Christina O once was a Canadian River class frigate called HMCS Stormont. Commandeered to serve in World War II, the vessel witnessed the D-Day landings before languishing as a navy surplus vessel. Aristotle Onassis purchased the hull in 1954 for $34,000, and his $4-million refit initiated a popular trend in conversion.
Few public figures had the charisma and audacity of the late Aristotle Onassis, the Greek shipping magnate who converted a warship into the yacht Christina. Inseparable from his ocean-going palace, Onassis lived aboard for decades, reveling in a life of partying and pleasure that by turns made him hated, envied and admired while attracting the global celebrity set of the era to his jewel of the seas, now reborn as Christina O.