SS Verona (1908)

SS Verona was an Italian passenger steamer, built in 1908 by Workman, Clark & Co., Ltd., Belfast, and operated by the Navigazione Generale Italiana, of Genoa. The SS Ancona was her sistership.

On 11 May 1918, the ship left Messina for Tripoli with on board some 3,000 soldiers, most of them deserters which were sent to a detention camp in the Italian colony of Libya. She was torpedoed by German submarine SMU UC-52, under the command of Kapitänleutnant Hellmuth von Doemming off Cape Peloro at 37.06667°N, 16.31667°W. The ship sank within 25 minutes, but many soldiers were saved because land was relatively close and several ships came to their rescue. Still around 880 lives were lost.