Posted on 08/21/2019 8:58:31 AM PDT by NRx
The SS Rex was an Italian ocean liner launched in 1931. She held the westbound Blue Riband between 1933 and 1935. Originally built for the Navigazione Generale Italiana (NGI) as SS Guglielmo Marconi, its state-ordered merger with the Lloyd Sabaudo line meant that the ship sailed for the newly created Italia Flotta Riunite (Italian Line).
Rex operated transatlantic crossings from Italy with its running mate, the Conte di Savoia prior to the outbreak of the Second World War. Rex maintained a commercial service in the Mediterranean for a short period, but when Italy entered the war in June 1940 Rex was laid up for safe-keeping. On 8 September 1944, off Koper, Rex was hit by 123 rockets launched by RAF aircraft, caught fire from stem to stern. She burned for four days, then rolled onto the port side, and sank in shallow water. The ship was broken up at the site beginning in 1947.
Tonnage: 51,062 gross tons Displacement: 45,800 tons Length:
880 feet (270 m) overall 831.25 feet (253.37 m) waterline
Beam: 96 feet 9 inches (29.49 m) Draught: 33 feet (10 m) Depth: 79 feet 9 inches (24.31 m) @ promenade deck Installed power: 4 sets of geared steam turbines producing 120,000 SHP (design power) Propulsion: Quadruple propellers Speed: 27 kts (design speed); 28 kts+ (maximum speed) Capacity: 2,042 total passengers: 408 first-class, 358 second-class, 410 tourist-class, 866 third-class
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There was a time when travel was a civilized activity, desirable in itself more so than the destination.
A Beautiful Liner.
The Italians made some nice ones.
When the 1% had class.
Stupid Brits could have seized the Rex as a prize of war. It was obviously not in military use.
Monumental act of vandalism.
First Class.
Why? Did the Germans seize it? Italy was out of the war in 1943, no longer a member of the Axis.
Koper is a very ancient port city at the northern end of Adriatic Sea about five miles from the present Italian border:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koper?wprov=sfti1
This area was technically under Fascist control (RSI) up until the surrender of all Axis forces on 1 May 1945. Since the attack took place in 1944, the ship was probably under German control as they effectively maintained the RSI from its declaration in September 1943 to the end of hostilities.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_Social_Republic?wprov=sfti1
So SS Rex was an enemy ship in enemy waters when the RAF attacked. Might have been used to shuttle troops and civilians up the coast as areas in central Italy came under Allied attack.
*ping of interest*
The Italians make beautiful objects. The Andrea Doria was beautiful...
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