Builder: Cantieri Ruiniti dell' Adriatico, Trieste, Italy.
Completed : November 1932.
Gross tonnage: 48,502.
Dimensions: 860ft x 96ft Depth 53ft.
Engines: Twelve steam turbines, single-reduction geared.
Screws: Quadruple.
Watertight bulkheads: Twelve.
Decks: Six.
Normal speed: 27.50 knots. (Attained a speed 30 knots on her trials.)
Passenger accommodation: 360 first, 778 tourist and 922 third class.
Maiden voyage: Genoa—New York on November 30, 1932.
The keel was laid down for the Lloyd Sabaudo and was to be named Conte Azzuro.
Passed on to Italian Line ownership when the Lloyd Sabaudo and the Navigazione Generale Italiana consoli¬dated to form the Italian Line on January 2, 1932.
Employed in the Genoa—New York run year-round.
Conti di Savoia was one of the first liners to be equipped with Sperry gyro stabilisers which reduced the roll to less than two and a half degrees in the worst weather. On her maiden voyage she was held up 800 miles outside of New York by a broken exhaust valve which blew a
hole in her hull plating. The damage was repaired and she lost only a day's time. The Conte di Savoia's upper deck was 460 ft long. Withdrawn from service in 1939 and laid up until 1943 when she did some troop work.
Laid up again at Malamocco, Venice, where she was disguised as an island. Attacked by US fighter bombers who scored six hits on September 11, 1943. Refloated on October 16, 1945, with the intention of re¬constructing her, but speculating as too costly to repair was sold for scrap at Monfalcone, Italy, in 1950.
SG360 North Atlantic Passenger Liners since 1900 by Nicholas T Cairis