MS Achille Lauro

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MS Achille Lauro was an Italian-flagged passenger cruise liner, originally constructed as the Dutch transatlantic liner Willem Ruys in the 1940s. It is most widely known for the 1985 high-profile terrorist hijacking that drew global attention to civilian maritime security risks, before it was destroyed by fire and sunk in the Indian Ocean in 1994.

Key moments

1938Vessel keel laid in Vlissingen, Netherlands, construction interrupted during World War Two by bombing damage
December 1947Completed under the name Willem Ruys, began its maiden voyage as a passenger liner for Rotterdam shipping line
1964Sold to Italian Lauro Lines, renamed MS Achille Lauro after the former long-serving mayor of Naples, Italy, followed by a full modernization rebuild to operate leisure Mediterranean cruises
7 October 1985Hijacked off the Egyptian Mediterranean coast by four Palestinian Liberation Front militants, who murdered disabled American Jewish passenger Leon Klinghoffer during the standoff
10 October 1985U.S. Navy F-14 fighter jets intercepted an Egyptian civilian airliner carrying the surrendered hijackers, forcing it to land at the Sigonella NATO base in Sicily, triggering a major diplomatic dispute over jurisdiction between the U.S. and Italy
30 November 1994A large uncontrolled onboard fire broke out mid-voyage in the Indian Ocean, the abandoned burning vessel sank three days later

Impact on global maritime security policy

The Achille Lauro hijacking became a landmark reference event for international maritime regulators, prompting the International Maritime Organization to formalize new mandatory anti-terrorism security protocols for all civilian passenger ships operating in international waters in the years after the incident. It also redefined industry understandings of the vulnerability of large civilian cruise vessels to political attacks, a concern that was amplified further after the 9/11 attacks in 2001.

Diplomatic and legal precedent

The 1985 interception of the Egyptian airliner by U.S. military jets set an unusual public precedent for transnational law enforcement action against suspected terrorists on civilian aircraft, sparking long-running debates about airspace sovereignty and cross-border counter-terrorism jurisdiction that remain relevant in modern global counter-terrorism discourse.

Reflection of mid-20th century passenger shipping industry shifts

The vessel's full lifecycle, from its original design as a post-WWII transatlantic migrant and passenger liner to its conversion to a leisure-focused Mediterranean cruise ship, mirrors the broader global shipping industry's transition in the 1960s and 1970s away from scheduled transoceanic passenger services toward dedicated vacation cruise operations.

Overview

*Willem Ruys (1947–1965) *Achille Lauro (1965–1994)

yard number
namesake	Willem Ruys Achille Lauro
owner	1947–1965: Royal Rotterdam Lloyd 1965–1989: Achille Lauro FU G. & C. *1989–1994: Star Lauro S.P.A.‡R1R‡
operator	* Royal Rotterdam Lloyd (1947–1964) Flotta Lauro Lines (1965–1989) StarLauro (1989–1994)
registry	1947–1965: 🇳🇱 Rotterdam 1965–1994: 🇮🇹 Naples
ordered	7 May 1938
builder	KM 'De Schelde' S&M, Vlissingen

Concept and construction

laid down	25 January 1939‡R1R‡

launched	1 July 1946‡R1R‡ (Delayed due to WWII)

completed	21 November 1947‡R1R‡

christened	by HM Queen Wilhelmina‡R2R‡

maiden voyage	2 December 1947‡R1R‡

in service	2 December 1947

out of service	30 November 1994

identification	Call sign: PIQF → IBHE‡R1R‡

fate	Sank on 2 December 1994 off the coast of Somalia due to fire on board.

Ordered in 1938 to replace the aging ships on the Dutch East Indies route, she was laid down in 1939 at Koninklijke Maatschappij 'De Schelde'. Scheepswerf en Machinefabriek in Vlissingen, Netherlands, for Rotterdamsche Lloyd (now part of Nedlloyd). Interrupted by World War II and two bombing raids, the ship was finally launched in July 1946, as Willem Ruys. The ship was named after the grandson of the founder of Rotterdamsche Lloyd, whom the Germans had taken hostage and shot during the war.

