88-203-4119-0
External links
- The Great Ocean Liners: Michelangelo Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine
- Project Michelangelo
- Articles with short description
- Pages with broken file links
- Webarchive template wayback links
- Ocean liners
- Passenger vessels of Italy
- Rogue wave events
- Ships constructed in Genoa
- 1962 vessels
- Ships built by Gio. Ansaldo & C.
- Maritime accidents in 1966
- Michelangelo
- Ships of the Imperial Iranian Navy
- Iran–Iraq War naval vessels of Iran