Episode 21: Scrapping ASTORIA, the former STOCKHOLM (April 2026 Update)

The audio companion to our YouTube video!Peter Knego has just returned from a pilgrimage to Gent to pay his final respects to the MV ASTORIA, which was built in 1948 as Swedish American Lines STOCKHOLM and is best known for her collision with and sinking of the ANDREA DORIA on July 25, 1956. The STOCKHOLM went on to a long career as the East German cruise ship VOLKERFREUNDSCHAFT and was ultimately rebuilt in Italy in 1993/4 as the ITALIA PRIMA. After numerous name changes, she last sailed as the ASTORIA for Cruise and Maritime Voyages, which shut down at the outset of Covid in 2020. Laid up in Rotterdam, she rotted away until 2025, when sold to Galloo Recycling and was towed to Ghent, arriving on July 4. The ship is partially demolished and largely stripped but sadly and unnecessarily, the shipbreaker has destroyed all of the ship's artwork, Murano glass fittings and furnishings, despite many attempts by several potential purchasers to buy these things. This footage shows the ship on March 30 from both sides of the Schelde River in the process of demolition, shows many of the items that have been destroyed (in archival footage) and also some of the other ships that are being broken up at Galloo, including one dating from 1915. #classicships #scrapships #mvastoria #mvstockhom #ssandreadoria #shipbreaking #shipbreakersAlso on YouTube at:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLUSVs6NeRkFollow us on all our socials and YouTube!⁠⁠⁠⁠https://linktr.ee/midshipcentury⁠⁠⁠