Willem Ruys was completed in late 1947. At that time, the Rotterdamsche Lloyd had been granted a royal prefix in honour of its services during the war. Willem Ruys was 192 m in length, 25 m in beam, had a draught of 8.9 m, and measured 21,119 gross register tons. Eight Sulzer engines drove two propellers. She could accommodate 900 passengers. She featured a superstructure very different from other liners of that era; Willem Ruys pioneered low-slung aluminium lifeboats, within the upper-works' flanks. The next ship to adopt this arrangement was the SS Canberra in 1961. Today, all cruise ships follow this layout, with fibreglass-reinforced plastic (FRP) used for lifeboat hulls.

Service history

As the Willem Ruys

On the East Indies route

As Willem Ruys, the ship began her maiden voyage on 5 December 1947. Together with her main competitor and running mate, the MS Oranje of the Netherland Line, she became a popular fixture on the Dutch East Indies route. However, when the East Indies gained independence from The Netherlands in 1949, passenger numbers decreased.

The future prime minister of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew, travelled aboard Willem Ruys as a fresh graduate upon completing his studies in the United Kingdom.[3]

Collision with Oranje

On 6 January 1953, Willem Ruys collided in the Red Sea with running mate MS Oranje, which was heading in the opposite direction. At that time, it was common for passenger ships to pass each other at close range to entertain their passengers. During the (later heavily criticized) abrupt and fast approach of Oranje, Willem Ruys made an unexpected swing to the left, resulting in a collision.

As Achille Lauro

In 1965, she was sold to the Flotta Lauro Line and renamed Achille Lauro after the company's owner. She was extensively rebuilt and modernized after an August 1965 onboard explosion, and entered service in 1966 carrying passengers to Sydney, Australia. The ship played a role in evacuating the families of British servicemen caught up in unrest in Aden, and made one of the last northbound transits through the Suez Canal before its closure during the Six-Day War.

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 Lauro Lines went bankrupt in 1982. The Chandris Line took possession of her under a charter arrangement in 1985, shortly before the hijacking.

The ship was chartered by a private group for the duration of the 1987 America's Cup series held in Fremantle, Western Australia, to act as a viewing platform and accommodation for 1,400 visitors. It also housed the international jury which oversaw the races.

1985 hijacking

On 7 October 1985, four members of the Palestinian Liberation Front (PLF) took control of the liner off Egypt as she was sailing from Alexandria to Port Said. 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 Jewish-American passenger Leon Klinghoffer and then threw his body overboard.[7]

The ship then 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. This airliner, however, was intercepted by U.S. Navy F-14 Tomcat fighter aircraft and directed to land in Sicily. There, the United States Delta Force unsuccessfully attempted to extract the hijackers in order to try them in the United States, thereby causing the Sigonella Crisis. The four terrorists were ultimately sentenced to prison terms by the Italian courts, while the operation's mastermind, who had not taken part in the actual hijacking, was given passage to Yugoslavia and escaped.[8]

Later years, fire, and sinking

The ship continued in service. She was re-flagged in 1989 when the Lauro Line was taken over by the Mediterranean Shipping Company to become "StarLauro".

In the evening of 30 November 1994 she caught fire off the coast of Somalia while en route to South Africa, with 979 passengers and crew aboard. At that time, Italian officials said the fire had been caused by a discarded cigarette. Later analysis suggests that the fire started in the engine room after one of the crankcases exploded which allowed cooling oil to get into the exhaust. Because of a lack of supervision, the fire burned out of control before its discovery.[9] The crew battled the fire unsuccessfully for several hours, first with hoses and then by passing buckets from the swimming pool. Entertainer Moss Hills, who led rescue efforts during the sinking of MTS Oceanos in 1991, recalled that pouring water on an oil fire was ineffective, while making the conflagration worse.[10] The vessel was abandoned in the morning after developing a list. A small number of crew and passengers were unable to board the main lifeboats due to flames coming up from the hull, so they climbed down a rope ladder from the stern to reach inflatable boats. Two died and eight were injured during the evacuation and transfer to rescue ships. Among the ships that responded to the call were USS Gettysburg and USS Halyburton (FFG-40).

MS Achille Lauro

WorldBrand briefing

Impact on global maritime security policy

Diplomatic and legal precedent

Reflection of mid-20th century passenger shipping industry shifts

Concept and construction

Service history

As the Willem Ruys

On the East Indies route

Collision with Oranje

See also

Further reading

External links

References

Collision with "Cornelis B"

Journey to Java

Later years

On the East Indies route

Collision with Oranje

Collision with "Cornelis B"

Journey to Java

Later years

As Achille Lauro

1985 hijacking

Later years, fire, and sinking

1985 hijacking

Later years, fire, and sinking