SS Duilio

 SS  Duilio  was the first Italian super ocean liner and one of the largest Italian merchant fleet until 1925. She was 24,281 gross tons and was the sister to SS Giulio Cesare that launched in 1921. She was constructed for the Italian shipping company “Navigazione Generale Italiana” of Genoa and was constructed by the Ansaldo Shipyard of Sestri Ponente.

She was laid down in 1914 and launched on January 9, 1916 in the Ansaldo Yard but was not complete until 1923. She made her maiden voyage on October 29, 1923 from Naples to New York. As regards emergency, it widely exceeded the norms of the time, as an example it had 17 compartments ponds against the 12 demands for the first international conference of London of the human life at sea (could therefore float also with 4 compartments floods). First between the Italian steamships, it had a complete system of anti-roll cases. The ship was constructed for the Naples–New York but was later transferred to Genoa–Buenos Aires route on July 24, 1928, with engines to vapor and combustion to coal. It came later on adapted for the combustion of Naphta and Pristava subsequently service on the new Italian line of the South Africa with Giulio Cesare.

She was chartered to Lloyd Triestino in 1933 and then transferred to Lloyd Triestino in 1936 and was laid up in 1940. In 1942, during the Second World War, SS Duilio was briefly chartered to the International Red Cross for a time before being laid-up at the port of Trieste as well as Giulio Cesare in 1943. The SS Duilio was sunk there on July 10, 1944 along with the Giulio Cesare, she was attacked by Allied aircraft. Her wreckage was refloated and scrapped in 1948.

Source

 * Ansaldo, ANSALDO SHIPS, Publishing Edindustria, Rome 1960