title: SS Andrea Doria

text: Because it sailed the southern Atlantic routes, "Andrea Doria" was the first ship to feature three outdoor swimming pools, one for each class (first, cabin, and tourist). When fully booked, the ship was capable of accommodating 1,241 passengers in three different classes; 218 in First Class, 320 in Cabin Class, and 703 in Tourist Class. As was the rule aboard transatlantic passenger liners, each passenger class was strictly segregated to specific parts of the ship. First Class accommodations were located amidships on the upper decks, Cabin Class accommodations were located just abaft of First Class, and Tourist Class accommodations were divided between the bow and aft ends and were connected by corridors that ran the full length of the ship. Each class had its own separate dining room, lounges, and social halls, designated areas of open deck space and enclosed promenades, and even their own swimming pools with verandas. In addition, 563 crew members were charged with operating and maintaining the ship. Over $1 million was spent on artwork and the decor of the cabins and public rooms, including a life-sized statue of Admiral Doria.


title: SS Andrea Doria

text: Equipped with a double hull, "Andrea Doria" was divided into 11 watertight compartments. Any two of these could be filled with water without endangering the ship's safety. "Andrea Doria" also carried enough lifeboats to accommodate all passengers and crew. She carried a total of 16 steel lifeboats, eight positioned on each side of the ship, of three different designs; two 58-person launches for emergency use, two 70-person motorboats with inboard radio transmitters, and 12 146-person hand-propelled standard boats. Furthermore, the ship was equipped with the latest early-warning radar. However, despite its technological advantages, the ship had serious flaws relating to its seaworthiness and safety.


title: SS Andrea Doria

text: Confirming predictions derived from model testing during the design phase, the ship developed a huge list when hit by any significant force. This was especially apparent during its maiden voyage, when "Andrea Doria" listed 28° after being hit by a large wave off Nantucket. The ship's tendency to list was accentuated when the fuel tanks were nearly empty, which was usually at the end of a voyage.


title: SS Andrea Doria

text: This stability issue became a focus of the investigation after the sinking, as it was a factor in both the capsizing and the crew's inability to lower the port-side lifeboats. The bulkheads of the watertight compartments extended only up to the top of A Deck, and a list greater than 20° allowed water from a flooded watertight compartment to pass over its top into adjacent compartments. In addition, the design parameters allowed the lowering of the lifeboats at a maximum 15° list. Beyond this limit, up to half of the lifeboats could not be deployed.


title: SS Andrea Doria

text: At the end of World War II, Italy had lost half its merchant fleet through wartime destruction and Allied forces seeking war reparations. The losses included the scuttling/bombing of , a former Blue Riband holder. Furthermore, the country was struggling with a collapsed economy. To show the world that the country had recovered from the war, and to reestablish the nation's pride, the Italian Line commissioned two new vessels of similar design in the early 1950s. The first was to be named "Andrea Doria", after the 16th-century Genoese admiral Andrea Doria. The second vessel, which was launched in 1953, was to be named after explorer Christopher Columbus.


title: SS Andrea Doria

text: These ships were intended to enter use on the Italian Line's main service between Genoa and New York, which was commonly advertised as the "Sunny Southern Route" alongside "Saturnia", "Vulcania" and "Conte Biancamano", which were among the handful of Italian liners to survive the war. However, as popular as these vessels were, all three were more than two decades old and had somewhat slower service speeds. Thus, it was the line's intention to use the new "Andrea Doria" and "Cristoforo Colombo" to establish a new express service to New York. While the three older liners followed a route that meandered throughout the Mediterranean with additional stops at ports including the Azores, Lisbon, Barcelona and Palermo, the two new faster ships would make only three ports of call between Genoa and New York: at Cannes, Naples and Gibraltar.


title: SS Andrea Doria

text: Construction of "Andrea Doria" started as Yard No. 918 at Ansaldo Shipyard in Genoa. On 9 February 1950, the ship's keel was laid on the No. 1 slipway, and on 16 June 1951, "Andrea Doria" was launched. During the ceremony, the ship's hull was blessed by Giuseppe Siri, Cardinal Archbishop of Genoa, and christened by Mrs. Giuseppina Saragat, wife of the former Minister of the Merchant Marine Giuseppe Saragat.


title: SS Andrea Doria

text: Initially, "Andrea Doria" had been scheduled to depart Genoa on her maiden voyage on 14 December 1952, but amid reports of machinery problems during sea trials, the departure was delayed to 14 January 1953. Following the Italian Line's advertised route, she collected 794 passengers (152 First Class, 157 Cabin Class, 485 Tourist Class) before heading into the open Atlantic for New York. During the ship's maiden voyage, she encountered heavy storms on the final approach to New York, listing a full 28°. Nevertheless, "Andrea Doria" completed her maiden voyage on 23 January and received a welcoming delegation that included New York Mayor Vincent R. Impellitteri.


title: SS Andrea Doria

text: The 51st westbound crossing of "Andrea Doria" to New York began as a typical run on the North Atlantic. Her most recent eastbound crossing from New York had concluded on 14 July 1956, and after a three-day turnaround, the ship was prepared to make another trek across the Atlantic, which was scheduled to begin from Genoa on Tuesday, 17 July. On this run, she was booked to roughly 90% of her total passenger capacity, with 1,134 passengers travelling aboard her: 190 in first class, 267 in cabin class and 677 in tourist class; with a crew of 572, a total of 1,706 persons were aboard.


title: SS Andrea Doria

text: On the morning of 17 July, boarding at the pier at Genoa began at 8 a.m. as "Andrea Doria" took on her first batch of passengers. In all, 277 passengers embarked at Genoa; 49 first class, 72 cabin class and 156 tourist class. Among those boarding in first class were Hungarian ballet dancers Istvan Rabovsky and Nora Kovach, who had defected from the Soviet bloc to the United States just three years earlier. "Andrea Doria" departed Genoa at 11 a.m. on the first leg of her journey.


title: SS Andrea Doria

text: Her first port of call was at Cannes, on the French Riviera, where she arrived in mid-afternoon that same day. Only a handful of passengers boarded there, 48 in all: 30 first class, 15 cabin class and only three tourist class. Among them was one of "Andrea Doria"s most famous passengers, Hollywood actress Ruth Roman, who was travelling with her three-year-old son Richard. The famous songwriter, Mike Stoller, was aboard as well. Unbeknownst to him, Elvis Presley was enjoying his first big hit song with Stoller and Lieber's "Heartbreak Hotel" during this historic sailing. From Cannes "Andrea Doria" then proceeded to the southeast to Naples, where she arrived later the following morning to take on the bulk of her passengers. A total of 744 came aboard at Naples: another 85 in first class, 161 in cabin class and 498 in tourist class. Most of those in tourist class were emigrants from impoverished regions of southern Italy on their way to new lives in America. She departed Naples just after 6 p.m., making her final port of call two days later while dropping anchor off Gibraltar. After collecting her final 65 passengers (26 first class, 19 cabin class, 20 tourist class), she proceeded onto the open Atlantic for New York.


title: SS Andrea Doria

text: On Wednesday, 25 July, just before noon, "Stockholm", a passenger liner of the Swedish American Line, departed New York Harbor on her 103rd eastbound crossing across the Atlantic to her home port of Gothenburg, Sweden. At 12,165 tons and in length, roughly half the size of "Andrea Doria", "Stockholm" was the smallest passenger liner on the North Atlantic run during the 1950s. Completed in 1948, "Stockholm" was of a much more practical design than "Andrea Doria". Originally built to accommodate only 395 passengers in two classes, "Stockholm" was designed more for comfort than the luxury and opulence found aboard "Andrea Doria", because the Swedish-American Line was aware that the age of transatlantic passenger travel was coming to an end with the rapid growth of air travel. However, they did not envision the massive surge in tourism that arose during the 1950s. As a result, the Swedish-American Line withdrew "Stockholm" from service in 1953 for an overhaul that included an addition to her superstructure to provide space for accommodations for an additional 153 passengers, increasing her maximum passenger capacity to 548. This proved to be a successful move, as by 1956 "Stockholm" had gained a worthy reputation on the North Atlantic. Also, because the "Stockholm" sailed close to the Arctic Ocean, it was designed with a strong, icebreaking bow, which turned out to be a major factor in her survival, and the fatal damage to "Andrea Doria".


title: SS Andrea Doria

text: "Stockholm" left New York almost booked to capacity with 534 passengers and a crew of 208. She was commanded by Captain Harry Gunnar Nordenson, though Third Officer Johan-Ernst Carstens-Johannsen was on duty on the bridge at the time of the accident. This was his first time alone on the bridge of a ship, and he had been up since 06:00 that morning supervising baggage-loading and passenger-boarding in New York. "Stockholm" was following her usual course south of the Nantucket Lightship at a speed of about , with clear skies. Meant to save time, this course nonetheless set the "Stockholm" twenty miles north of the recommended eastbound course for ships leaving the U.S., meaning that the ship sailed straight into incoming westward traffic. This was a clear violation of the 1953 North Atlantic Track Agreement to which the Swedish American Line was a signatory. Carstens-Johannsen estimated visibility at .


title: SS Andrea Doria

text: As "Stockholm" and "Andrea Doria" were approaching each other head-on in the heavily used shipping corridor, the westbound "Andrea Doria" had been traveling in heavy fog for hours. The captain had reduced speed slightly from , activated the ship's fog-warning whistle, and had closed the watertight doors, all customary precautions while sailing in such conditions. However, the eastbound "Stockholm" had yet to enter what was apparently the edge of a fog bank, and was seemingly unaware of it and the movement of the other ship hidden within the fog. The waters of the North Atlantic south of Nantucket Island are frequently the site of intermittent fog, as the cold Labrador Current encounters the Gulf Stream.


title: SS Andrea Doria

text: As the two ships approached each other at a combined speed of , in failing light, each was aware of the presence of another ship, but guided only by radar, they apparently misinterpreted each other's course. No radio communication was made between the two ships at first.


title: SS Andrea Doria

text: The original inquiry established that in the critical minutes before the collision, "Andrea Doria" gradually steered to its left, attempting a starboard-to-starboard passing, while "Stockholm" turned about 20° to its right, an action intended to widen the passing distance of a port-to-port passing. In fact, they were actually steering toward each other, narrowing, rather than widening, the passing distance. As a result of the extremely thick fog that enveloped "Andrea Doria" as the ships approached each other, the ships were quite close by the time visual contact was established. By then, the crews realized that they were on a collision course, but despite last-minute maneuvers, they could not avoid the collision.


