Collision Course: The Classic Story of the Collision of the Andrea Doria and the Stockholm

by Alvin Moscow

W. La Belle told the Coast Guard hearing that he was relying upon his radar for safe passage, but he was not plotting the pips of other ships seen on his radarscope. As the Constitution, coming from Newport News, Virginia, headed towards the mouth of New York Harbor, Captain La Belle noted on his radar that he was in a head-to-head situation with a ship leaving the harbor (which was the Norwegian freighter Kingsville, bound for Savannah, Georgia). For a safer port-to-port passing, Captain La Belle ordered a 20° turn to starboard. The Constitution ran right into another ship, the Jalanta, which Captain La Belle had not seen at all. The Constitution hit with such force that it sliced off part of the Jalanta’s bow. Captain La Belle was found at fault for his failure to search. Without plotting all the pips on his radar scope, there was no way he could tell what other ships were doing in the area. Despite his thirty-two years at sea, the captain had no defense. He was charged by the Coast Guard