Name SS Duilio In service 1923 Launched 9 January 1916 Builder Gio. Ansaldo & C. | Commissioned 1916 Construction started 1914 Length 194 m | |
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Operator 1923-1932 Navigazione Generale Italiana1932-1936 Italian Line1936-1942 Lloyd Triestino1942-1944 International Red Cross | ||
SS Duilio was the first Italian super ocean liner and one of the largest Italian merchant fleets up until 1925. She was weighed 24,281 gross 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” based in Genoa and constructed by Ansaldo Shipyard owned by Sestri Ponente.
SS Duilio was laid down in 1914 and launched on January 9, 1916 in the Ansaldo Yard but was not completed until 1923. She made her maiden voyage on October 29, 1923 from Naples to New York City. 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 Naples–New York City route, but was later transferred to the Genoa–Buenos Aires route on July 24, 1928. She was adapted for Naphtha combustion at Pristava and subsequently served on the new Italian line to South Africa alongside the SS Giulio Cesare.
She was chartered to Lloyd Triestino in 1933 and then transferred to Lloyd Triestino in 1936. She was laid up in 1940. In 1942, during the Second World War, SS Duilio was briefly chartered to the International Red Cross, before being laid up at the port of Trieste in 1943, again alongside SS Giulio Cesare. Duilio and Giulio Cesare were sunk there on July 10, 1944, in an attack by Allied aircraft. Her wreckage was salvaged and scrapped in 1948.