title: SS Andrea Doria

text: In the last moments before impact, "Stockholm" turned hard to starboard (right) and was in the process of reversing her propellers, attempting to stop. "Andrea Doria", remaining at her cruising speed of almost engaged in a hard turn to port (left), her captain hoping to outrun the collision. Around 11:10 p.m., the two ships collided, "Stockholm" striking the side of "Andrea Doria".


title: SS Andrea Doria

text: When "Andrea Doria" and "Stockholm" collided at almost a 90° angle, "Stockholm"s sharply raked ice breaking prow pierced "Andrea Doria"s starboard side about one-third of her length from the bow, under the ship's bridge. It penetrated the hull to a depth of nearly , and the keel. Below the waterline, five fuel tanks on "Andrea Doria"s starboard side were torn open, and they filled with thousands of tons of seawater. Meanwhile, air was trapped in the five empty tanks on the port side, causing them to float more readily, contributing to a severe list. The ship's large fuel tanks were mostly empty at the time of the collision, since the ship was nearing the end of her voyage, worsening the list.


title: SS Andrea Doria

text: "Andrea Doria" was designed with her hull divided into 11 watertight compartments, separated by steel bulkheads that ran across the width of her hull, rising from the bottom of the ship's hull up to A Deck. The only openings in the bulkheads were on the bottom deck, where watertight doors were installed for use by the engine crew and could be easily closed in an emergency. Her design specified that if any two adjacent watertight compartments were breached, she could remain afloat. In addition, following the rules and guidelines set by the International Conference for Safety of Life at Sea of 1948, "Andrea Doria" was designed to handle a list, even under the worst imaginable circumstances, but not one greater than 15°. However, the combination of the five flooded tanks on one side and the five empty tanks on the other left her with a list that, within a few minutes of the collision, exceeded 20°. While the collision itself penetrated only one of "Andrea Doria"s watertight compartments, the severe list would gradually pull the tops of the bulkheads along the starboard side below the level of the water, allowing seawater to flow down corridors, down stairwells, and any other way it could find into the next compartment in line. The collision had also torn into an access tunnel running from the generator room, which was located in the compartment directly aft of where the collision had happened, to a small room at the forward end of the tank compartment containing the controls for the tank pumps. But a fatal flaw in "Andrea Doria"s design existed, as at the point where the tunnel went through the bulkhead separating the two compartments, no watertight door was present. This allowed the generator room to flood rapidly, contributing to not only an increase in flooding, but a loss of electricity.


title: SS Andrea Doria

text: Initial radio distress calls were sent out by each ship, and in that manner, they learned each other's identities. Soon afterward, the messages were received by numerous radio and Coast Guard stations along the New England coast, and the world soon became aware that two large ocean liners had collided.


title: SS Andrea Doria

text: "Andrea Doria" sent this SOS call: "SOS DE ICEH [this is "Andrea Doria"] SOS HERE AT 0320 GMT LAT. 40.30 N 69.53 W NEED IMMEDIATE ASSISTANCE"


title: SS Andrea Doria

text: Immediately after the collision, "Andrea Doria" began to take on water and started to list severely to starboard. Within minutes, the list was at least 18°. After the ships separated, Captain Calamai quickly brought the engine controls to "all stop". One of the watertight doors to the engine room may have been missing, though this issue was later determined to be moot. Much more importantly, however, crucial stability was lost by the earlier failure, during routine operations, to ballast the mostly empty fuel tanks as the builders had specified. (Filling the tanks with seawater as the fuel was emptied would have resulted in more costly procedures to refuel when port was reached.) Owing to the immediate rush of seawater flooding the starboard tanks, and because the port tanks had emptied during the crossing, the list was greater than would otherwise have been the case. As the list increased over the next few minutes to 20° or more, Calamai realized that no hope was left for his ship unless the list could be corrected.


title: SS Andrea Doria

text: In the engine room, engineers attempted to pump water out of the flooding starboard tanks, but to no avail. Only a small amount of fuel remained, and the intakes to pump seawater into the port tanks were now high out of the water, making any attempt to level the ship futile.


title: SS Andrea Doria

text: Aboard "Stockholm", roughly of her bow had been crushed and torn away. Initially, the ship was dangerously down by the bow, but emptying the freshwater tanks soon raised the bow to within of normal. A quick survey determined that the major damage did not extend aft beyond the bulkhead between the first and second watertight compartments. Thus, despite being down at the bow and having her first watertight compartment flooded, the ship was soon determined to be stable and in no imminent danger of sinking.


title: SS Andrea Doria

text: On "Andrea Doria", the decision to abandon ship was made within 30 minutes of impact. A sufficient number of lifeboats for all of the passengers and crew were positioned on each side of the Boat Deck. Procedures called for lowering the lifeboats to be fastened alongside the glass-enclosed Promenade Deck (one deck below), where evacuees could step out of windows directly into the boats, which would then be lowered down to the sea. However, it was soon determined that half of the lifeboats, those on the port side, were unlaunchable due to the severe list, which left them high in the air. To make matters worse, the list also complicated normal lifeboat procedures on the starboard side. Instead of loading lifeboats at the side of the Promenade Deck and then lowering them into the water, it would be necessary to lower the boats empty, and somehow get evacuees down the exterior of the ship to water level to board. This was eventually accomplished through ropes and Jacob's ladders. In fear of causing a panic and stampeding of the starboard lifeboats, Captain Calamai decided against giving the order to abandon ship until help arrived. In the meantime, Second Officer Guido Badano made announcements over the loudspeaker system instructing passengers to put on their lifebelts and go to their designated muster stations.


title: SS Andrea Doria

text: A distress message was relayed to other ships by radio, making it clear that additional lifeboats were urgently needed. The first ship to respond to "Andrea Doria"s distress call was the freighter "Cape Ann" of the United Fruit Company, which was returning to the United States after a trip to Bremerhaven, Germany. Upon receiving the message from the stricken "Andrea Doria", Captain Joseph Boyd immediately set course for the site of the collision. With a crew of 44 aboard and only two 40-person lifeboats, the assistance "Cape Ann" could offer was limited, but within minutes, she was joined by other ships heeding the distress call. The US Navy transport , en route to New York from Livorno, Italy, with 214 troops and dependents also responded to the signal and made immediate progress towards the site. Her captain, John Shea, was placed in charge of the rescue operation by the US Navy and readily ordered his crew to prepare their eight usable lifeboats. Also joining the rescue was the US Navy destroyer escort .


title: SS Andrea Doria

text: On board "Andrea Doria", the launching of the eight usable lifeboats on the starboard side was yet another calamity of the night, as many of the boats left "Andrea Doria" only partially loaded with about 200 panicked crewmen and very few passengers.


title: SS Andrea Doria

text: While other ships nearby were en route, Captain Nordenson of "Stockholm", having determined that his ship was not in any imminent danger of sinking, and after being assured of the safety of his mostly sleeping passengers, sent some of his lifeboats to supplement the starboard boats from "Andrea Doria." In the first hours, many survivors transported by lifeboats from both ships were taken aboard "Stockholm." Unlike the tragedy 44 years earlier, several other nonpassenger ships that heard "Andrea Doria"s SOS signal steamed as fast as they could, some eventually making it to the scene. Radio communications included relays from the other ships as "Andrea Doria"s radios had limited range. The United States Coast Guard from New York City also coordinated on land.


title: SS Andrea Doria

text: Arriving at the scene less than three hours after the collision, as he neared, Captain de Beaudéan became concerned about navigating his huge ship safely among the two damaged liners, other responding vessels, lifeboats, and possibly even people in the water. Then, just as "Île de France" arrived, the fog lifted, and he was able to position his ship in such a way that the starboard side of "Andrea Doria" was somewhat sheltered. He ordered all exterior lights of "Île de France" to be turned on. The sight of the illuminated "Île de France" was a great emotional relief to many participants, crew and passengers alike.


title: SS Andrea Doria

text: "Île de France" managed to rescue the bulk of the remaining passengers by shuttling its 10 lifeboats back and forth to "Andrea Doria", and receiving lifeboat loads from those of the other ships already at the scene (as well as the starboard boats from "Andrea Doria"). Some passengers on "Île de France" gave up their cabins to be used by the wet and tired survivors. Many other acts of kindness were reported by grateful survivors.


title: SS Andrea Doria

text: In all, 1,663 passengers and crew had been rescued from "Andrea Doria". The badly damaged "Stockholm", through the use of both her own lifeboats and those from the stricken "Andrea Doria", took on a total of 545 survivors, of whom 234 were crew members from "Andrea Doria"; 129 survivors had been rescued by "Cape Ann", 159 by "Pvt. William H. Thomas", 77 by "Edward H. Allen", including Captain Calamai and his officers, and one very fortunate American sailor who slept through the entire collision and evacuation had been lucky enough to be rescued from the abandoned, sinking liner by the tanker "Robert E. Hopkins". "Île de France" undoubtedly played the largest role in the rescue, having taken on a total of 753 survivors.


title: SS Andrea Doria

text: Shortly after daybreak, a four-year-old Italian girl with head trauma and four seriously injured "Stockholm" crewmen were airlifted from that ship at the scene by helicopters sent by the Coast Guard and U.S. Air Force. A number of passengers and some crew were hospitalized upon arrival in New York.


title: SS Andrea Doria

text: Once the evacuation was complete, Captain Calamai of "Andrea Doria" shifted his attention to the possibility of towing the ship to shallow water. However, it was clear that it was doomed.


title: SS Andrea Doria

text: After all the survivors had been transferred onto various rescue ships bound for New York, "Andrea Doria"'s remaining crew began to disembark – forced to abandon the ship. By 6:00 am, even Captain Calamai was in a rescue boat. The sinking began at 9:45am and by 10:00 that morning the Andrea Doria's starboard side dipped into the ocean and the three swimming pools were seen refilling with water. As the bow slid under, the stern rose slightly, and the port propeller and shaft became visible. As the port side slipped below the waves, some of the unused lifeboats snapped free of their davits and floated upside-down in a row. It was recorded that "Andrea Doria" finally sank bow first 10 hours after the collision, at 10:09 am on 26 July 1956. The ship had drifted from the point of the collision in those 10 hours. Aerial photography of the stricken ocean liner capsizing and sinking won a Pulitzer Prize in 1957 for Harry A. Trask of the "Boston Traveler" newspaper.


title: SS Andrea Doria

text: Because of the scattering of "Andrea Doria" passengers and crew among the various rescue vessels, some families were separated during the collision and rescue. It was not clear who was where, and whether or not some persons had survived, until after all the ships with survivors arrived in New York. In all, six different ships had participated in the rescue of the passengers and crew of "Andrea Doria", including the heavily damaged "Stockholm", which was able to steam back to New York under its own power with a United States Coast Guard escort, but arrived later than the other ships.


