Genoa, the home port of the Andrea Doria, produced two of the world's greatest sea captains:  Christopher Columbus and Andrea Doria (1468-1560).  While Columbus famously went off in search of new sea routes, Doria stayed home and fought the Spanish, French, and Barbary pirates.  One of the most cunning fighting men and politicians of his day, Andrea Doria, who is credited as the first man to discover how to sail against the wind, became Admiral of the Genoese Fleet and ultimately the "father of his country."  Like that of the Borghese, the name of Doria lived on through the centuries as one of the great family names of Italy and it was to Andrea Doria that the Italia Line returned when choosing a name fitting for the great ship it had designed after the second World War

The keel of the Andrea Doria (No. 918) was laid down on the Number 1 slipway at Ansaldo's Sestri Ponente yards on February 9, 1950.  Planned for launching on June 10, 1951, it was six days later when Italy's first postwar North Atlantic liner slid down the Ansaldo ways.  Prior to the launching, the ship was blessed by His Eminence Cardinal Siri, Archbishop of Genoa, and christened by Signora Giuseppina Saragat, wife of the former Minister of the Italian Merchant Marine.  By June 23, she was in the fitting-out basin and expected to be ready "by next summer."  However, decorating the interior of this ship consumed another eighteen months, and it was not until November 6, 1952, that the Andrea Doria left Sestri Ponente for her preliminary engine trials.  Nine days later, amid reports of machinery problems, her maiden voyage was rescheduled from December 14, 1952, to January 14, 1953.

At the same time, on July 25, 1956, the Swedish American Line’s Stockholm prepared for her departure from New York to Göteborg.  She was scheduled to depart at 11:31 a.m., and was under the command of Captain Gunnar Nordenson.  He, just like Captain Piero Calamai of the Andrea Doria, was a very skilled captain who had entered the sea-business in 1911 and became a captain in 1918.  He had never been involved in any serious accident on his ships.  His present ship, the Stockholm, was a ship that differed from others on the North Atlantic.  It was about half the size of the Andrea Doria and five knots slower.  She was the smallest ship in the Swedish American Line.  She had entered service in 1948 as a combined passenger and cargo-ship.  She only had two classes in which passengers traveled, first class and tourist class.  On this voyage she carried 534 passengers (almost full, considering her 570 passenger capacity), only 18 of them in First Class.