In far away, mid eastern waters

[Doc Vernon]

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I wrote recently about the Italian Line's biggest post-war liners, the sisters Michelangelo & Raffaello. And while luxurious, glamorous and proud symbols of Italian style, engineering & design, they were big money losers. Completed in 1965, they were simply too late for Mediterranean-NY crossings.

Myself, I crossed from Naples to New York onboard the Raffaello in Aug 1973.


After only ten years of service, both were sold in 1977 to Iran, to the Shah's government. The Raffaello found its way to Bushire, where she became a naval accommodation ship, intended to house 500 officers and 1300 mariners.

A year or so later, however, there was a different plan: to refit both ships -- and under the Iranian flag -- for cruising. They would become the Reza Shah the Great & the Cyrus the Great. Briefly, I saw the thick, multi-page file of projections in a Manhattan office. But it never came to pass. Iran itself was in terrible revolution by 1979. The Shah had fled, his military in chaos and ruin.

The Raffaello itself was a victim of the Revolution (she was raided and looted) and then a victim of Mid Eastern war, the conflict between Iran and Iraq. She was torpedoed and sunk in Bushire harbor in Feb 1983.

Here is a video made of that once great ship entitled Asleep in the Deep.

RAFFAELLO, ASLEEP IN THE DEEP