title: SS Andrea Doria

text: During the wait, ABC Radio Network news commentator Edward P. Morgan, based in New York City, broadcast a professional account of the collision, not telling listeners that his 14-year-old daughter Linda Morgan had been aboard "Andrea Doria" and was feared dead. It was later revealed that Linda had been thrown from her bed on "Andrea Doria" as the two ships collided and landed on "Stockholm"'s deck, suffering moderate but not life-threatening injuries, earning the epithet "miracle girl". The following night, after learning the good news, Edward P. Morgan's emotional broadcast became one of the more memorable in radio news history.


title: SS Andrea Doria

text: Among "Andrea Doria"s passengers were Hollywood actress Ruth Roman and her three-year-old son, Richard. In the 1950 film "Three Secrets", Roman had portrayed a distraught mother waiting to learn whether or not her child had survived a plane crash. She and her son were separated from each other during the collision and evacuation. Rescued, Roman had to wait to learn her child's fate, which resulted in a media frenzy for photos as she waited at the pier in New York City for her child's safe arrival aboard one of the rescue ships. Actress Betsy Drake, wife of movie star Cary Grant, also escaped from the sinking liner, as did Philadelphia mayor Richardson Dilworth and songwriter Mike Stoller (of the team Leiber and Stoller).


title: SS Andrea Doria

text: Assisted by the American Red Cross and news photographers, the frantic parents of four-year-old Norma Di Sandro learned that their injured daughter had been airlifted from "Stockholm" to a hospital in Boston, where the previously unidentified little girl had undergone surgery for a fractured skull. They drove all night from New York to Boston, with police escorts provided to their convoy in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. When they arrived, the child was still unconscious and the doctors said all that could be done was wait to see if she woke up. The little girl never regained consciousness, and succumbed to her injuries.


title: SS Andrea Doria

text: Other families also had their hopes of seeing loved ones again dashed, especially those who were meeting members of several young families immigrating to the United States in hope of new lives.


title: SS Andrea Doria

text: The pier in New York where "Stockholm" was heading was packed with newsreel photographers and television crews. All the major department stores and shoe stores had booths set up to give the arriving survivors clothing and shoes. Not many of the newspeople spoke Italian, so confusion occurred when the survivors were asked to take off the clothing they were just given, to be photographed putting the clothes on. But after just a few minutes, everyone was clothed and had shoes to wear.


title: SS Andrea Doria

text: The sinking produced a footnote in automotive history, as it resulted in the loss of the Chrysler Norseman, an advanced "one-off" prototype car that had been built for Chrysler by Ghia in Italy. The Norseman had been announced as a major attraction of the 1957 auto show circuit. However, it had not been shown to the public prior to the disaster, and was lost, along with other cars in "Andrea Doria"s 50-car garage.


title: SS Andrea Doria

text: The area of "Andrea Doria"s hull where "Stockholm"s bow penetrated encompassed five passenger decks. On the uppermost of these decks, the Upper Deck, at least eight first-class cabins were destroyed. In all, six first-class passengers lost their lives. In cabin 46, Colonel Walter Carlin had been in the bathroom brushing his teeth at the time of the collision and miraculously survived, while his wife Jeanette was killed. Later aboard "Stockholm", crewmen searching the wreckage of the mangled bow sighted the remains of a woman matching Carlin's description lodged in the wreckage, but before they could recover it, debris became dislodged and the body fell into the sea. In direct line of "Stockholm"s bow on the upper deck were cabins 52 and 54, which were occupied by Camille Cianfarra, a longtime foreign correspondent for "The New York Times", his wife Jane, their 8-year-old daughter Joan and 14-year-old Linda Morgan, Jane's daughter from her previous marriage to American journalist Edward P. Morgan. Joan was killed instantly, while Camille died from severe injuries moments after the collision. Jane was seriously injured, but was rescued by some other passengers, among them Dr. Thure Peterson, who had been next door in cabin 56. He sustained only minor injuries, while his wife Martha was gravely wounded and was trapped along with Jane Cianfarra. After a long struggle to free her, largely on the part of her husband, Martha succumbed to her injuries a few hours after the collision. One deck below on the Foyer Deck, near the first-class entrance, Ferdinand Melly Thieriot, circulation director of "The San Francisco Chronicle", along with his wife Frances (whose grandson is the actor Max Thieriot) were killed, as their suite was in direct line of "Stockholm"s bow. Their 13-year-old son Peter, who occupied a cabin further down the corridor, survived.


title: SS Andrea Doria

text: On the decks below, titled A, B and C Decks, the loss of life was greater, as it was the location of several sections of tourist-class cabins. On A Deck, eleven passengers, consisting of ten women and one elderly clergyman, were all killed. In Cabin 230, three women, Margaret Carola, Christina Covino and Amelia Iazzetta, were killed instantly. Carola had been on board with her elderly mother Rosa Carola, who had also been assigned a berth in the cabin but because she suffered from a variety of health problems, she had been in the ship's infirmary at the time of the collision and survived. Covino and Iazzetta were both sisters from New York who were returning from a visit to Italy. They were accompanied by Iazzetta's husband Benevenuto, who had been berthed in another cabin and survived.


title: SS Andrea Doria

text: In the next cabin forward, Cabin 228, four more women lost their lives. Among them was Laura Bremermann, a young mother of two who was returning home to Fort Worth, Texas after visiting her native Italy. Two days before the disaster Bremermann sent a telegram to her husband Floyd asking him to meet her in New York. When he arrived to find her missing he inquired with the Italian line, who initially reported she was not on the passenger list, which Bremermann refuted using the telegram from his wife as proof. On B Deck, "Andrea Doria"s 50-car garage was staved in by the bow of "Stockholm", but on C Deck, the worst loss of life occurred. A total of 26 people were killed in the collision section there, mostly Italian immigrant families.


title: SS Andrea Doria

text: Among those killed in the collision on C Deck was opera singer Agnes Baratta, who at the time was a leading soprano of Milan's La Scala Opera House. She and her elderly mother Margherita Baratta had been en route to Redwood City, California, to visit her sister, after which Agnes had intended to audition for the San Francisco Opera House. Maria Theresina Imberlone, like the Barattas, was also bound for the San Francisco Bay Area, and was also killed in the collision. Imberlone's husband Giacomo and their 13-year-old son Giovanni, who shared another cabin, both survived.


title: SS Andrea Doria

text: Among the losses was that of Maria Sergio and her four children, 13-year-old Giuseppe, 10-year-old Anna Maria, 7-year-old Domenica, and 4-year-old Rocco, who occupied a cabin on the starboard side of C Deck that was in direct line of the collision. She was traveling aboard "Andrea Doria" with her children on her way to South Bend, Indiana, where her husband, Ross Sergio, and their 17-year-old son Anthony, were waiting for them. Anthony Sergio had in fact sailed to the United States from Italy aboard "Andrea Doria" the previous April. Also traveling with them were Maria's sister Margaret and her husband Paul Sergio, who also happened to be Ross Sergio's brother. Paul and Margaret had emigrated to the U.S. prior to the voyage and had returned to Italy for a visit and to accompany Maria and the children back to Indiana. Both Paul and Margaret survived the sinking, and for years after the disaster, Paul was haunted by the memory of his four-year-old nephew Rocco, the youngest of his brother's children, who just hours prior to the collision had asked if he could spend the night with his uncle.


title: SS Andrea Doria

text: Also lost in the collision section of C deck were Angelina Diana and her two youngest children, eight-year-old Biaggio and six-year-old Victoria. They had been en route to Hartford, Connecticut, where Angelina's husband Antonio and three of their older children were waiting. In a 2003 episode of the History Channel series "Deep Sea Detectives" featuring the story of "Andrea Doria", show host and wreck diver John Chatterton met with Angelina Diana's son Gennaro and his daughter, whom he'd named Angelina, after her grandmother, and heard the story of how the disaster came to impact their family so profoundly. In speaking with Chatterton, Gennaro recalled excitedly waking up that morning and driving to New York with his father and two older sisters to meet the rest of their family, but as the survivors from "Andrea Doria" came ashore, they waited for five or six days until it was confirmed that Angelina, Biaggio and Victoria were among the 51 people who lost their lives in the disaster. Meanwhile, the younger Angelina explained how she grew up with a sense of great pride having been named after her grandmother, which was in turn mirrored with sadness in never having gotten to know her, or her aunt and uncle. She then gives Chatterton a green bottle containing a family jewel, asking him to place it on the wreck to honor their loved ones' memory, which Chatterton does later in the episode during a dive to the wrecksite.


title: SS Andrea Doria

text: In addition to the lives lost in the collision, three more of "Andrea Doria"s passengers died from injuries and ailments that occurred during and after the evacuation. Norma Di Sandro, a four-year-old Italian girl traveling in tourist class with her parents, Tullio and Filomena Di Sandro, was dropped on her head into a lifeboat by her panicked father. She was taken to "Stockholm" and subsequently airlifted to Brighton Marine Hospital in Boston, where she died from a fractured cranium without ever regaining consciousness. Carl Watres, a businessman from Manasquan, New Jersey, who was traveling in cabin class aboard "Andrea Doria" with his wife Lillian, died from a sudden heart attack while en route to New York aboard "Stockholm". Angelina Grego, a 48-year-old, broke her back after falling into one of "Ile de France" lifeboats. She was taken to St. Claire's Hospital in New York City, where she lingered in immense pain until her death six months later.


title: SS Andrea Doria

text: After the ships had separated, "Stockholm" crew members began to survey the damage. On the top deck of "Stockholm", one of the crew came across Linda Morgan, who had been thrown from her bed on "Andrea Doria" as the two ships collided, and landed on "Stockholm"s deck, suffering moderate but not life-threatening injuries. Others were not as fortunate, as five of "Stockholm"s crew perished in the collision.


title: SS Andrea Doria

text: As for the victims' bodies, some of them were recovered during the sinking, identified, and returned to relatives for proper burial. The rest were lost at sea as they either drifted away, sank or were inside the Andrea Doria and went down with her.


title: SS Andrea Doria

text: Several months of hearings were held in New York City in the aftermath of the collision. Prominent maritime attorneys represented both the ships' owners. Dozens of attorneys represented victims and families of victims. Officers of both ship lines had testified, including the officers in charge of each ship at the time of the collision, with more scheduled to appear later until an out-of-court settlement was reached, and the hearings ended abruptly.


