ASTORIA

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Expedition to Andrea Doria and former bow of Astoria

A team of Italian and American divers, led by Captain Joe Mazraani of the 'Tenacious', and Andrea Murdock Alpini of Phy Diving Equipment, completed an expedition, which lasted from July 20-28, 2023, to the wreckage of both the SS 'Andrea Doria' and the bow of the 'Stockholm', actually laid up in Dordrecht as 'Astoria', 60 miles off Nantucket. The expedition, entitled Un Lembo Di Patria (A Piece of Our Homeland), commemorated the 67th anniversary of the sinking of the 'Andrea Doria’ and the 55th anniversary of the first Italian-led expedition to the wreck. The Italian divers became the first from their country to dive the bow wreckage of the 'Stockholm', which was identified and first dived by a team from the 'Tenacious' in the fall of 2020. 13 years after the 'Andrea Doria’s sinking, the Italian diver Bruno Vailati led a team, including Stefano Carletti and others, to the wreck site. The Un Lembo Di Patria Expedition retraced the 1968 expedition’s steps. More than 80 miles from the team’s Fairhaven, MA staging point, the team made two separate trips to the site in an eight-day period and collectively completed a total of 52 dives to the 'Andrea Doria' and three to the 'Stockholm'. The goal was to film the whole wreck, from stern to bow, to describe its conservation status and the future on the ocean floor. Fondazione Ansaldo, the archives of the shipping company that built the 'Andrea Doria', and the municipality of Genoa provided official support for the expedition. The team consisted of: Italian divers Andrea Murdock Alpini, David D’Anna, and Marco Setti; American divers Bryan Cunningham, Chris Ogden, Anthony Tedeschi, Tim Whitehead, and Joe Mazraani; and surface support team member Jennifer Sellitti. Expeditions staged from Fairhaven Shipyard in Fairhaven, MA. In addition to assisting the archives and Italian government with assessing the wreck’s condition, the team participated in studies for the University of Padua and Italy’s National Research Institute. These institutions are studying the effects that deep, repetitive diving has on the human body. Andrea Murdick Alpini is creating a film about the 2023 expedition to be released this autumn, and his new books about Andrea Doria will be published next year. The team plans to reunite again in 2024 to further document the wreck and film the ship’s interior. Report with photos: https://www.scubadivermag.com/dual-nation-expedition-commemorates-andrea-doria/

Sold to Breakers

Sold to Aliaga Breakers https://www.puentedemando.com/el-historico-astoria-sera-desguazado-en-turquia/

Owner denies that ship is to be scrapped

The owner of the 'Astoria', the Puerto Rico-based The Roundtable LLC, on Feb 1, 2023, denied that it is ending a 75-year career. Reports by brokers this week that the ship has been sold for recycling at a European Union-approved are incorrect. This denial comes despite S&P Global’s International Ships Register recently changed the ship's status to “to be broken up”. While a deal to sell the ship is currently being negotiated, the buyer has indicated that the ship will be used for further trading. The Roundtable, a company affiliated with crypto currency billionaire Brock Pierce, acquired the 'Astoria' in mid-2021 with the intention of using it as a cruise ship. The company later backtracked on these plans, and put the ship back on the sales market.