ACHILLE LAURO c/s IBHE
Ordered in 1938 as “Willem Ruys”, her hull was set in 1938 in Vlissingen (Netherlands) for Rotterdamsche Lloyd. Construction was delayed by World War II and because of two bombing the ship was not launched until July 1946. The”Willem Ruys” was completed at the end of 1947 and made its maiden voyage on December 2, 1947. It was equipped with a desalination plant to obtain drinking water from sea water. Until 1963 he remained in service on the Europe-Australia line. She was later used for cruises in the Mediterranean. In 1964, she was sold to Flotta Lauro (Italy) and renamed “Achille Lauro”. Extensively rebuilt and modernized in the Tyrrhenianshipyard in Palermo,she returned to service in 1966 as a cruise ship. In April 1975, whiles he was in the Dardanelles she collided with a cattle transport ship, the “Yousset”, which sank. In 1982, following the bankruptcy of the Lauro Fleet, she passed to Starlauro Mediterranean Shipping Company. Four times (1965, 1972, 1981 and 1994) was the victim of fires, the last of which broke out November 30, 1994 it caused the sinking on December 2, three days later.
On 7 October 1985, as she made a cruise in the Mediterranean, off the coast of Egypt, she was hijacked by the Palestine Liberation Front Commando (FLP). On board there were 201 passengers and 344 crewmen. After frantic diplomatic negotiations, she came at first to a successful conclusion of the story, thanks to the intercession of Egypt, the PLO Arafat (who at that time had moved the headquarters from Lebanon to Tunis because of the invasion of Lebanon by Israel) and the same Abu Abbas (one of the two negotiators, proposed by Arafat, along with Hani El Hassan, a counselor of the same Arafat ), who persuaded the terrorists to surrender in exchange for the promise of immunity. Two days later, however,were discovered that on board had been killed a US citizen, Leon Klinghoffer, jew and the paralytic, the episode provoked the reaction of the United States. After leaving Alexandria and making a stopover in Greece, the “Achille Lauro” headed for Naples, when the CIA ran a question, perhaps coming from the Egyptian services, concerning the possible presence of explosives on some crates loaded in Alexandria . While we can not verify the veracity of information SISMI, in accordance with the ship’s Captain, he decided as a precaution to throw overboard some boxes of which had not been possible to check the contents.
In 1990, the hijacking was told in a television movie, The Voyage of Terror: The Real Story of the Terrorist attack, with Burt Lancaster and Eva Marie Saint.
All contacts during this dramatic situation happened to “Achille Lauro” were handled by ROME RADIO IAR.
When “Achille Lauro” fired in the Indian ocean all distress traffic was handled on 500 kHz, Italian TV Networks interviewed the Chief R/O who described all the operation in the radio room until some merchant ships altered their courses to the distress position for rescue operations , on board there were 572 passengers and 402 crew members, unfortunately two people lost their lives.
An old clip recorded for promoting cruises on board “Achille Lauro”…pay attention at the beginning of the clip it is shown for few seconds the radio room.