title: SS Andrea Doria

text: Both shipping lines contributed to a settlement fund for the victims. Each line absorbed its own damages. For the Swedish-American Line, damages were estimated at $2 million, half for repairs to "Stockholm"s bow, and half for lost business during repairs. The Italian Line sustained the loss of "Andrea Doria"s full value, estimated to be $30 million.


title: SS Andrea Doria

text: A U.S. Congressional hearing was also held, and provided some determinations, notably about the lack of ballasting specified by the builders during the fatal voyage and the resulting lack of seaworthiness of "Andrea Doria" after the collision.


title: SS Andrea Doria

text: While heavy fog was given as the primary cause of the accident, and it is not disputed that intermittent and heavy fog are both frequent and challenging conditions for mariners in that part of the ocean, these other factors have been cited:


title: SS Andrea Doria

text: Both lines had an incentive to limit the public discussion of "Andrea Doria"s structural and stability problems. "Stockholm"s owners had another new ship, "Gripsholm", under construction at Ansaldo Shipyard in Italy. "Andrea Doria"s designers and engineers had been scheduled to testify, but the hearings were abruptly concluded before their testimony could be heard due to the settlement agreement.


title: SS Andrea Doria

text: The "Andrea Doria–Stockholm" collision led to several rule changes in the immediate years following the incident to avoid a recurrence. Since this was essentially a radar-assisted collision event, in which over-use was made of poorly handled technology, shipping lines were required to improve training on the use of radar equipment. Also, approaching ships were required to make radio contact with one another. Both ships saw each other on their radar systems and attempted to turn. Unfortunately, one of the radar systems was poorly designed, resulting in the collision. Marine craft today are required to turn to starboard (right) in a head-on situation.


title: SS Andrea Doria

text: Unanswered questions about the tragedy, and questions of cause and blame, have intrigued observers and haunted survivors for over 50 years. The fact that "Andrea Doria" and "Stockholm" were speeding in heavy fog (21.8 knots and 18.5 knots, respectively, at the collision) and questions about their seaworthiness arose at the time. Captain Calamai never assumed another command because the Italian Line feared bad publicity. However, largely because the out-of-court settlement agreement between the two shipping companies ended the fact-finding that was taking place in the hearings immediately after the disaster, no resolution of the cause(s) was ever formally accomplished. This has led to continued development of information and a search for greater understanding, aided by newer technologies in over half a century since the disaster.


title: SS Andrea Doria

text: Recent discoveries using computer animation and newer undersea diving technology have shed additional light on some aspects.


title: SS Andrea Doria

text: Due to the luxurious appointments and initially good condition of the wreck, with the top of the wreck lying initially in 160 feet (50 m) of water, "Andrea Doria" has been a frequent target of treasure divers. It is commonly referred to as the "Mount Everest of scuba diving." The comparison to Mt. Everest originated after a July 1983 dive on "Andrea Doria" by Capt. Alvin Golden during a CBS News-televised interview of the divers following their return from a dive expedition to the wreck aboard the R/V "Wahoo". The depth, water temperature, and currents combine to put the wreck beyond the scope of recreational diving. The skills and equipment required to successfully execute this dive, such as use of mixed gases and staged decompression, put it in the realm of only the most experienced technical divers. The wreck is located near .


title: SS Andrea Doria

text: A week after "Andrea Doria" sank, divers Peter Gimbel and Joseph Fox managed to locate the wreck of the ship, and published pictures of the wreck in "Life".


title: SS Andrea Doria

text: In 1968, film director Bruno Vailati, together with Stefano Carletti, Mimi Dies, Arnaldo Mattei, and Al Giddings (an experienced American diver), organized and directed the first Italian expedition to the wreck, producing the documentary titled "Andrea Doria -74". The wreck was marked with a bronze plaque with the inscription: "We came here to work to make the dream come true and return the "Andrea Doria" to the light".


title: SS Andrea Doria

text: Peter Gimbel later conducted a number of salvage operations on the ship, including salvaging the first-class bank safe in 1981. Despite speculation that passengers had deposited many valuables, the safe, opened on live television in 1984, yielded thousands of American silver certificates, Canadian bank notes, American Express travellers checks, and Italian bank notes, but no other valuables. This outcome apparently confirmed other speculation that most "Andrea Doria" passengers, in anticipation of the ship's scheduled arrival in New York City the following morning, had already retrieved their valuables prior to the collision.


title: SS Andrea Doria

text: Evelyn Bartram Dudas (22) was the first woman to successfully dive onto "Andrea Doria". Dudas reached the wreck in June 1967; she and her future husband, John Dudas, retrieved the ship's compass. Other well-known divers to explore the Andrea Doria are Steve Belinda, John Chatterton, Gary Gentile, Gary Gilligan, Richie Kohler and John Mattera.


title: SS Andrea Doria

text: As of 2010, years of ocean submersion have taken their toll. The wreck has aged and deteriorated extensively, with the hull now fractured and collapsed. The upper decks have slowly slid off the wreck to the seabed below. As a result of this transformation, a large debris field flows out from the hull of the liner. Once-popular access points frequented by divers, such as Gimbel's hole, no longer exist. Divers call "Andrea Doria" a "noisy" wreck, as it emits various noises due to continual deterioration and from the ocean currents moving broken metal around inside the hull. However, due to this decay, new access areas are constantly opening up for future divers on the ever-changing wreck.


title: SS Andrea Doria

text: A 2016 expedition to the wreck by OceanGate revealed that "Andrea Doria" was decaying rapidly. "When you look at the shape of the hull, it appears a lot has come off," Stockon Rush, OceanGate's CEO, said. One of the pieces now broken off the wreck is the ship's bow.


title: SS Andrea Doria

text: After years of removal of artifacts by divers, little of value was thought to remain. Significant artifacts recovered include the statue of Genoese Admiral Andrea Doria, for whom the ship was named. It was removed from the first-class lounge, having been cut off at the ankles to accomplish this. Examples of the ship's china have long been considered valuable mementos of diving the wreck. The ship's bell is normally considered to be the prize of a wreck. This ship carried three bells: one bell located on the bridge, and two much larger ceremonial bells located on the fore and aft decks. The ship's stern bell was retrieved in the late 1980s by a team of divers led by Bill Nagle. On 26 June 2010, a diver from New Jersey, Carl Bayer, diving from the Narragansett, Rhode Island-based dive boat EXPLORER, owned by Capt. Dave Sutton, discovered the bridge bell lying on the bottom at . He recovered it with assistance from Ernie Rookey, also from New Jersey. The bell, tall and weighing , was possibly used to signal fog on the night of the collision. The forward bell remains undiscovered. It has for years been thought to be in the ship's paint locker where it was stored during ocean crossings, but recent reports indicate that this part of the ship has collapsed in on itself and the forward bell may never be found.


title: SS Andrea Doria

text: In 2017 a salvage team recovered one of the ship's two foghorns. In July 2021 the restored foghorn was sounded at the New Jersey Maritime Museum to commemorate the 65th anniversary of the sinking.


title: SS Andrea Doria

text: Artifact recovery on "Andrea Doria" has resulted in additional loss of life. At least 22 scuba divers have lost their lives diving on the wreck, and diving conditions at the wreck site are considered very treacherous. Strong currents and heavy sediment that can reduce visibility to zero pose serious hazards to diving this site. Dr. Robert Ballard (who found the wrecks of the ocean liner , the , and the American aircraft carrier and torpedo boat ) who visited the site in a US Navy submersible in 1995, reported that thick fishing nets draped the hull. An invisible web of thin fishing lines, which can snag scuba gear, increases danger. The wreck is slowly collapsing; the top of the wreck is now at , and many of the passageways have begun to collapse.


title: SS Andrea Doria

text: The wreck site is nicknamed "The Everest of Wreck Diving" because of the number of deaths exploring the site.


title: SS Andrea Doria

text: "Stockholm"s bow was replaced in New York at a cost of $1 million. Today, the former "Stockholm" sails as and is registered in Portugal. She is the oldest ocean liner still in service.


title: SS Andrea Doria

text: Survivors went on with their lives with a wide range of experiences. Captain Calamai never accepted another command, and lived the rest of his life in sadness "as a man who has lost a son", according to his daughter. Most of the other officers returned to the sea. Some survivors had mental problems for years after the incident, while others felt their experience had helped them value their lives more preciously.


title: SS Andrea Doria

text: In 1969 Polish rock band Niebiesko-Czarni with singer Wojciech Korda recorded the song "Andrea Doria"


title: SS Andrea Doria

text: In 1973, German singer Udo Lindenberg published an album titled "Alles klar auf der Andrea Doria" (All's Well on the "Andrea Doria"), containing a song of the same name.


title: SS Andrea Doria

text: The liner is also referenced in the Steely Dan song "Things I Miss The Most" from their 2003 album "Everything Must Go".


title: SS Andrea Doria

text: In 1986 Brazilian rock band Legião Urbana recorded the song "Andrea Doria" in their second album "Dois".


title: SS Andrea Doria

text: The liner is mentioned in more than 500 of the many written biographies of Elvis Presley, because one of the survivors was Mike Stoller of the songwriting team Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. As Stoller reached the port of New York, Leiber informed him at the main dock that their 1952 composition "Hound Dog", a number one R&B record for Big Mama Thornton, was once more and right there and then, the number one record in the nation in all three charts: R&B, Pop and C&W, albeit this time "by a young Mississippian by the name of Elvis Presley". Stoller, who had been in Europe for over 10 months, did not know who Presley was, so he asked Leiber the now famous "Elvis who?". They would go on to write several more number one hits, including two written exclusively for Presley, "Don't", a number one in early 1958, as well as the title song and most of the soundtrack for Presley's third movie, the 1957 MGM production of the mega hit "Jailhouse Rock".


title: SS Andrea Doria

text: In the 1969 adventure novel The Poseidon Adventure, the "Andrea Doria"'s collision with "Stockholm" and resulting sinking are briefly mentioned by Hubert Miller, who compares the capsizing of SS Poseidon to that of "Andrea Doria".


title: SS Andrea Doria

text: In Tom Clancy's "Red Storm Rising", a stakes out a New York-to-Europe convoy to reinforce NATO against a Soviet attack by sitting next to the wreck of "Andrea Doria" – hoping to confuse magnetic anomaly detector readings. and , working in conjunction, use their helicopters to find and destroy the submarine.


title: SS Andrea Doria

text: In Clive Cussler's "Serpent" (1999), the "Andrea Doria" was purposely sunk by the secret organization called the "Brotherhood" to hide the fact of pre-Columbian contact of Mayans and Europe made by Phoenicians. The liner was carrying a large stone tablet that was essential to find out the long lost Phoenician treasure.


