MS Achille Lauro
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 Achille Lauro |
|
| Career | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Willem Ruys (1947-1964) Achille Lauro (1965-1994) |
| Operator: | Royal Rotterdam Lloyd (1947-1964) Flotta Lauro Lines (1965-1986) StarLauro (1987-1994) |
| Ordered: | 1938 |
| Laid down: | 1939 |
| Launched: | 1946 (Delayed due to WWII) |
| Completed: | 1947 |
| Maiden voyage: | December 2, 1947 |
| Out of service: | November 30, 1994 |
| Fate: | Sank on December 2, 1994, off the coast of Somalia due to fire onboard. |
| General characteristics | |
| Tonnage: | 21,119 GRT as built 23,629 GRT after refurbishment |
| Length: | 630ft. (192m.) |
| Beam: | 82ft. (25m.) |
| Draught: | 29.2ft. (8.9m) |
| Capacity: | 900 passengers |
| Crew: | 400 |
The Achille Lauro, originally the Willem Ruys, a passenger liner, was a cruise ship based in Naples, Italy. She is most remembered for her 1985 hijacking.
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[edit] Concept and construction
Ordered in 1938, her keel was laid in 1939 at Vlissingen, Netherlands, for Rotterdamsche Lloyd. Interrupted by World War II and two bombing raids, the ship was not launched until July 1946 as the Willem Ruys. Completed in late 1947, she began her maiden voyage on December 2, 1947. She was 192 metres (630 ft) in length, 25 metres (82 ft) in beam, had a draught of 8.9 metres (29.2 ft), and measured 21,119 gross register tons. Eight Sulzer engines drove two propellers. She could accommodate 900 passengers.
[edit] Service history
[edit] As the Achille Lauro
In 1964, she was sold to the Flotta Lauro Line, or Star Lauro, (now MSC Cruises) and renamed the Achille Lauro (after the company owner). Extensively rebuilt and modernized after an August 1965 onboard explosion, the Achille Lauro entered service in 1966 carrying passengers to Sydney, Australia. The ship played a role in evacuating the families of British servicemen caught up in the Six Day War, arriving in Cairo on June 1, 1967.
The Achille Lauro was converted to a cruise ship in early 1972, during which time she suffered a disastrous fire. A 1975 collision with the cargo ship Youseff resulted in the sinking of the latter, and another onboard fire in 1981 took her out of service for a time. She was laid up in Tenerife when the Lauro Lines went bankrupt in 1982. The Chandris Line took possession of her in 1985, shortly before the hijacking.
[edit] 1985 hijacking
On October 7, 1985, four men representing the Palestine Liberation Front (PLF) took control of the liner off Egypt as she was sailing from Alexandria to Port Said.
The hijackers had been surprised by a crew member and acted prematurely. Holding the passengers and crew hostage, they directed the vessel to sail to Tartus, Syria, and demanded the release of 50 Palestinians then in Israeli prisons. After being refused permission to dock at Tartus, the hijackers killed disabled American passenger Leon Klinghoffer and then threw his body overboard.[1] The ship headed back towards Port Said, and after two days of negotiations, the hijackers agreed to abandon the liner in exchange for safe conduct and were flown towards Tunisia aboard an Egyptian commercial airliner.
United States President Ronald Reagan ordered that the plane be intercepted by F-14 Tomcats from the VF-74 "BeDevilers" and the VF-103 "Sluggers" of Carrier Air Wing 17, based on the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga, on October 10 and directed to land at Naval Air Station Sigonella, a N.A.T.O. base in Sicily, where the hijackers were arrested by the Italians[2] after a disagreement between American and Italian authorities. The other passengers on the plane (possibly including the hijackers' leader, Abu Abbas) were allowed to continue on to their destination [3], despite protests by the United States. Egypt demanded an apology from the U.S. for forcing the airplane off course.
[edit] Disagreement between Italy and U.S.
Italian Prime Minister Bettino Craxi claimed Italian territorial rights over the NATO base and Italian Air Force and Carabinieri lined up facing the American Navy SEALs which had arrived with two C-141s. Other Carabinieri were sent from Catania to reinforce the Italians. It was the gravest diplomatic crisis between Italy and United States and was resolved five hours later.
