Oslofjord (ship, 1949)
The Oslofjord in the port of Haifa, September 1959
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The Oslofjord (III) was a passenger ship of the Norwegian Den norske Amerikalinje (NAL, Norwegian America Line ), which entered service in 1949. The ship, which was sold to Costa Crociere as Fulvia in 1969 , was last used for cruises before it sank on July 20, 1970 after an explosion in the engine room off Tenerife .
history
The Oslofjord was built under the hull number 410 by the Netherlands Shipbuilding Company ( Nederlandsche Dok en Scheepsbouw Maattschappij ) in Amsterdam and launched on April 2, 1949 by Crown Princess Märtha . On November 26, 1949, the ship began its maiden voyage from Oslo to New York as the first post-war newbuilding of the NAL shipping company . The shipping company used the ship for liner services from Norway to the United States as well as for cruises.
In 1957 the ship was retrofitted with stabilizers. In June 1966 a planned sale to Finnlines did not materialize. From November 3, 1966 to February 1967, the Oslofjord was modernized by its builder in Amsterdam and re- measured with 16,923 GT . The NAL had put the new Sagafjord into service in October 1965 , so the Oslofjord was chartered to the Greek Greek Line in December 1967 , which used it for cruises from Southampton . In October 1969 the ship returned to liner service for the NAL.
In December 1969, after twenty years in liner service , the Oslofjord went to the Italian shipping company Costa Crociere , which she renamed Fulvia and used exclusively for cruises under the Norwegian flag.
After only a few months in service for Costa, there was an explosion in the ship's engine room on July 19, 1970 during a cruise off Tenerife, which triggered a major fire on board. All 721 passengers and crew were rescued from the French passenger ship Ancerville . The still burning Fulvia was to be towed to the port of Tenerife for extinguishing work, but sank on the way there on July 20 and has since been at a depth of around 3,100 meters.
Web links
- the ship on faktaomfartyg.se (Swedish)
- the ship on wrecksite.eu (English)
- Report on the Fulvia fire in The New York Times on July 20, 1970 (English)