title: SS Andrea Doria

text: "I Was Shipwrecked on the Andrea Doria! The Titanic of the 1950s" was written by survivor Pierette Domenica Simpson.


title: SS Andrea Doria

text: Several books have been written about the "Andrea Doria". Each presented information not contained in the others, thereby providing varying perspectives.


title: SS Andrea Doria

text: Photographer Robert F. McCrystal, from the "Providence Journal", was the first to photograph the fatally struck "Andrea Doria" from an airplane. One of his photographs ran on the cover of "LIFE" Magazine.


title: SS Andrea Doria

text: Boston newspaper photographer Harry A. Trask, who arrived at the scene in a small airplane after many media people had left, took a series of photographs of "Andrea Doria"s final moments above water, which won a Pulitzer Prize.


title: USS John F. Kennedy (CVN-79)

text: USS "John F. Kennedy" (CVN-79) is the second built for the United States Navy. The ship was launched on 29 October 2019, and christened on 7 December 2019.


title: USS John F. Kennedy (CVN-79)

text: On 7 December 2007, the 66th anniversary of the Attack on Pearl Harbor, Arizona Congressman Harry Mitchell proposed naming this ship . In 2009, Arizona Congressman John Shadegg proposed naming either CVN-79 or the subsequent CVN-80 as "Barry M. Goldwater", after the late U.S. Senator, also from Arizona.


title: USS John F. Kennedy (CVN-79)

text: On 29 May 2011, the Department of Defense announced that the ship would be named for John F. Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States, who served in the navy during World War II. She will be the third navy ship named after members of the Kennedy family, and the second aircraft carrier named "John F. Kennedy", succeeding , which was active from 1968 to 2007.


title: USS John F. Kennedy (CVN-79)

text: On 15 January 2009, Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding was awarded a $374 million contract for design work and construction preparation for "John F. Kennedy". On 30 September 2010, Northrop Grumman announced that preparations were under way to begin construction. On 25 February 2011, the Navy conducted the First Cut of Steel ceremony at Northrop Grumman in Newport News, signalling the formal start of construction for "John F. Kennedy".


title: USS John F. Kennedy (CVN-79)

text: "John F. Kennedy" was originally planned to be completed in 2018. This was extended to 2020 after Secretary of Defense Robert Gates announced in 2009 that the program would shift to a five-year building program so as to place it on a "more fiscally sustainable path". By late 2012, delays had occurred in construction, and the Navy Department was investigating extending the construction time of both and "John F. Kennedy" by an additional two years which could delay the carrier's entry into service until 2022. In September 2013, the Government Accountability Office recommended delaying the detail design and construction contract for "John F. Kennedy" until programmatic shortfalls are sorted out. The Navy and Defense Department have rejected the recommendation. The Navy faces technical, design, and construction challenges to completing , including producing systems prior to demonstrating their maturity to meet required installation dates. "Gerald R. Ford" had costs increase by 22% to $12.8 billion, and additional increases could follow due to uncertainties facing critical technology systems and shipbuilder under performance. Risk is introduced in the Navy's plan to conduct integration testing of key systems at the same time as initial operational test and evaluation. One action the GAO says could be taken to ensure "Ford"-class carrier acquisitions are supported is conducting a cost-benefit analysis of required capabilities and associated costs.


title: USS John F. Kennedy (CVN-79)

text: The ship's keel was laid in Newport News, Virginia on 22 August 2015. As part of the traditional keel laying ceremony, the initials of ship sponsor Caroline Kennedy, daughter of President Kennedy and the sponsor of the previous "John F. Kennedy", were welded into the ship's hull. As of late June 2017 the ship was 50% structurally complete. On 28 February 2018, Huntington Ingalls Industries announced that its Newport News Shipbuilding division had built 70% of the structures necessary to complete "John F. Kennedy". On 30 April 2018, Huntington Ingalls Industries announced that she was "75 percent structurally erected and more than 40 percent complete." On 3 May 2018 Huntington Ingalls President & CEO Mike Petters reported that "John F. Kennedy" was to be launched three months ahead of schedule on 29 October 2019. On 30 May 2019 the 588-ton bridge and island was installed. Under the island Captain Todd Marzano placed his wings and the first Kennedy half dollar, which was donated by Caroline Kennedy, was put in place. Next to these Rear Admiral Brian Antonio (program executive officer, Aircraft Carriers, ret.), Rear Admiral Roy Kelley (commander, Naval Air Force Atlantic), and Jennifer Boykin (president, Newport News Shipbuilding) placed coins each embossed with quotes from President Kennedy and parts of the ship's motto. Caroline could not be present, so the order was given via radio for the crane operator to lift the island and set it down on the deck over the ceremonial items and entombing them in the ship's superstructure. The ship reached 100% complete on 11 July 2019 with the installation of the upper bow and launch deck consisting of the ship's two forward catapults.


title: USS John F. Kennedy (CVN-79)

text: On 1 October 2019, the ship's crew was activated for the first time as Pre-Commissioning Unit (PCU) "John F. Kennedy" at a ceremony aboard the vessel at Newport News Shipbuilding. On 29 October 2019, Newport News Shipbuilding began flooding the dry dock where "John F. Kennedy" has been under construction. The process of filling the dry dock with more than of water took place over several days, and it marked the first time the ship has been in water. Once the ship was afloat, it was moved to west end of the dry dock. The ship was christened on 7 December 2019 by Caroline Kennedy, who reenacted the bottle bash she did when the first "John F. Kennedy" (CV-67) was christened 52 years earlier.


title: USS John F. Kennedy (CVN-79)

text: In November 2020, Huntington Ingalls Industries received a nine-figure modification on an earlier contract to accomplish CVN 79 "single phase delivery and Joint Strike Fighter (F-35C) capabilities" in Newport News, Virginia. According to the contract announcement, the "single-phase delivery approach" is adopted "to meet both Fleet requirements and a congressional mandate of ensuring that CVN 79 is capable of operating and deploying Joint Strike Fighter (F-35C) aircraft before completing the post-shakedown availability as codified in Section 124 of the fiscal 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (Public Law 116-92)." The ship is projected to begin testing its Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System in 2022.


title: Flunitrazepam

text: Flunitrazepam, also known as Rohypnol among other names, is a benzodiazepine used to treat severe insomnia and assist with anesthesia. As with other hypnotics, flunitrazepam has been advised to be prescribed only for short-term use or by those with chronic insomnia on an occasional basis.


title: Flunitrazepam

text: It was patented in 1962 and came into medical use in 1974. Flunitrazepam, nicknamed "roofies" or "floonies", is widely known for its use as a date rape drug.


title: Flunitrazepam

text: In countries where this drug is used, it is used for treatment of severe cases of sleeping problems, and in some countries as a preanesthetic agent. These were also the uses for which it was originally studied.


title: Flunitrazepam

text: It has also been administered as a concurrent dose for patients that are taking ketamine. Rohypnol lowers the side effects of the anesthetic (ketamine), resulting in less confusion in awakening states, less negative influence on pulse rate, and fewer fluctuations in blood pressure.


title: Flunitrazepam

text: Adverse effects of flunitrazepam include dependency, both physical and psychological; reduced sleep quality resulting in somnolence; and overdose, resulting in excessive sedation, impairment of balance and speech, respiratory depression or coma, and possibly death. Because of the latter, flunitrazepam is commonly used in suicide. When used in late pregnancy, it might cause hypotonia of the fetus.


title: Flunitrazepam

text: Flunitrazepam, as with other benzodiazepines, can lead to drug dependence. Discontinuation may result in benzodiazepine withdrawal syndrome, characterised by seizures, psychosis, insomnia, and anxiety. Rebound insomnia, worse than baseline insomnia, typically occurs after discontinuation of flunitrazepam even from short-term single nightly dose therapy.


title: Flunitrazepam

text: Flunitrazepam may cause a paradoxical reaction in some individuals, including anxiety, aggressiveness, agitation, confusion, disinhibition, loss of impulse control, talkativeness, violent behavior, and even convulsions. Paradoxical adverse effects may even lead to criminal behaviour.


title: Flunitrazepam

text: Benzodiazepines such as flunitrazepam are lipophilic and rapidly penetrate membranes and, therefore, rapidly cross over into the placenta with significant uptake of the drug. Use of benzodiazepines including flunitrazepam in late pregnancy, especially high doses, may result in hypotonia, also known as floppy baby syndrome.


title: Flunitrazepam

text: Flunitrazepam impairs cognitive functions. This may appear as lack of concentration, confusion and anterograde amnesia—the inability to create memories while under the influence. It can be described as a hangover-like effect which can persist to the next day. It also impairs psychomotor functions similar to other benzodiazepines and nonbenzodiazepine hypnotic drugs; falls and hip fractures were frequently reported. The combination with alcohol increases these impairments. Partial, but incomplete tolerance develops to these impairments.


title: Flunitrazepam

text: Benzodiazepines require special precaution if used in the elderly, during pregnancy, in children, in alcohol- or drug-dependent individuals, and in individuals with comorbid psychiatric disorders.


title: Flunitrazepam

text: Impairment of driving skills with a resultant increased risk of road traffic accidents is probably the most important adverse effect. This side-effect is not unique to flunitrazepam but also occurs with other hypnotic drugs. Flunitrazepam seems to have a particularly high risk of road traffic accidents compared to other hypnotic drugs. Extreme caution should be exercised by drivers after taking flunitrazepam.


title: Flunitrazepam

text: The use of flunitrazepam in combination with alcoholic beverages synergizes the adverse effects, and can lead to toxicity and death.


title: Flunitrazepam

text: Flunitrazepam is a drug that is frequently involved in drug intoxication, including overdose. Overdose of flunitrazepam may result in excessive sedation, or impairment of balance or speech. This may progress in severe overdoses to respiratory depression or coma and possibly death. The risk of overdose is increased if flunitrazepam is taken in combination with CNS depressants such as ethanol (alcohol) and opioids. Flunitrazepam overdose responds to the GABA receptor antagonist flumazenil, which thus can be used as a treatment.


title: Flunitrazepam

text: As of 2016, blood tests can identify flunitrazepam at concentrations of as low as 4 nanograms per millilitre; the elimination half life of the drug is 4–12 hours. For urine samples, metabolites can be identified for 60 hours to 28 days, depending on the dose and analytical method used. Hair and saliva can also be analyzed; hair is useful when a long time has transpired since ingestion, and saliva for workplace drug tests.


