Description

SS RAFFAELLO OCEAN LINER

FULLY BUILT AND READY TO DISPLAY, HIGH QUALITY SHIP MODEL

Dimension Approx.: 36.5″ L x 4.5″ W x 11.5″ H
Approx Scale 1:300
The model is already built, NOT a model ship kit

Launched in 1963 and completed in 1965, the SS Raffaello was one of the last great expressions of Italy’s transatlantic ambition — a ship conceived at the twilight of the ocean‑liner era, yet built with all the artistry and engineering confidence that had defined Italian shipbuilding for decades. Ordered in 1958 to replace the ageing Saturnia and Vulcania, she emerged from the Cantieri Riuniti dell’Adriatico yard in Trieste as the largest Italian‑built liner since the 1930s, a sleek 45,933‑GT vessel stretching 275.5 meters with a service speed of 26.5 knots driven by powerful twin‑screw steam turbines.

Raffaello and her sister SS Michelangelo were designed as prestige ships — national flag‑bearers meant to compete with the finest European liners still crossing the Atlantic. Their distinctive twin funnels, engineered to deflect exhaust away from the decks, became their signature silhouette and influenced later passenger‑ship design. Inside, Raffaello’s interiors by Michele and Giancarlo Busiri Vici embraced a futuristic, minimalist aesthetic, more restrained than Michelangelo’s artistic exuberance but unmistakably modern.

Her maiden voyage on 25 July 1965 carried her from Genoa to New York, joining the shrinking but still glamorous world of transatlantic travel. For a decade she served as one of Italy’s premier liners, later shifting to Mediterranean and Caribbean cruising as jet travel eroded the passenger‑ship market. By the mid‑1970s, rising fuel costs and the end of government subsidies made her operation unsustainable. In June 1975, after only ten years of service, Raffaello was withdrawn — a victim of economic forces that ended the era of the great liners.

Her second life was stranger and more tragic. In 1976, the ship was sold to the Shah of Iran and renamed Rafael, becoming an accommodation and barracks ship in the port of Bushehr. There she remained, largely intact but far from the elegance of her Italian years. When the Iran–Iraq War erupted, the once‑proud liner found herself in the path of conflict. In 1983, she was struck and partially sunk during an attack, settling into shallow water where her rusting remains still lie — a ghost of a vanished age.

Today, the SS Raffaello is remembered as one of the last true European ocean liners, a ship that embodied the final flourish of mid‑century maritime design before aviation reshaped global travel. Her innovative funnels, powerful engines, and sleek profile symbolized the height of Italian engineering, while her abrupt end in wartime exile adds a haunting coda to her story. Alongside her sister Michelangelo, she stands as a monument to the end of the transatlantic liner era — brilliant, brief, and unforgettable.