[edit] Hijackers
The fate of those convicted of the hijacking is varied:
- Bassam al-Asker was granted parole in 1991. He died on February 21, 2004.
- Ahmad Marrouf al-Assadi disappeared in 1991 while on parole.
- Youssef Majed al-Molqi, convicted of killing Leon Klinghoffer [2], was sentenced to 30 years, left the Rebibbia prison in Rome on February 16, 1996, on a 12-day furlough, and fled to Spain, where he was recaptured and extradited back to Italy. On April 29, 2009, Italian officials released him from prison on good behaviour.[4][5] In June 2009, however, al-Molqui's attorney told the Associated Press that the Italian authorities had placed his client in a holding cell and were about to deport him to Syria.[6]
- Abu Abbas left the jurisdiction of Italy and was convicted in absentia. In 1996, he made an apology for the hijacking and murder, and spoke out in favor of peace talks between Palestinians and Israel; the apology was rejected by the U.S. government and Klinghoffer's family, who insisted he be brought to justice. Abbas was captured in Iraq in 2003 by the U.S. military during its 2003 invasion of Iraq. He died in U.S. custody March 8, 2004.
- Ibrahim Fatayer Abdelatif was sentenced to 30 years imprisonment. He served 20 and three more on parole and on July 7, 2008, he was expelled from an illegal immigrant detention center in Rome. He plans to appeal this arguing that he has nowhere else to go since Lebanon will not allow his return as he was born in a refugee camp and is thus not a Lebanese citizen.
The PLO was sued for its role in the death of Leon Klinghoffer. The $1.5 billion suit was dropped when the PLO paid an undisclosed sum to Klinghoffer's daughters.[1] The family founded the Leon and Marilyn Klinghoffer Memorial Foundation in cooperation with the Anti-Defamation League, which works to combat terrorism through legal, political and educational means.[1]
[edit] Later years
The ship continued in service; she was reflagged in 1987 when the Lauro Line was taken over by the Mediterranean Shipping Company to become StarLauro. On November 30, 1994, she caught fire off the coast of Somalia while enroute to South Africa. Abandoned, the vessel sank on December 2.[7]
[edit] See also
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Achille Lauro |
- Lauro Lines s.r.l. v. Chasser et al., the U.S. Supreme Court case in the aftermath of this incident
- List of hostage crises
- The 1979 Nahariya attack
[edit] References
- ^ a b c "Klinghoffer daughters recall personal tragedy at commemoration of terror victims outside Israel - Haaretz - Israel News". Haaretz. 2006-12-24. http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=981987&contrassID=2&subContrassID=16. Retrieved 2009-07-15.
- ^ Heymann, Philip B., (2001), Terrorism and America: A Commonsense Strategy for a Democratic Society. Cambridge, Massachusettes, The MIT Press.
- ^ Bosiljevac, T.L. (1990). SEALS: UDT/SEAL Operations in Vietnam. Ballantine Books. p. 200. ISBN 0-8041-0722-X.
- ^ "Achille Lauro Murderer Released in Italy - Jewish World - Israel News". Israel National News. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/131125. Retrieved 2009-07-15.
- ^ [1][dead link]
- ^ "Italy expels Palestinian hijacker to Syria, Associated Press, June 27, 2009, published in AT&T on-line news, retrieved June 27, 2009". My.att.net. 1985-01-01. http://my.att.net/s/editorial.dll?pnum=1&bfromind=7406&eeid=6659082&_sitecat=1505&dcatid=0&eetype=article&render=y&ac=3&ck=&ch=ne&rg=blsadstrgt&_lid=332&_lnm=tg+ne+topnews&ck=. Retrieved 2009-07-15.
- ^ Reuben Goossens. "Achille Lauro". Ssmaritime.com. http://www.ssmaritime.com/achillelauro.htm. Retrieved 2009-07-15.
[edit] External links
- ss Maritime History- Willem Ruys/Achille Lauro
- H2G2- Achille Lauro hijacking
- Special Operations website- Achille Lauro hijacking
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