title: Flunitrazepam

text: Flunitrazepam can be measured in blood or plasma to confirm a diagnosis of poisoning in hospitalized patients, provide evidence in an impaired driving arrest, or assist in a medicolegal death investigation. Blood or plasma flunitrazepam concentrations are usually in a range of 5–20 μg/L in persons receiving the drug therapeutically as a nighttime hypnotic, 10–50 μg/L in those arrested for impaired driving and 100–1000 μg/L in victims of acute fatal overdosage. Urine is often the preferred specimen for routine substance use monitoring purposes. The presence of 7-aminoflunitrazepam, a pharmacologically-active metabolite and "in vitro" degradation product, is useful for confirmation of flunitrazepam ingestion. In postmortem specimens, the parent drug may have been entirely degraded over time to 7-aminoflunitrazepam. Other metabolites include desmethylflunitrazepam and 3-hydroxydesmethylflunitrazepam.


title: Flunitrazepam

text: The main pharmacological effects of flunitrazepam are the enhancement of GABA, an inhibitory neurotransmitter, at various GABA receptors.


title: Flunitrazepam

text: While 80% of flunitrazepam that is taken orally is absorbed, bioavailability in suppository form is closer to 50%.


title: Flunitrazepam

text: Flunitrazepam has a long half-life of 18–26 hours, which means that flunitrazepam's effects after nighttime administration persist throughout the next day. This is due to the production of active metabolites. These metabolites further increase the duration of drug action compared to benzodiazepines that produce nonactive metabolites.


title: Flunitrazepam

text: Flunitrazepam is lipophilic and is metabolised by the liver via oxidative pathways. The enzyme CYP3A4 is the main enzyme in its phase 1 metabolism in human liver microsomes.


title: Flunitrazepam

text: Flunitrazepam is classed as a nitro-benzodiazepine. It is the fluorinated "N"-methyl derivative of nitrazepam. Other nitro-benzodiazepines include nitrazepam (the parent compound), nimetazepam (methylamino derivative) and clonazepam (2ʹ-chlorinated derivative).


title: Flunitrazepam

text: Flunitrazepam was discovered at Roche as part of the benzodiazepine work led by Leo Sternbach; the patent application was filed in 1960 and it was first marketed in 1972.


title: Flunitrazepam

text: Due to use of the drug for date rape and recreation, in 1998 Roche modified the formulation to give lower doses, make it less soluble, and add a blue dye for easier detection in drinks. It was never marketed in the United States, and by 2016 had been withdrawn from the markets in Spain, France, Norway, Germany, and the United Kingdom.


title: Flunitrazepam

text: A 1989 article in the "European Journal of Clinical Pharmacology" reports that benzodiazepines accounted for 52% of prescription forgeries in Sweden, suggesting that benzodiazepines were a major prescription drug class of abuse. Nitrazepam accounted for 13% of forged prescriptions, and accounted for 44% of forgeries specifically for benzodiazepines while flunitrazepam, diazepam, and oxazepam accounted for the majority of the rest of benzodiazepine forgeries. Prescription forgeries for other benzodiazepines marketed in Sweden (alprazolam, clonazepam, lorazepam, clobazam, and bromazepam) were negligible. When calculated in relation to utilization, the narcotic analgesics codeine, pentazocine, and ketobemidone were at the top of the list for the highest number of overall prescription forgeries, suggesting a higher abuse potential of these drugs. In neighboring Finland, temazepam accounts for roughly 40–50% benzodiazepine prescription forgeries annually, while flunitrazepam accounts for approximately ~15% of benzodiazepine prescription forgeries.


title: Flunitrazepam

text: Flunitrazepam and other sedative hypnotic drugs are detected frequently in cases of people suspected of driving under the influence of drugs. Other benzodiazepines and nonbenzodiazepines (anxiolytic or hypnotic) such as zolpidem and zopiclone (as well as cyclopyrrolones, imidazopyridines, and pyrazolopyrimidines) are also found in high numbers of suspected drugged drivers. Many drivers have blood levels far exceeding the therapeutic dose range, suggesting a high degree of potential for addiction for benzodiazepines and similar drugs.


title: Flunitrazepam

text: In studies in Sweden, flunitrazepam was the second most common drug used in suicides, being found in about 16% of cases. In a retrospective Swedish study of 1,587 deaths, in 159 cases benzodiazepines were found. In suicides when benzodiazepines were implicated, the benzodiazepines flunitrazepam and nitrazepam occurred in significantly higher concentrations compared to natural deaths. Of the 159 deaths where any benzodiazepines were found, 4 deaths were caused by benzodiazepines alone (in the other 155 cases, benzodiazepines were combined with something else). One conclusion of the study was that flunitrazepam and nitrazepam might be more toxic than other benzodiazepines available in the Swedish market.


title: Flunitrazepam

text: Flunitrazepam is known to induce anterograde amnesia in sufficient doses; individuals are unable to remember certain events that they experienced while under the influence of the drug, which complicates investigations. This effect could be particularly dangerous if flunitrazepam is used to aid in the commission of sexual assault; victims may be unable to clearly recall the assault, the assailant, or the events surrounding the assault.


title: Flunitrazepam

text: While use of flunitrazepam in sexual assault has been prominent in the media, as of 2015 it appears to be fairly rare, and use of alcohol and other benzodiazepine drugs in date rape appears to be a larger but underreported problem.


title: Flunitrazepam

text: In a 2001 study, the benzodiazepines midazolam and temazepam were the two most common benzodiazepines utilized for date rape.


title: Flunitrazepam

text: In the United Kingdom, the use of flunitrazepam and other "date rape" drugs have also been connected to stealing from sedated victims. An activist quoted by a British newspaper estimated that up to 2,000 individuals are robbed each year after being spiked with powerful sedatives, making drug-assisted robbery a more commonly reported problem than drug-assisted rape.


title: Flunitrazepam

text: Flunitrazepam is a Schedule III drug under the international Convention on Psychotropic Substances of 1971.


title: Flunitrazepam

text: Flunitrazepam is marketed under many brand names in the countries where it is legal. It also has many street names, including "roofie" and "ruffie". It is also known as Circles, Forget Me Pill, La Rocha, Lunch Money Drug, Mexican Valium, Pingus, R2, and Roach 2.


title: Rare (company)

text: Rare Limited is a British video game developer and a studio of Xbox Game Studios based in Twycross. Rare's games span the platform, first-person shooter, action-adventure, fighting, and racing genres. Its most popular games include the "Battletoads", "Donkey Kong", and "Banjo-Kazooie" series, as well as games like "GoldenEye 007" (1997), "Perfect Dark" (2000), "Conker's Bad Fur Day" (2001), "Viva Piñata" (2006), and "Sea of Thieves" (2018).


title: Rare (company)

text: Tim and Chris Stamper, who also founded Ultimate Play the Game, established Rare in 1985. During its early years, Rare was backed by an unlimited budget from Nintendo, primarily concentrated on Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) games. During this time, Rare created successful games such as "Wizards & Warriors" (1987), "R.C. Pro-Am" (1988), and "Battletoads" (1991). Rare became a prominent second-party developer for Nintendo, which came to own a large minority stake of the company, with the release of "Donkey Kong Country" (1994). Throughout the 1990s, Rare started selling their games under the trademark name "Rareware" and received international recognition and critical acclaim for games such as the "Donkey Kong Country" series, "Killer Instinct" (1994), "GoldenEye 007", "Banjo-Kazooie" (1998), "Perfect Dark", and "Conker's Bad Fur Day" (2001).


title: Rare (company)

text: In 2002, Microsoft acquired Rare, which retained its original brand, logo, and most intellectual properties. Rare has since focused on developing games exclusively for Microsoft's video game consoles, including "Grabbed by the Ghoulies" (2003), "Kameo" (2005), "Perfect Dark Zero" (2005), and "Viva Piñata" (2006). In 2007, the Stampers left Rare to pursue other opportunities and, in 2010, the company's focus shifted to the Xbox Live Avatar and Kinect, releasing three "Kinect Sports" games. In 2015, Rare developed "Rare Replay", an Xbox One-exclusive compilation containing 30 of its games to celebrate its 30th anniversary. Rare's most recent game, "Sea of Thieves", was released in 2018.


title: Rare (company)

text: Several former Rare employees have formed their own companies, such as Free Radical Design, best known for producing the "TimeSplitters" series, and Playtonic Games, best known for "Yooka-Laylee" (2017). Rare is widely acknowledged by the gaming industry and has received numerous accolades from critics and journalists. It is known as secretive and seclusive. Several Rare games, such as "Donkey Kong Country" and "GoldenEye 007", have been cited as among the greatest and most influential games of all time, though some fans and former employees have been critical of the company's output since the Microsoft buyout.


title: Rare (company)

text: Rare evolved from the company Ultimate Play the Game, which was founded in Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire by former arcade game developers Tim and Chris Stamper. After multiple critically and commercially successful releases including "Jetpac", "Atic Atac", "Sabre Wulf", and "Knight Lore", Ultimate Play The Game was one of the biggest UK-based video game development companies. The ZX Spectrum home computer, the platform the company usually developed games for, was only popular in the UK, and they believed that working on that platform would not be beneficial to the company's growth as they considered it a "dead end". Meanwhile, the company inspected an imported console from Japan, the Famicom, and believed that it would be an ideal future platform of choice for the company as it was more sophisticated than the Spectrum, it had a worldwide market, and its cartridges had no load times. As a result, Rare was established in 1985. Its main goal was to reverse-engineer the console and investigate the codes for Famicom's games to learn more about the console's programming. With successful results, the company decided to sell the Ultimate brand to U.S. Gold, and ceased game development for the ZX Spectrum in the following year.


title: Rare (company)

text: The Famicom's manufacturer, Nintendo, claimed that it was impossible to reverse engineer the console. Using the information the Ultimate Play the Game team acquired from Rare, the team prepared several tech demos and showed them to the Nintendo executive Minoru Arakawa in Kyoto. Impressed with their efforts, Nintendo decided to grant the Ultimate Play the Game team an unlimited budget for them to work on games for the Famicom platform. After they returned to England, they moved from Ashby-de-la-Zouch to Twycross, and established a new studio through Rare. They set their headquarters in a Manor Farmhouse. Rare also set up another company known as Rare, Inc., in Miami, Florida. Headed by Joel Hochberg, the American company was involved in maintaining Rare's operation in the US and contacting major US publishers. Hochberg was previously the vice president of American arcade manufacturer Centuri. The Famicom was eventually released in North America and Europe under the name Nintendo Entertainment System (NES).


