SS ''Roma'' was an

ocean liner An ocean liner is a passenger ship primarily used as a form of transportation across seas or oceans. Ocean liners may also carry cargo or mail, and may sometimes be used for other purposes (such as for pleasure cruises or as hospital ships). Ca ...

built 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 '' I & V. Florio'' of Palermo and ''Raffaele Rubattino'' of Genoa. At the time of the merger, the two companies both operate ...

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

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 ...

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 pop ...

. She was the sister ship to MS ''Augustus''. The ship was later transferred to 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 ...

after the merger of Navigazione Generale Italiana. When

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 opposin ...

broke out, she was acquired by the

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral zone, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and ...

for Conversion to aircraft carrier name Aquila. She was taken over by the German occupation forces in 1943 but was partially scuttled by Italians. She was raised and scrapped in 1951.

History

Ocean Liner Career

Following the end of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, many shipping companies were waiting to have enough money to build new liners.

ordered two new 30,000 gross register tons transatlantic ocean liners from

. The first ship was launched in 1926 and christened ''Roma''. She had an entirely steel hull. Her interior was decorated in

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

style. The ship was with signal code letters ICEV. Unlike ''Roma''s

sister ship A sister ship is a ship of the same class or of virtually identical design to another ship. Such vessels share a nearly identical hull and superstructure layout, similar size, and roughly comparable features and equipment. They often share a ...

, ''Roma'' was powered by eight turbines connected in couples to four shafts. Steam for the turbines was provided by 9 double-ended and 4 single-ended boilers; all in all, the ship was able to boast a maximum speed of . Some of the machinery was sourced from the canceled

Italian Navy "Fatherland and Honour" , patron = , colors = , colors_label = , march = ( is the return of soldiers to their barrack, or sailors to their ship after a ...

''Cristoforo Columbo''.Ordovini, Petronio; et al., p. 332 ''Roma'' could carry 1700 passengers (375 first, 300 second, 300 intermediate, 700 third class). Her two funnels were repainted into the Italian Line's colors after her company merged with

Lloyd Sabaudo The Lloyd Sabaudo was a Shipping transport line formed in Turin in 1906. It began passenger service in 1907, expanding to link Italy to ports in Asia as well as North and South America. In 1932 it merged with several other Italian shipping lines ...

and

Cosulich Line The Cosulich Line, formally the Cosulich Societa Triestina di Navigazione, is a steamship line that was based in Trieste, Italy. The company had been founded in 1889 by Antonio F. Cosulich's son as a family business. In 1903 as Unione Austriaca di ...

to form the new

. In 1933 the intermediate class was replaced by the touristic one. The main deck was covered with

teak Teak (''Tectona grandis'') is a tropical hardwood tree species in the family Lamiaceae. It is a large, deciduous tree that occurs in mixed hardwood forests. ''Tectona grandis'' has small, fragrant white flowers arranged in dense clusters (panicl ...

. On 30 January 1932, ''Roma'' rammed the American ocean liner at

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, severely damaging ''President Roosevelt''. ''President Roosevelt'' was repaired and returned to service. The Roma will continue passenger service until 1939.

Conversion to aircraft carrier

When

World War II 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 opposin ...

broke out, she was laid up and later taken over by the

Italian Navy "Fatherland and Honour" , patron = , colors = , colors_label = , march = ( is the return of soldiers to their barrack, or sailors to their ship after a ...

. She was then refitted and transformed into an

aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. Typically, it is the capital ship of a fleet, as it allows a ...

named ''Aquila''. Her speed was increased to 30 knots after the refitting. She was taken over by the German occupation forces in 1943 but was partially scuttled by Italian

co-belligerent Co-belligerence is the waging of a war in cooperation against a common enemy with or without a formal treaty of military alliance. Generally, the term is used for cases where no alliance exists. Likewise, allies may not become co-belligerents in a ...

s two years later. After the end of the conflict, her wreckage was raised and towed to

La Spezia La Spezia (, or , ; in the local Spezzino dialect) is the capital city of the province of La Spezia and is located at the head of the Gulf of La Spezia in the southern part of the Liguria region of Italy. La Spezia is the second largest city ...

, where she was scrapped in 1951–1952.

References

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Roma (1926) Passenger ships of Italy Ocean liners 1926 ships Ships built in Genoa Ships built by Gio. Ansaldo & C. Maritime incidents in 1932

History

Ocean Liner Career

Conversion to aircraft carrier

See also

References

Bibliography