SS '' Duilio '' was the first Italian super ocean liner and one of the largest Italian merchant ships until 1925. She measured 24,281 gross register tons and was the sister of the SS ''Giulio Cesare'', which was launched in 1921. She was constructed for the Italian shipping company “

Navigazione Generale Italiana Navigazione Generale Italiana (NGI) was an Italian shipping company. History The company formed in 1881 by the merger of ''Florio, I & V. Florio'' of Palermo and ''Raffaele Rubattino'' of Genoa. At the time of the merger, the two companies both ...

” based in

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian census, the Province of ...

and constructed by

Ansaldo Shipyard Ansaldo was one of Italy's oldest and most important engineering companies, existing for 140 years from 1853 to 1993. From foundation to World War I The company was founded in 1853 as Gio. Ansaldo & C. S.A.S. by renowned players in the Geno ...

owned by

Sestri Ponente Sestri Ponente is an industrial suburb of Genoa in northwest Italy. It is part of the Medio Ponente ''municipio'' of Genoa. Geography It is situated on the Ligurian Sea four miles to the west of the city, between Pegli and Cornigliano. Its ...

. She was sunk on 10 July 1944.

History

Passenger service

SS ''Duilio'' was laid down in 1914 and launched on 9 January 1916 in the Ansaldo Yard but was not completed until 1923. She made her maiden voyage on 29 October 1923 from

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. Her safety standards exceeded the norms of the time. For example, she had 17 compartments although only 12 were required by the First International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea. This would enable her to still float with 4 flooded compartments. One of the first Italian steamships, the ''Duilio'' had a complete system of anti-roll cases. The ship was constructed with coal-fired steam engines for the

–

route, but was later transferred to the

–

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

route on 24 July 1928. She was adapted for

Naphtha Naphtha ( or ) is a flammable liquid hydrocarbon mixture. Mixtures labelled ''naphtha'' have been produced from natural gas condensates, petroleum distillates, and the distillation of coal tar and peat. In different industries and regions ' ...

combustion at Pristava and subsequently served on the new

Italian Line Italian Line and from 1992 Italia Line, whose official name was Italia di Navigazione S.p.A., was a passenger shipping line that operated regular transatlantic services between Italy and the United States, and Italy and South America. During ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

alongside the SS ''Giulio Cesare''. She was chartered to Lloyd Triestino in 1933 and then transferred to Lloyd Triestino in 1936.

Second World War

She was laid up in 1940. In 1942, during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, SS ''Duilio'' was briefly chartered to the

International Red Cross The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC; french: Comité international de la Croix-Rouge) is a humanitarian organization which is based in Geneva, Switzerland, and it is also a three-time Nobel Prize Laureate. State parties (signato ...

, before being laid up at the port of

Trieste Trieste ( , ; sl, Trst ; german: Triest ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into prov ...

in 1943, again alongside . ''Duilio'' and ''Giulio Cesare'' were sunk there on 10 July 1944, in an attack by Allied aircraft. Her wreckage was salvaged and scrapped in 1948.

Sources

*Ansaldo, ANSALDO SHIPS, Publishing Edindustria, Rome 1960

References

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Duilio Passenger ships of Italy Steamships of Italy Merchant ships sunk by aircraft Ocean liners 1916 ships Ships built by Gio. Ansaldo & C. Ships built in Genoa Maritime incidents in July 1944