title: Rare (company)

text: With the unlimited budget, Rare could work a large variety of different games. The first project Rare worked on was "Slalom", a downhill skiing game. The company then worked with various gaming publishers that included Tradewest, Acclaim Entertainment, Electronic Arts, Sega, Mindscape, and Gametek to produce over 60 games for the NES and several additional Game Boy conversions. They helped in creating new and original intellectual properties, including "R.C. Pro-Am", a racing game with vehicular combat elements, and "Snake Rattle 'n' Roll", an action platform game with Tim Stamper developing the game's graphics. Rare also developed "Battletoads", a beat'em up inspired by the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" franchise. The game became known for its extreme difficulty, and upon seeing success, publisher Tradewest published multiple ports for the game, and tasked Rare to develop sequels. Tradewest also gave their own "Double Dragon" licence to Rare, allowing them to develop a crossover game between the two franchises. Rare released three "Battletoads" games in 1993, including "Battletoads / Double Dragon: The Ultimate Team", "Battletoads in Ragnarok's World" and "Battletoads in Battlemaniacs". The last "Battletoads" game from that era was released for the arcade in 1994. Several "Battletoads" games were also ported to some Sega's systems like the Mega Drive/Genesis.


title: Rare (company)

text: Rare worked on licensed properties such as "A Nightmare on Elm Street" and "Hollywood Squares", and ports including "Marble Madness", "Narc", and "Sid Meier's Pirates!". The development of four of Rare's games were outsourced to Zippo Games, including "Wizards & Warriors" and the third instalment of the "Jetpac" series, "". Rare eventually acquired Zippo Games and renamed them to Rare Manchester. According to Ste Pickford, a Rare team member through the late 80s and the early 90s, Rare just "wanted to make as many games as they could in their 'window of opportunity'". The huge library of games made large profits, but none became a critical success for the company while less creativity and innovation were shown in them.


title: Rare (company)

text: When the Super Nintendo Entertainment System was conceived, Rare was not yet ready for the change. Rare limited their releases to some "Battletoads" games and decided to invest their significant NES profit in purchasing expensive Silicon Graphics workstations to make three-dimensional models. This move made Rare the most technologically advanced developer in the UK, and situated them high in the international market. Their priority also changed at that time, as the team decided to focus on quality instead of quantity.


title: Rare (company)

text: Rare, using the SGI systems, created a boxing game demo and presented it to Nintendo. As the SNES at that time could not render all of the SGI graphics at once, Rare used the SGI graphics to produce 3D models and graphics, before pre-rendering these graphics onto the cartridge of the SNES system, a process known as "Advanced Computer Modelling". Their progress with the 3D graphics on the SGI systems impressed Nintendo, and in 1994, Nintendo bought a 25% stake in the company that gradually increased to 49%, making Rare a second-party developer for Nintendo. Rare maintained autonomous operations, green-lighting and designing projects without significant involvement from Nintendo.


title: Rare (company)

text: During this period, Rare started selling their games under the trademark name "Rareware". The company was considered one of Nintendo's key developers and had enough recognition that Nintendo offered Rare the Nintendo catalogue of characters to create a 3D CGI game. The Stampers asked for Donkey Kong. The resulting game was "Donkey Kong Country", which was developed by a total of 20 people and enjoyed an 18-month development cycle. Rare staff also visited Twycross Zoo, observing and videotaping real gorillas. The game was a critical success, with critics praising the game's highly advanced visuals and artstyle. "Donkey Kong Country" sold over nine million copies worldwide, making it the third best-selling game in the SNES library. The game received several Game of the Year honours and was followed by two sequels, "" and "", as well as several handheld spin-offs such as the "Donkey Kong Land" series.


title: Rare (company)

text: Nintendo's stake purchase allowed Rare to expand significantly. The number of staff members increased from 84 to 250, and Rare moved out from their headquarters at the Manor Farmhouse. Rare also developed a CGI arcade fighting game, "Killer Instinct", on their own custom-built arcade machine. "Killer Instinct" was set to be released for Nintendo's own 64-bit system, the Nintendo 64 in 1995, but was forced to release the game for the 16-bit SNES system, and had to downgrade the game's graphics. "Killer Instinct" sold 3.2 million copies, and was followed by a sequel, "Killer Instinct 2". "Killer Instinct Gold", the console version of "Killer Instinct 2", suffered from a graphical downgrade due to the compression technology used to fit the arcade version onto the smaller Nintendo 64 cartridge.


title: Rare (company)

text: Rare then developed "Blast Corps" for the Nintendo 64. The game sold one million copies, which was considered disappointing by Rare. At that time, Rare was split into several teams, working on different projects. A large-scaled platformer was set to be released afterwards but was delayed. As a result, Rare changed their schedule and released their smaller projects first. The first project was "GoldenEye 007", a game based on the "James Bond" film "GoldenEye". The project was led by Martin Hollis and development was conducted by an inexperienced team. Inspired by Sega's "Virtua Cop", "Goldeneye 007" had originally been an on-rail shooter before the team decided to expand the gameplay and turn it into a free-roaming first-person shooter. New elements, such as stealth, headshot mechanics and reloading, were introduced. A split-screen multiplayer was added to the game by the end of its development. "GoldenEye 007" was the first console first-person shooter developed by Rare and it was released two years after the release of the film. The game received critical praise and received numerous awards. "Goldeneye 007" remained one of the best-selling games for two years, and sold more than eight million units worldwide.


title: Rare (company)

text: Rare then developed "Diddy Kong Racing", their first self-published game. Originally intended as a real-time strategy game involving cavemen, the game was re-imagined into a racing game prior to its release in 1997. It was one of the fastest selling games at the time, as recorded by The Guinness Book of Records. "Diddy Kong Racing" also features protagonists from some future Rare games, including Banjo and Conker. At the time, Rare was still working on the large-scale platform game. Originally codenamed "Dream: Land of Giants", it was a game featuring a young boy named Edison and pirates. The protagonist was then replaced by a bear known as Banjo, and Rare expanded the role of Kazooie the bird. The two characters were inspired by characters from Walt Disney Animation Studios films and Rare hoped that they could appeal to a younger audience. "Banjo-Kazooie" was released in June 1998 to critical acclaim. A sequel, "Banjo-Tooie", was released in 2000. It was a critical success and it outsold the first game, selling 3 million copies.


title: Rare (company)

text: Upon the completion of "Banjo-Kazooie"s development, Hollis immediately began another project. Originally set to be a tie-in for "Tomorrow Never Dies", Rare was significantly outbid by another publisher, forcing Rare to develop a new concept with new characters. With a major emphasis on lighting, the game was named "Perfect Dark". Hollis left Rare for Nintendo 14 months after the start of "Perfect Dark"s development. Around the same time, numerous employees left the company and formed new studios. With major project leads departing, a new team took over its development and diminished the role of lighting in the game, making it a more straightforward first-person shooter. The game's troubled development did not affect the progress of Rare's other teams. When "Perfect Dark" was still in development, Rare released two other games, "Jet Force Gemini" and "Donkey Kong 64". In 1999, Nintendo signed an agreement with Disney, and assigned Rare to develop several racing and adventure games featuring Mickey Mouse. The project later became "Mickey's Speedway USA" and "Mickey Racing Adventure". "Perfect Dark" eventually resurfaced and it was released in 2000 to critical acclaim. The game sold approximately 2 million copies.


title: Rare (company)

text: Conker the Squirrel also had his own game, originally named "Conker's Quest". It was later renamed "Twelve Tales: Conker 64", however the new game was criticised for being too family-friendly and too similar to "Banjo-Kazooie". As a result, the team renamed the game "Conker's Bad Fur Day" and was re-revealed in 2000. "Conker's Bad Fur Day", unlike "Banjo-Kazooie", was intended for a mature audience, and features violence, profanity and scatological humour. The game received positive reviews from critics, but was a commercial failure as the game was released at the end of the Nintendo 64's life cycle and was not actively promoted by Nintendo due to its crude content.


title: Rare (company)

text: After the completion of "Diddy Kong Racing", another team was working on a new game known as "Dinosaur Planet" for the Nintendo 64. However, Nintendo Senior Managing Director Shigeru Miyamoto suggested the team redesign the game as part of the "Star Fox" series for Nintendo's new console, the GameCube. Unlike previous "Star Fox" games, "Star Fox Adventures" focuses on ground-based, open world exploration. The game received positive reviews upon its launch in 2002. "Star Fox Adventures" was the only game developed by Rare for the GameCube.


title: Rare (company)

text: Game development costs gradually increased, and Nintendo did not provide Rare with more capital nor did they purchase the company's remaining stake. The Stampers were surprised that Nintendo did not directly acquire the studio. Rare looked for potential buyers. In early 2000, workers from Activision and Microsoft began visiting Rare with purchase offers. According to Microsoft's Ed Fries, Nintendo, Activision, and Microsoft then became embroiled in a bidding war for ownership of Rare. Rare expressed interest in Activision's offer, but Microsoft offered more money. On 24 September 2002, Microsoft purchased Rare for $375 million. Rare became a first-party developer for Microsoft's Xbox. Character trademarks from games developed by Rare for Nintendo consoles, such as Conker of "Conker's Bad Fur Day" and Banjo of the "Banjo-Kazooie" series, were retained by Rare; intellectual property created by Nintendo, such as "Donkey Kong" and "Star Fox", were retained by Nintendo. This left "Donkey Kong Racing", due for release for the GameCube, unreleased. 30 employees left Rare during the transition.


title: Rare (company)

text: Since Microsoft was not part of the handheld video-game console market, Rare continued to develop games for Nintendo handheld consoles after the acquisition. In August 2003, Rare and Microsoft entered an agreement with THQ for THQ to publish Rare's games for the Game Boy Advance, including "Sabre Wulf", a game based on an Ultimate character; "", initially intended as a Game Boy Color game and "It's Mr. Pants!", a puzzle game originally developed as "Donkey Kong: Coconut Crackers". January 2005 saw the completion of this deal with the release of "Banjo-Pilot", known as "Diddy Kong Pilot" before the Microsoft acquisition.


title: Rare (company)

text: In 2003, Rare released their first Microsoft game, "Grabbed by the Ghoulies", a humorous action-adventure game set in a haunted mansion full of supernatural creatures. Originally intended as a free-roaming game, it was significantly streamlined in design and concept to attract a larger, more casual audience. The game received mixed reviews from critics, and was considered Rare's worst and least-popular game. At E3 2004, Microsoft's Ken Lobb said that Rare had obtained Nintendo DS development kits and was working on two games for the Nintendo DS. Shortly afterwards, Microsoft issued a statement that the company and its studios had no plans for Nintendo DS development. However, in July 2005, Rare posted job openings for Nintendo DS development on its website and said that it was creating "key" DS games. Only two were ever released, with the first one being "Diddy Kong Racing DS", a remake of the Nintendo 64 title "Diddy Kong Racing" which was released in February 2007, and the second being "", a life simulation game, released on September 2008. Both games support the Nintendo DS Rumble Pak.


title: Rare (company)

text: Rare released "", a remake of "Conker's Bad Fur Day", in 2005 with updated graphics and a reworked multiplayer option. The game received generally favourable reviews but, similar to "Bad Fur Day", was a commercial failure. Xbox successor Xbox 360 was released in 2005, and two of its launch games were developed by Rare: "Perfect Dark Zero" and "". "Zero", a prequel to the first "Perfect Dark", was originally intended for GameCube before its redesign as an Xbox 360 game. Rare removed several features to meet the game's release deadline. "Kameo: Elements of Power" was also intended for the GameCube. A new intellectual property, in it the player character shape-shifts to solve puzzles. Although both received generally positive reviews from critics and sold more than a million copies, they were considered disappointments.


title: Rare (company)

text: In 2006, the company released "Viva Piñata", a game involving gardening. Incorporating elements of several franchises including "The Sims", "Animal Crossing", and "Harvest Moon", it was acclaimed as innovative. The game's commercial performance was a disappointment, however, and some Rare team members questioned Microsoft Studios' large marketing budget for "Gears of War" and its relative neglect of "Viva Piñata". On 2 January 2007, Rare founders Chris and Tim Stamper left the company to "pursue other opportunities". Former lead designer Gregg Mayles became Rare's creative director and Mark Betteridge the company's studio director. That year saw the release of "Jetpac Refuelled", a remake of "Jetpac" for Xbox Live Arcade.


title: Rare (company)

text: Rare unveiled work on Xbox Live avatars, "" (the next game in the "Viva Piñata " series), and "" in 2008. Made by the core team that developed the first "Banjo-Kazooie", "Nuts & Bolts" received significant criticism from players due to its focus on vehicle construction rather than traditional platforming. Though generally receiving positive reviews, the company's games for Microsoft sold poorly and Microsoft decided to restructure the studio at the end of the decade. In March 2010, Rare opened a new facility at Fazeley Studios in Digbeth, Birmingham. Later that year, Microsoft confirmed that Scott Henson, a developer who had worked on the hardware and software designs of the Xbox 360 console and Kinect for Xbox 360, replaced Mark Betteridge as studio manager and announced a focus on Xbox Live avatars. Rare also shifted their focus to Kinect. According to Henson, "Kinect will be the main focus for Rare going forwards as it's a very rich canvas. This is just the beginning of an experience that will touch millions of people". Rare's first Kinect project, "Kinect Sports", was released in November 2010. Originally titled "Sports Star", a more-complex sports simulation game, the game was streamlined into what Microsoft executive Don Mattrick hoped would be the Kinect equivalent of "Wii Sports". According to a former Rare employee, the team was worried about the game during its development because of Kinect's limitations. Its reviews were average, but it was a commercial success, selling three million units by May 2011. Rare and BigPark, another Microsoft studio, collaborated on the development of a sequel, "".


title: Rare (company)

text: In March 2011, Scott Henson announced that Craig Duncan, who had worked on "Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing" and the "Colin McRae Rally" series, was hired as senior studio director. Simon Woodroffe, who had worked at several studios (including Adventure Soft, Midway Games, Ubisoft, and Sega), became the studio's creative director in April 2012. A Rare property, "Killer Instinct", was revived in 2013. The company had a supporting role in its development, assisting lead developer Double Helix Games. Another Rare mascot, Conker, was also featured in another Microsoft game, "Project Spark" as episodic downloadable content. Known as "Conker's Big Reunion", it was cancelled in 2015.


title: Rare (company)

text: Rare released "Kinect Sports Rivals" in 2014. The game was worked on by 150 staff members and a new game engine was developed for it. The game was a commercial failure and following Microsoft's announcement that Kinect would no longer be a priority, about 15 Rare employees were laid off. On 10 February 2015, a group of former Rare employees announced the formation of a new studio, Playtonic Games, and planned a "spiritual successor" to the "Banjo-Kazooie" franchise titled "Yooka-Laylee", which was released on 11 April 2017 with mixed reviews. According to Rare composer Robin Beanland, the year 2015 would be significant for the company. At E3 2015, a new compilation game, "Rare Replay" celebrating the studio's 30th anniversary, was introduced; it was released in August. The compilation's thirty titles only include games to which Rare owned the intellectual property. Because of this, Rare's operations director Drew Quakenbush explains why "GoldenEye 007" is not included in compilation. "Rare Replay" became the most pre-ordered game shown at E3 that year and received critical acclaim upon launch. A new game, "Sea of Thieves", a multiplayer adventure game marketed as "The Best Game That Rare Has Ever Made", was introduced at E3 that year. It was delayed at the following year's conference and was released on 20 March 2018. The game received mixed reviews, but was a commercial success; in January 2020, Microsoft declared it the most successful IP it released in the eighth generation, with more than 10 million players.


title: Rare (company)

text: Since 2018, Rare has been working with Dlala Studios on a "Battletoads" revival for the Xbox One and Windows. Microsoft and Rare also collaborated with Nintendo in 2019 to add Banjo & Kazooie as playable characters in the crossover Nintendo Switch fighting game "Super Smash Bros. Ultimate". At the X019 event in November 2019, Rare announced it was developing "Everwild", an action-adventure game for Windows and Xbox Series X/S. As of January 2020, Rare had more than 200 employees, after growing at a consistent pace for five years.


title: Rare (company)

text: According to Mark Betteridge, one of Rare's main goals is to create games people will find enjoyable rather than just to earn profit. The Stamper brothers gave the team considerable creative freedom, although they would intervene if a product was technically flawed or under-performing. Some employees noted that working for Rare in its early days could be difficult, with staff members allowed 30 minutes for lunch and possibly working more than 60 hours a week. Nintendo worked closely with Rare, and their relationship was described as a "creative partnership" by "Viva Piñata" designer Justin Cook. According to Hansen in 2010, innovation is very important to the company, thus they focus on trying out new technology, such as Xbox 360's Kinect. Historically the company has developed only for video game consoles, never for PCs or arcade units, with the Stamper brothers citing a preference for working on a stable standard format which is specifically designed for playing games. According to Duncan in 2014, Rare would only develop games that had unique ideas, and will never develop a generic game with their intellectual properties.


title: Rare (company)

text: Ed Fries, head of Microsoft Studios' publishing division at the time of acquisition, said that the company attempted to preserve Rare's culture so its staff could continue feeling that they worked for Rare rather than Microsoft. Rare employees differed about working conditions after the Microsoft acquisition. According to "Star Fox Adventures" lead engineer Phil Tossell, conditions became more stressful after an "imperceptible" start, and the culture of the two companies began clashing. Tossell said that Microsoft gradually imposed a corporate structure on Rare, including more performance reviews and meetings, to which some Rare members found difficulty in adapting. Some admitted that early changes, such as permitting team members to discuss projects they were not working on and allowing staff members to use the Internet or listen to music during work hours, were beneficial to team morale. Betteridge called the overall change "positive", saying that Microsoft's capital could help Rare develop their projects. Former Rare employee Gavin Price said that some Microsoft executives, such as Phil Spencer, were supportive of the developer. Grant Kirkhope, a former composer at Rare, strongly criticised Microsoft for ruining Rare. Former Xbox executive Peter Moore voiced his disappointment with Rare's works after the acquisition. He noted that Rare employees were attempting to "recreate the glory years", but their skills had become outdated and were no longer "applicable in today's market". Duncan insisted that there were still a lot of talented people working at Rare, and they will have a "bright future".


title: Rare (company)

text: Unlike other software developers, Rare acquired a reputation for secrecy; the approach to their office buildings, in Manor Park near Twycross, was monitored by cameras. Web video shows had been granted access in recent years, such as "Eurogamer" in November 2006. The company was internally divided into different "barnes", where employees worked exclusively on their group's game. According to Tim Stamper,


title: Rare (company)

text: Though normally secretive, Rare allowed several exclusive tours of its studio by fan sites Rarenet in 1999, and Rare-Extreme in 2004 and again in 2009. In 2010, Rare declined an offer by fansite MundoRare to film a documentary about their studios at MundoRare's expense. The film, to celebrate Rare's 25th anniversary, would have been distributed on the internet and Xbox Live. Rare refused permission to shoot the film, saying that it was not "on message". MundoRare was shut down, and stated that the site could not support the company's new corporate direction. Rare's secrecy was criticised by "Hardcore Gamer"s Alex Carlson, as they thought that it made them "disconnected", and prompted them to develop games that "their fans don't want". When Duncan took over as the studio's head, he intended to change the culture of the studio. Rare's office was completely remodeled so as to facilitate idea sharing between team members. The studio also adopted a more open attitude to its community, with the studio inviting fans to take part in the development project of their latest game "Sea of Thieves".


title: Rare (company)

text: Around 1997, a number of Rare employees left to establish separate companies. The first was Eighth Wonder, underwritten by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, which did not produce any games before it closed. After Martin Hollis left Rare, he joined Nintendo before founding his own company Zoonami, releasing "Zendoku", "Go! Puzzle" and "Bonsai Barber". Other "Perfect Dark" team members, including David Doak and Steve Ellis, founded Free Radical Design and created the "TimeSplitters" series. It was acquired by Crytek and renamed Crytek UK before its 2014 closure, with most of its staff moving to Deep Silver Dambuster Studios. In May 2021, Deep Silver reestablished Free Radical Design with original founding members Steve Ellis and David Doak heading up the new studio.


title: Rare (company)

text: Former Free Radical and Rare staff also formed Crash Labs, a studio specialising in developing iOS games. Chris Seavor, director of "Conker's Bad Fur Day", founded the Gory Detail studio along with Rare employee, Shawn Pile and released "Parashoot Stan" for mobile devices, as well as "The Unlikely Legend of Rusty Pup" on Steam. Starfire Studios were founded by four former Rare employees and released "Fusion Genesis", an Xbox Live Arcade game published by Microsoft Game Studios. Another group of former Rare employees formed a mobile-game studio, Flippin Pixels. Former Rare employee Lee Schuneman headed Lift London, a Microsoft studio. Phil Tossell and Jennifer Schneidereit founded Nyamyam and released "Tengami". Playtonic Games was founded by several former Rare employees; their first project is "Yooka-Laylee", a spiritual successor to "Banjo-Kazooie". Chris and Tim Stamper joined FortuneFish, a mobile game company founded by Tim Stamper's son, Joe Stamper. Their first game is "That Bouncy Thing! The Rubbishiest Game Ever" for Android.